{"id":869,"date":"2016-05-02T16:07:19","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T16:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olioweb.me.uk\/wordpress_marcus\/?p=869"},"modified":"2024-08-19T16:03:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T16:03:39","slug":"poem-of-the-month-april-2016-getting-to-grips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/?p=869","title":{"rendered":"Poem of the Month, May 2016: Getting to grips"},"content":{"rendered":"

GETTING TO GRIPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘All I want to do is be with you, Amida, this early morning.’<\/p>\n

‘I send you Avalokit\u00c3\u00a9svara and Mahasthamaprapta.’<\/p>\n

After six hours of perfect sleep I sit peacefully and meditate.<\/p>\n

Ten minutes later I’m downstairs in my dressing-gown feeling refreshed.<\/p>\n

It’s terribly important that in moments of sanity like this<\/p>\n

I allow myself to be guided with regard to the day ahead.<\/p>\n

In my ‘down’ period I inadvertently committed blunders<\/p>\n

which are a source of regret. I probably disappointed people.<\/p>\n

Most of all Maria must have suffered from my involuntary neglect.<\/p>\n

I’ll do anything in my power to make it up to her today.<\/p>\n

I will avoid making promises and resolutions I can’t keep.<\/p>\n

I’ll be glad if today is even slightly better than yesterday.<\/p>\n

Save energy without becoming despondent – that is the message.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sky is blue. Sunshine throws shadows of our tree on the neighbours’ wall.<\/p>\n

Up on the wire the blackbird watches to see if I have any food.<\/p>\n

Tibetan rites are called for. They will keep me occupied usefully,<\/p>\n

stretch my muscles and get me back into the meditational mood<\/p>\n

my day began with (I feel myself slipping back towards inertia).<\/p>\n

Dressing-gown off! Onto the floor, after winding up like a Sufi.<\/p>\n

Exercises done, I am bowled over by a wave of gratitude.<\/p>\n

While I splash my body with hot water the inward man rejoices.<\/p>\n

Maria is here, putting away the drying-racks on the landing.<\/p>\n

O six hours’ sleep! You have greatly improved the condition of my back.<\/p>\n

A happy young mother smiles at her child as Cumberlege hits the street.<\/p>\n

(I’m still the mystical Marcus who meekly kneels at Amida’s feet).<\/p>\n

Bambino is open for ink! I can print while Maria’s away.<\/p>\n

Shopping gets me out of my head and into the world of challenges.<\/p>\n

That sun now finds me on the garden bench. Five minutes with the angels.<\/p>\n

Back into town. A string of talkative children. I pass unnoticed.<\/p>\n

Luckily Rida’s in the D\u00c3\u00a9licious to give me one of his hugs.<\/p>\n

‘Marcus appears when the sun comes out,’ he perplexes me with his smile.<\/p>\n

My chemist, the sweetest man in the whole of Bruges, is slightly tipsy<\/p>\n

after a whole week-end of sex with the wife he’s busy divorcing.<\/p>\n

Insanity’s not confined to the quirks of manic poets like me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Both of us have activities to attend to in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Maria goes to her drawing lesson, me to my Spanish ladies.<\/p>\n

With resolute expressions cyclists and pedestrians go their way,<\/p>\n

evidently at home in the unpredictable urban landscape.<\/p>\n

‘My paradise on earth’ is this week’s topic of conversation.<\/p>\n

The other guy steals the show with his charming village utopia.<\/p>\n

Afternoons spent in our garden writing are my idea of heaven.<\/p>\n

Anabel walks me to the door as always, and we part the best of friends.<\/p>\n

The state of torment I was in last week she refers to as ‘tiredness’.<\/p>\n

God is looking after Anabel and Amida is looking after me.<\/p>\n

Love is the antidote to fear – fear this poem will prove a failure<\/p>\n

and that such a highly spiritual start should end in a miscarriage.<\/p>\n

Maria fills the deep-freeze with masses of food to keep me going<\/p>\n

while she is away in Nantes visiting the annual patchwork fair.<\/p>\n

She makes yoghurt, cracks walnuts, puts a huge shepherd’s pie in the oven.<\/p>\n

As the hour of departure draws near, my love for her comes on strongly.<\/p>\n

Could I have done something to ease the burden of human suffering?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GETTING TO GRIPS ‘All I want to do is be with you, Amida, this early morning.’ ‘I send you Avalokit\u00c3\u00a9svara […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.olioweb.me.uk\/marcus\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}