May 6, 2020

Moon of Countless Flowers

If art matters

if leafless trees have collective coursing visions

if the canopy of sky overhead

is more our mind than an object

then sitting still is good.

If your species overreaches

if the industrial din obscures the essential bond

if each moment of being, upon examination,

offers no resistance to luminosity

then standing outside in May is good.

If compulsion grows insistent, claustrophobic

if the web of clinging weighs

if beauty & connection appears distant

beyond a sick & gauzy veil

then walking without aim is good.

If the inward journey calls

if patterns re-trench & hopelessness floods

if magic evaporates, electricity burns too blue

& this universe of yours goes static

then lying down & asking for a dream is good.

Offer a flower

offer a moon

offer a blade of grass

offer a spiral of cells

offer an orgasm

offer a meal

offer a bed

offer medicine

offer friendship

offer a path

that is ordinary, gentle, patient, generous.

Let sitting, standing, walking & lying down

be moon flowers, dream offerings,

boundless gifts, love, art.

Give full attention

to all that comes.

POEM BY
Qayyum Johnson
ARTWORK BY SUIKO MCCALL

She Who Cuts What Clings, 2020. Wild grape and red onion on paper, 9x9".

Read more Moonpoems