In the ecstasy of the common element
We share with everything
You stare into the fractals
That are and are not a language
Are and are not a system
Are and are not a way to understand
What is both chaos and order
You are afraid of mystery
Yet you move toward her
There is and there is not a border
Where you end and she begins
There is nothing much to win
But there is so much to lose
If you choose the wrong frame
The wrong name
To say the same thing
And mean the entire
Or maybe just the partial
Opposite
For example, to say I mean
Is so different from saying
You mean
Everything
I mean
You mean
Everything
There is no elephant in the room
But there is a bird of paradise
Here in her imaginings
Where you are also beautiful
She sees flowers in everything
And she knows that you do too
You stare to the center
And she stares right along with you
But there is nothing there
The red is an illusion
The bird’s beak—is it made by your eye
Or maybe by your brain
If you think too much about reality
Very little stays
Just pain
So instead you think about her
And that strange energy that pertains to love
You think about Maya Angelou
Knowing why the caged bird sings
You could say that it’s unimportant
Or you tell her
That it’s the most important
And the most urgent
Of all things
By Julie Flanders
Photo by David Hofmann
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