Magnolia Blossoms by Anna Montgomery

For Immanuel Kant

I persevere
in this shallow depth of field
art of perception
keeps me anchored,
floating in the halation
of your poetry

in the Japanese tea garden
I traverse the half-moon
bridge to nowhere

sublimity of the formless
blurred image becomes
my method of loci

memories of belonging
to you, to the world
through my embodied perspective
surround me

fingertips trace your shadows
phantoms cast in my peripheral vision
sensitivity amplified
to unbearable heights

all sounds are blown mute

left with complex silence
eidetic imagery of you
like the sun ghost
burning beneath closed lids

ephemeral spaces alight
in the tinted ambiguity
nuances of hue illuminate
this interplay of epiphenomena

as if an absence of psychology is possible

specificity of time and place diffuse
opposites now lose focus through erasure
circle of confusion defines my
travel without passage

aporia breaks the logic of identity
into a deep, silent wonder

no longer aware of my limitations
philosophical puzzles denature
self engulfs grand sensation

I am a boundless magnolia
celestial body, fertile,
without a cipher
ever distant/ever close

your immersion ignites
heat flushes my face
a sweet release
mystic union

encountering the limits of language
a border kissing the initiation of bliss
encompassing all, alone/together
as I was then, as I often am
seeing anew:

moral freedom is gained from conquering fear

here lies the hunger and the nourishment
heartbeat within and without
creative impulse and its fruition

I am forever mutable
melting in the presence of beauty

Posted in response to Claudia’s truly inspiring Meeting The Bar prompt on Beautiful Solitude: