Notes on the Skyline

For a while now words have been hiding from me. Or perhaps they are always there and it is I who have failed to find them. This evening they flow from my fingers as if asking me to let them loose to speak of the spoken and attempt to point to that which is beyond mere letters.  

While attending a poetry recital this afternoon by Bahareh Amidi, I was aware that  words filled the room but that so much more that was unspoken permeated the air. 

The lady who hugged the poetess afterwards, clearly deeply touched; the college professor standing, clapping and calling for more; a chat with a young man, Abhinav Chauhan, whose desire in life is to get rid of the word hunger from the dictionary; the two calligraphers I met afterwards whose work spoke of an inexplicable beauty; all these little happenings and others were filled with an energy which words could not express.

The poet Rumi wrote,

“Explanation by words makes many things clear,

but love unexplained is clearer.”

And so I write - if only to allude to the unexplained love which is everpresent.

As I drove home from the Emirates Literature Festival, the skyline at sunset was breathtaking.  I attempted to capture it and have called this piece, “Notes on the Skyline”.  Each building seemed to be singing its own note to make up a beauty which far surpassed the sum of the parts.

The architectural beauty of Dubai has been part of my life these last few weeks where the weather has allowed the flaneur in me to stroll Dubai’s streets.  I have attempted to capture the beauty of Dubai in my instagram pics and to allow these photos to speak for me. 

It might sound like a cliche but we are all notes on the skyline of life. Each note is vital for the symphony of life to be heard. 

Each one of us is also a stroke in the calligraphy of life. The flow and patterns of our beings interweave and become an expression of beauty and significance. Those with ears to hear, will hear this beauty.  

The words of one of Bahareh’s poems still ring in my ears:

“Life is knowing that we are all here and we are all connected”.  

This evening I celebrate life.  

Awakening to Light

In a response to my last blog “Closer”, Bahareh Amidi wrote: 

“What a beautiful image, the spinning of the spinning top, such as the whirling of the Dervishes until they become one..... Until webecomeONE.”

Her mention of the dervishes immediately reminded me of another poem I wrote exactly two years and one day ago.  

Awakening

10.01.10

A new day dawns -

amidst the mysteries of technology.

Notice:

The digital tree

branching through the world

hears the gurgling stream

speak a language never heard before -

a chorus of interconnectedness

communicating in symbols, links and tweets.

See:

Among those

speaking the language of We,

are the twervishes ,

twirling and whirling on the deck

of the flagship Internet.

From many countries, faiths and worldviews,

in the twitterverse

they  #twance  -

communicating with joy

and a sense of participation

the dance of liberation

as consciousness becomes aware of itself.

Awaken:

Stillness is at the center of these tweets –

the axis of the twervish twance.

Speaking of me, speaking of you

but more than this

Singing of We

as a new days dawns -

amidst the mysteries of technology.

10.01.10

I thank Bahareh, @BaharehAmidi, known as the “American-Iranian poetess of light”, for the reminder, and to spread this light in the world, I include here a video of her recent wonderful poetry recital at the Pavilion in Downtown Dubai. 

Closer

Closer

Let's commune iCate
uWho
^_^ my way
Catch the sound
Hid den in the let hers
Hold onto the stories
Captured in the pictures
Swirl~ ~ ~ ~ing
Twirl~ ~ ~ ~ing
Across these waves
Bringingusallcloser
2 ea other
~~~~~~~ like the colors
On a spinning top

Til there is only One