Dinner at My College Professor’s Apartment

(for Phil Ennis)

I never imagined I was included.
I fully believed in the world
of loneliness and relentless achievement—
I knew pretending as the only possibility.

But that night he laughed with delight
while he wrote his fresh insights in magic
marker on the kitchen cabinets that held
his hodgepodge of second-hand dishes
and while the soundless black-and-white TV
surreptitiously revealed (as he explained
to me) a wealth of deeper truths.

Then he turned to me in all seriousness
and slyly invited me through the open door
saying: “The world is an interesting
place, Rynick, and you can think.”

I was shocked and amazed. No one
had ever mentioned that insight and liberation
on my own terms were possible, let alone necessary.

—

Seeing and thinking through the deep surface
training the world opens herself and you
are free to be irreverent—to laugh and cry
and even, if you choose, to write
in magic marker wherever and whatever you want.

Personal Practice – Spend the day watching closely the people and patterns of interaction that surround you. Don’t believe what is said, but listen for what is unsaid and perhaps more important. Turn off the sound on your TV and see if you can glimpse the wealth of information being revealed beneath the surface. Write whatever crazy idea comes into your head, then share it with someone who might appreciate a brief respite from common sense.