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Vol.1, No.5 •
November 2007
The Poetry of Harry
Furness
Sunrise
Two people looking at the same eastern spot
Triangulating on the mauve underside of the cloud
Holding, long-range, hands
Feeling each other's warmth on a cold New Year's day
Bouncing from person to cloud to person and back
She's focused on the same cloud
He's seeing the same color
It may well be the only time they know each other
But once is better than never
Shared viewing is a tangible that becomes a single part of each
They feel each other inside each other
And for now that's the best it can be
He feels better just knowing that she's looking up
Just knowing that she's thinking about him
Makes him feel better about himself
And that he's as important as the color on the underside of the
cloud
He wants her to know that she is the center of the universe
And all of his thoughts revolve around her
The memory of her soft, hungry mouth
And the star-bright shine in her clear eyes
Reflect on the underside of the cloud at sunrise
This is what he wants to put into his pocket
And carry around, always
He puts the memory away and associates it with the color
And whenever he sees or recalls that color
He'll feel her at the other end of the sunrise
And, if sunrise is this exciting, he can hardly wait until sunset
A Life - For Linda
Where do you start?
Two little pigtail girls sharing little girl talk, glances, and
giggles
Friends in grade-school jumpers sharing secrets that are so important
That the bond is there long after the secret is gone
Neighborhood girls who trade in dolls for basketballs
And grow from little girls into young ladies trading in their
school jumpers
For high-school uniforms and harder studies
"Can you believe that all we do is read right from the Science
book?"
Where do you start?
"Who's that waving - I don't have my glasses on and can't
see"
"I can't go over there, my hair is too frizzy"
"Was that a belt buckle?"
"Do you think he's cute?"
Sharing houses, mothers, sleep-overs, and mysteries that we'll
never understand
Why was that one corner so important?
Where do you start?
Young women meeting the wild boys on a Miss America night
"But we must find a TV"
Finding their ways, in and out of each others lives
"I'm not jumping into that water - I'll change my major"
Young women whose friendship goes deeper than their different
ways take them
Where do you start?
A full life of catastrophe and all that there is along with it
Marriages, careers, babies, kids, promotions, happiness, eating
life with both hands
"I've met the most amazing man - he's just wonderful, but
he is older"
Cookouts, Caroling parties, Christmas parties, impromptu visits
Weddings, kidnappings, reunions, life in the corporate America
New homes, sinking rooms, beautiful porches, shared sunsets,
and sunrises
Wide-eyed, white water Colorado River rafting
Where do you start?
Cancer
A new light-weight champion fighter whose determination is an
inspiration
To those with aches and pains and a little of the rest of it
She's up; she's down, but never out
Joe Fraizer, Mohammad Ali, would have never stood a chance
Her determination would have filled the Grand Canyon that she
once conquered
Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, none fought harder or were
more convinced of a Victory
Where do you start?
The battle was long and hard fought with prayers and actions
It was a fight for every inch
And now she's starting somewhere new, again leading the way for
many of us
I only hope that I have that kind of fight in me and get to follow,
someday
Hey, Ludwig - I was trying to pay attention
I am the child of poetry and science
This confused union has left me with more sides than a cut diamond
Facts are not necessarily universal truths
And emotions do not always lead to missed understandings
Math is no more a methodology than music
Used to reach some equation based upon theorems
Theorems do not float and exist in nature
The universe or a tree would be here without them
If I can explain it, I'm using a method of symbols
That only have an agreed to meaining by my surroundings
And it would be only through luck or chance
That this association held any universal meaning
But, clear insight exists as silence
And like Yahweh, the god whose name cannot be known,
May not fit our associative symbology
We've forced something into a bag that's fighting to get out
Called it a bird and everyone agrees what it is and
How it should act to meet our collective experience
However, the boy cries out, "He's naked."
Does this mean that there are no common, agreed to symbols
Used for day-to-day interactions?
No, just as these scretchings are not universal truths
Staring into the Sun will burn your optic nerve and make you
go blind
Ultimate truths are not beyond comprehension
Just beyond our descriptions
Just out of reach of words, symbols, ...
copyright Harry Furness
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