Damper, In-out-In ... OR Tempering the Human Consciousness
Today’s poem has not appeared on
the blog since 2016; it was slightly revised in 2003 (for my collection the
following year) from an earlier [1980's] poem, and you are invited to make of
it what you will.
Now, in
my 70's, I still find myself recalling the words of a song from early childhood:
Well,
you push the damper in and you pull the damper out,
but
the smoke goes up the chimney just the same…
I well
recall what a teacher once said (n the 1950's) when I asked about philosophy,
having read the word in a book and found a dictionary of little help. (I was 11
years-old.) ‘Philosophy,’ he mused, possibly more to himself than to me, ‘…is a
vehicle for language devised by human nature to fire its passions without its
having to commit to any responsibility other than just that. Think of the
fireplace damper in your living room at home; the more it is opened, the more
air to fuel the fire. So it is, as I see it, with philosophy. The more open a
mind you apply, the fiercer the passions of intellect are sure to burn. On the
other hand, if it’s absolute proof or even meaning you’re after, that is
tantamount to the damper being closed and the fire left to go out. Either way,
we have to be prepared for some smoke in our eyes ir not our Does that answer
your question?’ It did not, of course (and I'm pretty sure he knew it) but
I hadn’t the nerve to say so. Besides, my head was already swimming.
Years on,
I begin to see the appropriateness of the simile although I should perhaps add
that, as I progressed from first year to 6th form, I came to see my teacher,
for whom I had much affection and respect, as something of a devil's advocate.
As for philosophy, I am still inclined to see it as wisdom's get-out clause for
explaining away everything and nothing.
DAMPER,
IN-OUT-IN … or TEMPERING THE HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
Thoughts
drifting, circling,
sending us here, there,
everywhere,
ever
homing in
on us …
obscuring,
deluding
and confusing
the
senses about
who we
are,
where
we’re going,
whatever
will become
of us …?
Rumours
drifting, circling,
sending us here, there
everywhere,
ever
homing in
on us ...
obscuring,
deluding
and confusing
rights and
wrongs
keeping
an eye on us
like
buzzards
in a mist
anticipating
our end
Hopes
drifting,
circling,
sending
us here, there,
everywhere,
ever
homing in on us,
obscuring,
resolving
to get the better
of any
delusion
or confusion driving
us
to ask who
we are,
going
where,
whatever
will become
of us …?
History
drifting,
circling,
sending
us here, there,
everywhere,
feeding
leftover dreams
to
mind-body-spirit,
intending
to reassure us
who we
are,
and going
where, if only
we can
get it right,
wherever
it is we need
to be
going,
whatever
will become
of us
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2005; 2020
[Note: An
earlier version of this poem was first published under the title Smokescreen in an anthology Sometimes I
Wonder, Anchor Books [Forward Press] 2004 and subsequently in A
Feeling for the Quickness of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005]
Labels: culture, differences, diversity, divisions, history, human nature, human spirit, identity, knowledge, mind-body-spirit, nature, personal space, philosophy, poetry, raison d’être, relationships, religion, sociology
posted by R. N. Taber | 07:31
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