Category Archives: Metaphor

At Last

Mazisi Kunene“World Wisdom”The Ancestors & the Sacred Mountain How the body serves metaphor … What will come last will be the truthSince the beating of the heart outlastsThe nakedness of the bones. Lines that call for rereading to reach their … Continue reading

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Far Outreaching Its Roots

An image of the world tree and the cosmos: Like boundless IgdrasilThat has the stars for fruit. Richard Wilbur“Seed Leaves”Walking To Sleep And so for day 307008.05.2015

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Two Moments of Arrest

Phil Hall Niagara & Government “Past Once”  If my mouth is stuffed with stories I cannot be suckled by the moment “Local Produce” what keeps    our meditation    from going deeper  metaphor    (the dead horse)    & the … Continue reading

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Unguarded Premises

Ursula K. Le Guin “Escape Routes” in The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction What science, from physics and astronomy to history and psychology, has given us is the open universe: a cosmos that is not … Continue reading

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Ackermann on W’s Sanitation Philosophers

Robert John Ackermann Wittgenstein’s City Last chapter – “Philosophy” – opens by casting this image forth: The basic thrust of Wittgenstein’s view of philosophy as a descriptive critique of language remains in place as his survey reveals more and more … Continue reading

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Of Pronouns, Balance and Being Canadian

Dear X Yes “our discourse” has been less than positive. More my contributions to it have been nit picky and darn ornery. I do want to commend you for speaking up and holding me to account. I have thought a … Continue reading

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Metaphor Wisdom

A gem (metaphorically speaking) … recognizing an old friend in an unfamiliar setting, and understanding a metaphor are species of the same phenomenon Jan Zwicky Wisdom & Metaphor I like how the metaphor of ecosystem creeps in … Imagine the … Continue reading

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Sewn in the West

Ian Hamilton Finlay as remembered by Stephen Scobie https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/dancers-inherit-party/ Marvelous piece – part obit part commentary [H]e never ceased to show me things as rare, as beautiful, as whimsical, or as sublime as summer elephants. […] [T]he rough track up … Continue reading

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Beyond Comparing Field of Grain to the Sea

Jan Zwicky “The Spires of Martinville” Four Square Garden (Pasdeloup Press, Department of Fine Arts, University of Waterloo, Ontario) [1981] In the summer’s air, light-dappled, wading through young poplars by the barley’s green fur rippling before the wind, I cannot … Continue reading

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Longing to Belong

Warsan Shire Summarizing a whole suite of erotic cartographies, the poet telescopes the reader’s attention in a most delightful entanglement of means and ends: Your grandparents often found themselves in dark rooms, mapping out each other’s bodies, claiming whole countries … Continue reading

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