Source and Destination

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

The same reader who asked why I often use the expression mind-body-spirit in poems and word search labels rather than mind, body and spirit has also asked why past-present-future appears as one instead of three words. Again, hopefully, the poem below might help the reader to understand my point of view as I am not, as the reader suggests, simply taking poetic licence.

Does anyone really doubt that past, present and future have a significant bearing on the human and natural landscapes that comprise planet Earth, 0000 - 2019 and counting …?

Oh, but counting or countdown … and to what?

This poem is a kenning.

SOURCE AND DESTINATION

Human history, helping to shape

who we are, how we think,

all we believe in – religion or none,

children of Earth Mother,

going with nature as human nature

cajoles, or losing faith

in a socio-cultural consciousness

bogged down in stereotypes recycled

over centuries

Austere shades of contemporaneity

conspiring to project fake news

on social media, aiding and abetting

the worse symptoms

of prejudice, fear, even hate crime

on Everyman’s doorstep,

projecting, in turn, a sense of alarm

following shades of red sunrise to sunset

virtually incognito

Moving on, trusting in the true spirit

of progress to play fair with nature

and human nature, if taking on board

what Hope, Faith and Charity

have to say means providing a future

least likely to be disempowered

by changes of climates and all sorts,

of socio-cultural politics and religion bent

on blaming ghosts

I am past-present-future, making of nature

and human nature … whatever

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2019

I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y, Parts of a Whole

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

A reader has emailed to ask why I frequently refer to mind-body-spirit as a whole in my poems (and subsequently in the Labels column for the purpose of word searches) rather than mind, body and spirit as separate phenomena if only for convenience or (as I see it) paying lip service to convention.  The poem below is by way of offering an answer. 

We are all of us different, each in our own way, and it is our differences that make us human.The inner eye discerns this, that, or nothing at all; the body has different demands depending on how we prefer to define our sexuality; the human spirit turns on how the sum of those differences occupies our personal space whether (or not) inspired by socio-cultural-religious conventions written on tablets of stone. 

Like the human heart, the mind-body-spirit is a free country; sadly, for many people, it is only truly accessible by way of personal space, that part of us where Freedom really keeps its word; people may well do their best to intrude, even force an entry should we not wish to let them in, but no one can altogether usurp or even destroy it however much they might try. 

Those who would (and do) exploit our weaknesses, invariably underestimate our strengths; strengths supplied by mind-body-spirit as a whole, not its parts. Whether we identify as Gay, straight or transgender, human nature is likely to harass us from time to time because it is a complex organism for which there is no standard template; fortunately, that whole comprising mind-body-spirit provides an open-all-hours sanctuary from its worse aspects while encouraging us to appreciate and enjoy its kinder side. Moreover, something about it is clearly capable of infiltrating human thought in the form of remembrance after it ceases to occupy the human form; death as loss, is hard on all of us, but as a posthumous consciousness it may well continue to inspire is ... if we let it.

We are, each and every one of us, the sum of our parts; it is, of course, the whole that really counts; we should not dissect to make a point, homing in on any those parts with which we may take issue, although human nature being what it is, we are often inclined to do just that.

This poem is a kenning.

I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y, PARTS OF A WHOLE

I am Mind, part of a whole

bent on solving crises,

finding ways to neatly avoid

the slings and arrows

of human nature, rise above

even its worst flaws.

look on the bright side of life,

through thick and thin, stay true

to a kinder philosophy

I am Body, part of a whole

whose every heartbeat

is listening out for like souls

made to run the gamut

of prejudice, discrimination,

and, yes, even worse,

finding solace in those sins

certain world creeds and cultures

oh, so love to hit out at

I am Spirit, part of a whole

where personal space

provides the ‘live’ poetry of peace

and love insisting Mind

and Body direct the inner eye

where it needs must go

to avoid jumping to conclusions

comprising circumstantial evidence

provided by stereotypes

I am Mind-Body-Spirit, the person

often dissected for being human

 Copyright R. N. Taber 2019