#lisbeth white

There is a kind of rhetoric towards obsession in the study of poetry)

Obsession, in this case, referencing the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent desire, thought, feeling, etc)

dive headlong into the topics one ruminates on, churns, and repeats)

lean into what preoccupies)

perceive all the angles with every sense available)

let the repetition of what is perceived become its own form and function)

an incantation of sorts)

a ritual recitation)

a single poem or collection)

(revel)(in the)(permission to be obsessed)

with formalism and free verse, with rhythm and sound)

consider these experiences worthy)

the beginning of a healing)

a new liberation of sorts)

profoundly familiar, bone-level familiar, (anciently familiar)

dreamlike states) sensory and expansive) tangible and alive)

pursue) this study of connection)

engage with the subtle energies of the world)

engage this sense of wonder and enchantment)

there are often moments of wonderment, moments when the imaginal breaks us into a painful and sacred longing toward what might be possible beyond the horror we are experiencing)

begin here)

it is acceptable to continue to pay attention)

hone this skill of open-eyed awareness into an adeptness and faculty for engaging with these subtle energies of the world, for relating and conversing, for channeling them into magic and healing)

(recover the knowledge)

(reclaim our original wholeness)

what a wonderful word, enchantment.)

the creation of a new something material, tangible, lived)

the container to hold the transformation is awareness itself. Our attention, and how it is held, creates the very container for change.)

(follow)(those relentless curiosities)

(become)

(arise)

we begin with the tools at hand, the obsession or idea of what we want to write is the initial substance to be transformed)

Our attention) the energy brought in to spark the change, which in turn develops and informs the nature of the change itself)

Not all attention is love and there is great danger for harm in conflating the two)

An overbearing or already-knowing quality of attention doesn’t lead to a truly innovative transformation, but rather a nearby and comfortable shift in circumstance)

“Did you let that tree make you into something different? No? Then don’t waste my time.”

(relearn)(enchantment)

(be enchanted)

(the edge of what is known, into a new beyond)

re-enchantment with the world as a whole becomes) resistance against isolation, exploitation, alienation)

True transformation, true power, does not exist in a vacuum)

There is wonderment in enchantment)

both vulnerability and a willingness toward that vulnerability)

make room for play and the seepage of surprise)

stretch the container of our perception beyond what is physically and materially known.)

(We must be open to awe)

While enchanted, the poem becomes a vessel, energy summoned and held in the container of line)

innocence) even the slow alchemy of revolution might be graced with something that may resemble play, and feel even a bit like delight.

being present to witness the transition)

the shift urging me along to a new state of being)

creating a rhythm without break)

I stretch, I extend, I become expanded)