A few years ago whilst living in San Francisco I was taken to see an Irish poet called David Whyte, I was expecting a dingy art centre with a few solemn looking intellectuals having a moment of existential angst. What I found was packed out vibrant theatre with the same emotional hype of waiting to see any large named inspirational speaker. In the US poetry is the new black.
It was a wonderful evening where I felt I was taken into a sedative trance by his words.
The UK is a little behind the poetry revolution, but when we catch up, as we always do Steve Taylor is our man. I have just read his book of poems called The Meaning, highly endorsed my Eckhart Tolle and now myself.
Taylor say’s: “Poetry is the natural medium to communicate higher states of consciousness, or awakening experiences”. There may be something a little lost in reading poems in a book, for me they are an oral tradition and best read by the author. Yet without that opportunity currently, and I do hope this is something the author would consider, I will share with you one of the poems in the book:
Loveability: Knowing How to Love and Be Loved on Amazon
The Trick
The trick is to trust yourself
not to try to trap your prey
or seduce your lover
If you feel frustrated
the animal will scent your anxiety
and veer away
your lover will sense your desperation
and spurn you
Your soul is delicate
you can’t shake and squeeze her
or scrape her sides
for a few last crumbs of insight
She needs time to collect herself
to gather her dissipated power
Too much force will break the mould
of invisible patterns and potentials
which give birth to beauty
She may seem barren now
but she’s not dead, only sleeping
New life is slowly seeping through
from that deep underground source
making her moist and rich again
until she’s ready to release
strange new joys
Your soul has never you let you down
and never will
as long as you are patient
as long as you are still.
©The Meaning Steve Taylor
A book well worth having on your shelf just to dip into when searching for meaning.
