keeping things whole
.
“Lady in the Water” Toni Frissell December 1947
I have been thinking a lot about wholeness, completeness and connectedness: The many ways we come into, and move out of, one another’s lives.
“Keeping Things Whole” is one of my favorite poems. At first read, I was drawn to the compactness of the poem and the pauses forced by the spacing. The initial images of the actual movement of the air as you pass through, and it closing behind you, captivated me.
But then, I realized that this poem is a metaphor for feeling that you have inserted yourself into the lives of others. That, by your very presence, you have upset the order of things. The only way to keep things whole is to leave.
So, I still love the poem, but I don’t agree with the basic thesis of the poem. It is by being in each other’s lives, by disturbing the air, that we breathe in the scents and exhalations and spirits of one another.
I suppose we could try to live in such a way as to always be invisible and solitary - to be the absence of the field - but to what end? We are meant to swirl in and around, under and over each other, creating new spaces to inhabit, assuring one another with our presence. We are meant to move, but together, creating new kinds of wholeness.
****
Keeping Things Whole
by Mark Strand
In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.
When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body’s been.
We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.
