Special Feature Collaborative Poem--By Michael G. Smith and Laura M. Kaminski--United States

Discarding Axioms

By Michael G. Smith and Laura M. Kaminski

“discard an axiom” and “take away elements in order of apparent importance” –
Oblique Strategies by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt

Two parallel lines meet as we stand on opposite
sides of this world. You might say we are perpendicular
to each other at that rare juncture in space-time
where and when two things form a singular point,
a pair of invisible hands stacking clouds that scatter
light into double rainbows and sunflowers.

All I know is a fearless towhee flew through the open
door and perched on the passenger seat headrest.
Her tiny claws planted in the soft fabric, she chirps
at the me absorbed in the fragrant verse of you,

at the you crisscrossed by absorption meditation.
Let us erase the lines.

Anchor-points that let her set her chirp-song free,
the towhee’s claws must be the most important
elements. Once released, all the angular directions,
rarity and singularity are mere confluence.

Next to go, folded clouds. Quick to follow, the rest
of the bird (feathers, bold persona) wing an exit.
Colors leave last, an arm of a doubled rainbow
curved around Van Gogh’s riveting yellows.

What’s left now? Is there enough connection
to warm your heart in this last drift of fragrance
through an open door? If we asked Seung Sahn,
the master of discarding axioms, he’d say Don’t Know.