Getting Through

At the time these poems are published, early in 2017, it appears we're living in the worst of times. Darkness seems to have swallowed us. The message of these poems, especially the later ones, is that we don't need to be swallowed. Color and beauty still can be found. We especially need to be reassured of this at a time when the baseline of darkness has yet to be found. The poems are going to survive. So can we. "Tell all the truth but tell it slant" is the line from Emily Dickinson's well-remembered poem. When a storm is coming, how do you describe lightning to a young child - without terrifying the child to the point of paralysis? In these ominous times, we all end up at times feeling like children. And there's plenty of lightning that's flashing out there, scaring the bejesus out of us. These poems can help to keep us focused on what we're up against, without terrifying us. We all face the same distress. We share pain in the effort to lessen it, but the distress doesn't need to change who we are. Our sensitivities and mutual values will unite us, steady us, relieve the epidemic depression that comes when we isolate ourselves to separate lonely quarters. At least for the time of contemplating the possible meanings beyond meanings that these poems present, we'll be able to shelter in place awhile and gather back our wits for the conflicts that are to come. For the most part, the poems in this collection are presented in the cryptic codes of allegory and metaphor, i.e. told slant We all need to adapt to this convention, partly for the relative safety it provides. In our own separate ways we have to become code talkers. Poetry readily offers itself for this. View the poems with soft eyes and metaphorical sensibilities. Think of one thing in relation to another, and frequently the silent distance between the two breeds new ways of thinking. Sometimes the distance enables thoughtful reflection, serenity enough to enable new insight and fresh understanding. The coding within that distance protects everyone involved. You should approach these poems this way. An Irish proverb proclaims: "It is in the shelter of each other that the people live." We gain warmth by huddling together, if not always literally, then at least figuratively, by knowing at least that these poems are being shared by like-minded people. Our goal now has to be to find ways to make sense to make of things. Find ways and places to catch our breath. Find ways to make the turmoil containable. Find hope within a hopeless moment. Find the color that gives value and meaning back to us. Most of the poems, especially the ones in the later sections of the collection, try to isolate a shining moment, even during the worst of situations. They try to remind everyone there is goodness to be found, even in the midst of the dismal. The plan for "Getting Through" is to plot some direction for general survival, through uncertainties and then into the prospect of an upward trajectory that might re-link us to a kind of sober hope for something better than the way things look right now. The final section seeks a kind of human common ground. Nothing political about it. Nothing conventionally religious. I'm hoping that simply by communicating and sharing this work, we all can reinforce ourselves and each other for what is inevitably to come. It's going to get worse before it gets better.