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	<title>is what i do&#187; write poems</title>
	<atom:link href="http://iswhatido.org/category/write-poems/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://iswhatido.org</link>
	<description>like it says</description>
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		<title>Imperative</title>
		<link>http://iswhatido.org/2005/12/15/imperative/</link>
		<comments>http://iswhatido.org/2005/12/15/imperative/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Dec 2005 12:23:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>richard</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[write poems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://richard.blumberg.org/2005/12/15/imperative/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If there is nothing at the end, Then there is nothing to anticipate And nothing to lose anticipating Something in its stead. Paradise Perhaps; some appropriate rebirth; Hell if that&#8217;s your leaning. Something To anticipate, informed by hope or fear, Attractive as nothing can never be. If there will be nothing then, then There can [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="poem" style="margin-left:2em;">
<p><img src="http://richard.blumberg.org/images/chaco.jpg" alt="Chaco Canyon" class="right" style="padding:0;border:4px solid #800;" />If there is nothing at the end,<br />
Then there is nothing to anticipate<br />
And nothing to lose anticipating<br />
Something in its stead. Paradise<br />
Perhaps; some appropriate rebirth;<br />
Hell if that&#8217;s your leaning. Something<br />
To anticipate, informed by hope or fear,<br />
Attractive as nothing can never be.</p>
<p>If there will be nothing then, then<br />
There can be nothing now, nothing<br />
That will not vanish, leaving<br />
Me with nothing, nothing to be<br />
for. Still, I will be good, and if<br />
It turns out I am good for nothing,<br />
Then nothing will be good enough.<br />
But if anything emerges, as of course<br />
all must, if anything will be,<br />
Then it will be better to have been<br />
Good, though nothing commanded that:<br />
No paradise, no future birth, no hell.</p>
<p>Nothing demands goodness. If <br />
I have nothing, then I have<br />
Nothing to hate, but now may love<br />
All with nothing. With anything, if<br />
I have anything, I may then<br />
Give some of that away to someone,<br />
Anyone I love now, and lose<br />
Nothing. And whatever<br />
I keep or give, anything or not,<br />
I must be honest about that,<br />
Anticipating nothing, and be<br />
Grateful for that. Love, gifts,<br />
Truth and gratitude, all<br />
And nothing. All that is good.
</div>
<div class="attribution">
Richard Blumberg, December 2005</div>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Youth, Lost in Time</title>
		<link>http://iswhatido.org/2005/12/05/youth-lost-in-time/</link>
		<comments>http://iswhatido.org/2005/12/05/youth-lost-in-time/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 2005 02:55:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>richard</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[write poems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://richard.blumberg.org/2005/12/05/youth-lost-in-time/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our time is bloated, complex, And despite its urgent claims To be changing every moment, It changes slowly. If youth, Eye caught by some small trick Of light or timing, were to Notice, exposed as it were By chance, some small eruption From the fixed and cluttered past, Some name, verse of some poem, Appearing, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://richard.blumberg.org/images/wall.jpg" alt="Stormking Wall" class="right" />
<div class="poem" style="padding-left:1em;margin-left:1.5em;">
Our time is bloated, complex,<br />
And despite its urgent claims<br />
To be changing every moment,<br />
It changes slowly.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left:10em;">If youth,</span><br />
Eye caught by some small trick<br />
Of light or timing, were to<br />
Notice, exposed as it were<br />
By chance, some small eruption<br />
From the fixed and cluttered past,<br />
Some name, verse of some poem,<br />
Appearing, at this moment, from<br />
This place, to have the steady gleam<br />
Of truth, and if youth were to<br />
Focus: immerse mind and energy<br />
On all the substance that gleam<br />
Reveals, followed to its source;<br />
Study years, ignoring as past<br />
All meaning,<br />
All urgency,<br />
Every imposition<br />
Of currency upon eternal revelation,<br />
And if then youth were to emerge,<br />
As it were, again in our quick<br />
Time, our time may still,<br />
Will still, be here, as youth<br />
Will be old some time still<br />
And some time soon<br />
No change encounter.
</div>
<div class="attribution">
Richard Blumberg, 2003<br />
(This first appeared in <strong>The Passionate Skeptic</strong>)</div>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Tall City</title>
		<link>http://iswhatido.org/2005/11/28/tall-city/</link>
		<comments>http://iswhatido.org/2005/11/28/tall-city/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:49:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>richard</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[write poems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://richard.blumberg.org/2005/11/28/tall-city/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tall, the city is tall and low down it grinds, the city grinds one against the next striking spark against rail, shifting gears, each turning, turns the next widdershins, spinning now this way, now that way never looking up, up. There, they say the towers sway, down they spin to power the tall city&#8217;s story [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://richard.blumberg.org/images/tallcity.jpg" alt="The Tall city" class="right" />
<div class="poem">
<p>Tall, the city is<br />
tall and low down it grinds,<br />
the city grinds one against<br />
the next striking spark<br />
against rail, shifting gears,</p>
<p>each turning, turns the next<br />
widdershins, spinning now<br />
this way, now<br />
that way never looking up,</p>
<p>up. There, they say<br />
the towers sway,<br />
down they spin to power<br />
the tall city&#8217;s story<br />
hour after hour after hour.
</p></div>
<div class="attribution">
Richard Blumberg, October-November, 2005</div>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Samsara</title>
		<link>http://iswhatido.org/2005/09/12/samsara/</link>
		<comments>http://iswhatido.org/2005/09/12/samsara/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2005 12:37:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>richard</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[write poems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://richard.blumberg.org/2005/09/12/samsara/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every thing is (God is, I am), On the border, that sphere Infinitely distant from The center defining It, porous, indistinct: Not I, I, dust; Lightning Flash, God, comforting notion. That, this, another, Becoming as it is, Soft where it meets Embracing other, there Is no harm there, Nothing really, there. And where does that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://richard.blumberg.org/images/samsara.jpg" alt="Samsara" class="right" />
<div class="poem">
Every thing is<br />
(God is, I am),<br />
On the border, that sphere<br />
Infinitely distant from<br />
The center defining<br />
It, porous, indistinct:<br />
Not I, I, dust;<br />
Lightning<br />
Flash, God, comforting notion.</p>
<p>That, this, another,<br />
Becoming as it is,<br />
Soft where it meets<br />
Embracing other, there<br />
Is no harm there,<br />
Nothing really,<br />
there.</p>
<p>And where does that<br />
Leave us then, leave every thing<br />
Here, and how<br />
Does any thing,<br />
Does God, do I return<br />
To where<br />
We were, where<br />
Every thing is, was -<br />
How is it that<br />
Every thing returns to<br />
Will be<br />
At the center</p>
<p>Again?
</p></div>
<div class="attribution">
Richard Blumberg, 2005</div>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Punctuation</title>
		<link>http://iswhatido.org/2005/04/03/punctuation/</link>
		<comments>http://iswhatido.org/2005/04/03/punctuation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2005 15:19:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>richard</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[write poems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://richard.blumberg.org/?p=4</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Out there relentless Time drives all becoming, Hastening. Meanwhile we here And now hold our selves to be, Still.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="poem">Out there relentless<br />
Time drives all becoming,<br />
Hastening.</p>
<p>Meanwhile we here<br />
And now hold our selves to be,<br />
Still.</p></div>
]]></content:encoded>
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