Poem - THe Master's Ouroboros

This poem marks day 60 of my 90 days of poetry. It has been an interesting journey. I've learned about myself. My frequent readers have probably learned a thing or two about me also! I've learned by doing, and the learning has progressed me from the macrocosm to the microcosm of poetry. I learn one thing, and then I challenge myself to do it BIGGER and BETTER. The poem “The Master's Ouroboros” is about the progression of individual artistry.

The Master's Ouroboros
Poem for Day 060 – 20141122

They call him Master.
To where does he look?
The big picture perhaps?
The smaller picture?
What does he best understand?
Look to his focus for the matter.

The beginner struggles with the large.
The big picture is their foe.
The understanding of the whole
is their first task at hand.
This to the memory they must this remand.
Only then can they move along.

The apprentice conquers the large, encounters the little.
So many things to consider, like puzzle pieces scattered.
Collect them up, sort them, put them in place.
Each is a domino, aligned to create the fates.
Separate together, important only in combination.
To account for this is the apprentice's vocation.

The Master moves to the smaller,
no hindrance in the little or larger.
The whole is good, how to make it better?
How to separate satisfaction from pleasure?
The Master makes an action so minute,
the world realigns to follow suite.

But wait, what is this? Can it be?
The large is contained in the little.
The struggle is bigger on the inside.
Ouroboros presides in the Master's soul.
The day of reckoning has been attained.
The Master becomes beginner again.

They call him Master.
He has seen it all: small, little, and large.
The only path forward is that not yet taken.
The unseen beckons to art reawakened.
The snake eats its tail, the world renews again.
The Master struggles with the large and all is well.

© 2014. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

Poem - You Human

I have my own set of experiences. For good, bad, or ugly, they color my understanding the world. There are others in the world with incredibly different life experiences. These differences can come in the form of age, race, religion, community, or society. Sometimes there are more differences than similarities between myself and the people I encounter. While we call this normal, this gives me zero permission to make harsh assumptions about their life. Too often human kind reacts in fear to the unknown, and this reaction extends to other people. The fear presents dark visions instead of bright possibilities. Diversity becomes danger. Wisdom becomes madness. Why? Ah! That is grist for another poem. Now it is enough to state that fear or righteousness are not the vehicle for reconciling our life experiences with another person's.


You Human
Bonus Poem for Day 060 – 20141122

Through the hazy window
I see your world in shadow.
I see only the maligned,
little do I know of your kind.
I see you as less than human.
Lack of empathy is illusion.
You have the tears of joy,
you have the scars of pain.

Can I understand your way
within the breadth of my Lord's Day?
Moral high ground laid low,
poor substitute for knowing.
I cannot speak honestly,
I have no authority.
An intellectual slum,
to speak would show me dumb.

A disconnect exists here,
Your way of life is what I fear.
Can I live your private life,
if I only see there strife?
Please forgive my ignorance,
my fear is the hindrance.
You deserve recognition,
this has become my mission.

No more this war of hate,
the discord must abate.
My own I must defy,
you are as human as I.

© 2014. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.