Hiding

Wednesday, June 13, 2012




Yesterday someone told it looked like I am hiding from the world. I think I am. I am okay with this right now, but I part of me thinks I need to make plans to visit the world. Is it okay to hide sometimes?

Posted by Alberta Art Classes at 9:31 AM  

3 comments:

Christopher Guilfoil said...

The skill or craft is too hide a bit every day and then trust in what comes toward us from "the World."
Some call it "building our hut." We then have our own little hideout with us at all times.

Another name for it is "soul peace."

Take it from me, one whose middle name is Aloof, Emily Dickinson is a good role model. In this poem by Simic she is referred to for all her mastery of shunning the agora.


The White Room
BY CHARLES SIMIC

The obvious is difficult
To prove. Many prefer
The hidden. I did, too.
I listened to the trees.

They had a secret
Which they were about to
Make known to me,
And then didn’t.

Summer came. Each tree
On my street had its own
Scheherazade. My nights
Were a part of their wild

Storytelling. We were
Entering dark houses,
More and more dark houses
Hushed and abandoned.

There was someone with eyes closed
On the upper floors.
The thought of it, and the wonder,
Kept me sleepless.

The truth is bald and cold,
Said the woman
Who always wore white.
She didn’t leave her room much.

The sun pointed to one or two
Things that had survived
The long night intact,
The simplest things,

Difficult in their obviousness.
They made no noise.
It was the kind of day
People describe as “perfect.”

Gods disguising themselves
As black hairpins? A hand-mirror?
A comb with a tooth missing?
No! That wasn’t it.

Just things as they are,
Unblinking, lying mute
In that bright light,
And the trees waiting for the night.

Wishing you peace,
Chris Guilfoil

June 13, 2012 at 10:16 AM  
Denise Emanuel Clemen said...

HOORAY for hiding, I say!

June 14, 2012 at 8:33 AM  
Run Lori Run said...

Of course!

June 15, 2012 at 3:37 PM  

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