“We are more closely connected to the invisible than to the visible
Novalis
I think my thoughts
see sparkles in black velvet
sequins and distant stars
their light only now just reaching out
long after inception
though here is no real imagining
picturesque but still, informed presentiments
celestial skies and axons making synaptic leaps
the way lightning bolts
before near-sighting microscopes
and cadaverous sections of stained curlicues
I might have felt the magic made flesh
mantra and shabda in sacred union
now I am tied to the train tracks of knowledge
and thoughts, urbane, profound, subliminal
or so devilish they are banished
into slipstreams of consciousness like eels
have become visible to the naked eye
the analyst's couch, the cognitive doctoring
of mind over matter
God make me liquid again
so that I may flounder in a sea of faith*
Joining Jilly as she challenges us to write about Unseen Things
PoetryPix 
I really love how your thoughts meandered into this stream… very fluid, and in end why not eels… they can move where you never expect.
glad you noticed fluidity as that is what the poem is aiming for with its thoughts
This flows so effortlessly and I really love what ties us to the train tracks!
one of those silent movies scenes crept in here whilst visualising how knowledge can stifle even lateral thinking – thank you for the prompt Jilly – found it difficult to start flowing with this one
kaykuala
picturesque but still, informed presentiments
celestial skies and axons making synaptic leaps
the way lightning bolts
Beautiful word-craft throughout the take, Laura!
Hank
many thanks Hank
What a wonderful poem!
glad you enjoyed Annell
So much good stuff going on in here, the overarching modern state of being “tied to the train tracks of knowledge,” and having our imaginations informed to death. But also I just love the words and images, the axons connecting like lightning bolts, the banished eels. Really nice work!
always interesting to have feedback on the interpretations – so I really appreciate your words
Nice last two lines about becoming liquid again and floundering in a sea of faith.
a cry from the heart Frank – thanks
WOW! If you were sitting beside me you would have heard a very very loud “ohhhhh” escape my lips, reading the ending of this poem. And these words “now I am tied to the train tracks of knowledge” — and so many more. The imagery and wondering is palpable. And those last two lines become a prayer….just a wonderful post! 🙂
and if you were sitting besides me I would hug you for your considerably encouraging comment
I also loved “tied to the train tracks of knowledge.” what progress was ever made without a paradigm shift of some sort? We get blinded by what we think we know, when in reality, there is a basic faith, or at least a structure of presumed assumptions at the basis of nearly everything we think we know. We can lose ourselves in those boxes, can’t we. Here comes the train!!! TOOT! TOOT! If I had had this poem 7 years ago, I wouldn’t have had to read Thomas Kuhn’s entire book – where were you when I needed you?!?! 😉
thank you for making me smile re the Kuhn book 🙂
it’s official I’m pinning this one to my wall (getting crowded up there)
for now I’ve pinned the Arnold reference mentioned above – love how writing makes us read the works of others
“mind over matter” – yeah, like that ever works.
CBT? rather a robotic approach much of the time
well, I have seen CBT help many of my patients. it can ease the storm of anxiety and lift the well of depression. but it is too robotic to flesh out the beauties and mysteries of life. it can’t give perspective and shift to our prejudices and paradigms, but it is a good tool, at least as effective as anti-depressants. It is a tool for the use of but the actualization of humanity. Your poem gets at the actualization bit. CBT can help us function, but it cannot help us be. We can’t be fixed machines to be human, to grow, to learn, to love, to be. We can’t be tied to the tracks of what we think we know (I STILL LOVE THAT!!! I AM GOING TO CHUG AROUND FOR SEVERAL WEEKS PEEPING OUT RANDOM TOOT-TOOTS AND THE PEOPLE AROUND ME WILL THINK HOW ECCENTRIC I AM BEING, hehe). God makie me liquid again, indeed. (am I effusing? I think I’m effusing, sorry, hope it didn’t stain anybody’s shoes, hehe). So I don’t knock CBT, I send people for it, but they can’t get out of it what I got from your poem, thanks again. Lona
a succinct exposé! 😉
Oh, now I’m confused. I just maybe perhaps have been misunderstanding what succinct means all these years… (scurrying off to find that old dictionary)… 🤔. This has been fun… have a wonderful day Laura 🙋🏻♀️