| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
A SECRET AND INTERIOR ART
J.B. Mulligan
(Atlantic Online Writers' Workshop)
“A secret and interior art”
(Pope John Paul II, describing monastic life)
The contemplations of the rose
and weed are firmly rooted in
the only ground that either knows.
Each trembles in an equal wind;
the grip of fervor never shows,
the anchor set beneath the skin
of earth, external calm a part
of secret and interior art.
The hawk and pigeon each know air
as ground and wave, as waterfall
and rapid, and the battle there
is appetite unbound, for all
an intimate transaction where
the gain and loss are visible,
a clearly posted end and start,
not secret and interior art.
But one alone is seen as split,
sent to wander under the sky
meat and spirit separate
though chained, so neither can deny
the other's law: arrested, it
gives no excuse, no alibi,
but must confess. Can this impart
a secret and interior art?
Can silence find a harmony
to match the song from sphere to sphere?
If blindness is the eye to see
that sky beneath the soil is clear,
then utterance of truth can be
the word beyond the mouth or ear
and echoes flood the hollow heart
in secret and interior art.
Judge Sheila Bender's comment: “A rewarding performance in rhyme and repetition that builds from an exploration of a heard phrase to an inner and well-earned music: 'then utterance of truth can be / the word beyond the mouth or ear/ and echoes flood the hollow heart / in secret and interior art.'”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
Honorable Mentions, July 2002
