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The Object is Poetics ~ dVersePoets

Objectionable Meditations

If the object is designed
to focus flustered mind
and one is left thinking "plastic"

It would be safe to assume
the object has failed.

When mind quiet
turns to trend so that
it can be bought

to decorate patios and storefronts
then of course the mind...
can't help but wander.

When detachment is thought obtained
through going over limit
to own the next great rendering

of the quiet mind
then of course,
what was regarded as detachment

regurgitates itself
as more of the same
selfish, driven consumerism

that we frequent more so than Mass
yet our thinking minds
refuse to acknowledge as church

So we will bow
to the humble and all knowing
as we fool ourselves into thinking

we have stepped off
the great wheel of suffering
until the bill comes due.


This week, Mark Kerstetter is leading the charge at Poetics, where he is challenging us to regard an object, preferably from the natural world (who says my blue rooms not natural!) and to wait for the word that comes to mind. To see the object with utmost clarity, to capture its essence in language.  That was my aim, and it is for you to decide if it was achieved.  Come on over to dVerse and share with us an object from your own environment, and the poetry that was prompted. 

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Brian Miller said…
whew...you kept the message straight as you marched through this one poet...we fool ourselves into thinking

we have stepped off
the great wheel of suffering
until the bill comes due...those last 4 lines pop it tight...our nice comfortable plastic lives...and debt...piling around our ears...
February 4, 2012 at 5:15 PM
hedgewitch said…
Your object became a state of mind, and returned to an object so fluently, I was almost unaware of all the many many details of both description and concept you had worked in, Tash. I've heard a lot of goofy talk around the subject of meditation since the popularization and commercialization of it began in the 60's, but this whole piece, esp your last two stanzas, has some of the most unsparing and cogent reasoning I've run across. Excellent stuff.
February 4, 2012 at 5:17 PM
Elaine said…
Very smooth flow throughout this piece. And powerful words and imagery. Well done.
February 4, 2012 at 5:27 PM
Marousia said…
Wow! Love this Tash - definitely one of your best -you really do get to the heart of the matter so logically and lyrically
February 4, 2012 at 6:49 PM
Daydreamertoo said…
You captured it alright.
February 4, 2012 at 7:00 PM
Semaphore said…
A philosophical piece, you delineate the zen of poetics.
February 4, 2012 at 7:27 PM
Anonymous said…
This is one of your very best pieces, Natasha. The beginning is especially powerful:

"If the object is designed
to focus flustered mind
and one is left thinking "plastic"

It would be safe to assume
the object has failed.

When mind quiet
turns to trend so that
it can be bought"
February 4, 2012 at 7:32 PM
Unknown said…
I like the use you make of analysis to undermine our accepted notions of what a thing is. This is very difficult to pull off in a poem, which is supposed to be "poetic." But you have made this both poetry and a searching for answers that might not be poetic at all, since it involves ethical behavior. The sound of the poem is very precise and I am carried along by your thoughts wuite effortlessly. Another thing you avoid is abstration, keeping the poem anchored in a world we can touch, feel, and experience every day.
February 4, 2012 at 7:44 PM
Unknown said…
The amount of objects made we don't need ( just think we do ) surely can't be good for mankind at all .....love this thought provoking piece ...thank you x
February 4, 2012 at 7:45 PM
Pat Hatt said…
The money goes out in paper and then the paper rises up in some caper. Drowning us in debt, which will surely make one fret. So much crap made we don't need, but they still sell away making our ears bleed.
February 4, 2012 at 7:57 PM
Mark Kerstetter said…
You've written an outstanding meditation here. You ask, "who says my blue rooms not natural!" Indeed, you're right. When I wrote the first draft of the prompt, I leaned toward suggesting we write about natural objects, but upon further reflection realized my mistake, and when I went back to revise neglected to take out that 'preferably natural objects' phrase. It seems to me you've written something of a critique on meditation itself while, as Charles pointed out, brought the notion of "object" into question as well. A fascinating poem!
February 4, 2012 at 8:13 PM
Beachanny said…
I've read this three times. Each time gleaning more from the words. It's an amazing feat really to meditate about meditation, spirituality, the essence of being (as Sam said "the zen") and still be able to achieve that through tactile words and objects. Each setting up symbols and metaphors that deepen the topic and strengthen the poem. I agree it is one of your very best!
February 4, 2012 at 8:21 PM
Stu McP (hate & hope) said…
Totally got this and see it day to day. I laughed because I actually have a Buddha in my garden! Loved the metaphor that can be taken from this- you buy an expensive Buddha for your garden thinking you have escaped samsara as a result- but then the bill arrives and so does the suffering. This can be said of many material things that we waste money on for short term pleasure. Good skills AGAIN Tash!
February 4, 2012 at 9:01 PM
Laurie Kolp said…
You showed how our mind wanders when we are trying to concentrate or meditate ... I love this.
February 4, 2012 at 11:20 PM
Dave King said…
Very clever and very focussed. Very enjoyable and very memorable.
February 5, 2012 at 7:50 AM
Unknown said…
Some killer lines here Tash, love the inquiry you pose throughout the piece. Blue rooms are so natural, don't ever let anyone tell ya different :)
February 5, 2012 at 4:22 PM
Hot Rod Pics said…
"we have stepped off
the great wheel of suffering
until the bill comes due."

Oh, wow, you nailed this! Quite an unexpected culture-break you give me today, pulling me willingly into some cool, deep stuff here. ... Now back to football! LOL Thank you sincerely, though, this poem is wonderful.
February 5, 2012 at 4:27 PM
Mormaer MacLean said…
Synchronicity intreagues the simple man and like the divine fool he wanders here and there.
I liked the lithe liquid dharma of your words which were whispers of form held in the visage of an archetype
February 5, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Teresa said…
Great writing. You really do a great job of confronting commercialism.
February 5, 2012 at 9:09 PM
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