Short Form
by Christopher Walsh, 1/21/2017-1/24/2017
I see what I can.
Can I see what I need?
by Christopher Walsh, 1/24/2017-1/31/2017
I see what I can.
Observing; considering; synthesizing — the goal: capture the world
In a thought.
No, smaller goal: a slice of our world,
Better understood, incrementally,
Then passed farther along.
You see what you can.
Perhaps with a parallax between your point and mine,
Understood differently from converging angles.
That world-slice makes more sense to me;
I wish for it to make more sense to you.
You wish for that as well. (At least I hope you do.)
Each view has pull. Each view explains,
Presenting its evidence, for us to pull in
From there or there (maybe there)
And think about.
And act on, perhaps, maybe, eventually.
Act on, how? We can't yet be sure: but
We see what we can.
How we translate the view, how we act, remains to be seen.
It's a factor of X, on top of variable after variable,
Not all grasped, not all known, not all seen.
(Though you see what you can.)
(As do they.)
(As do others.)
It all can be explained:
What is seen, and what is done,
Because anything, even anything new, can be studied and classified, and
Since psychology knows the ways we can react:
Sometimes expected to the point of being clear,
Sometimes unexpected to the point of being dissonant.
Maybe our action jars. Maybe it's hard to explain,
Done after leap on leap on leap of what felt like logic
Springing from what you've seen.
There is that risk. But we can improve.
My logic, your logic, ours, theirs,
Overlap — we hope — in a matrix of understanding
That can — that needs to be — further, more deeply
Connected.
...What if we see all of what we can?
What if we reach not a step in understanding,
But a jump in it?
What could, unexpectedly, add up?
What sense will we bring?
What world would we reach?
These poems © Christopher Walsh, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Christopher Walsh (chris_walsh) with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.