There is no atlas for this
country I travel. There are roads
drawn through imaging and scalpels
but none of them named Cherry, Peach, Plum,
or those numbered state and county routes.
Instead we have the foramen semiovale,
not the semi-o valley fruiting between hills of sulci,
and hippocampi are no toothed monsters
drawn in a bestiary who raise their young
into memory sleeping within ventricles;
those caves of flesh, the open spaces
in the brain where we run dreams, but all of it dark
and if there is an express(way) to understand
the flickered, electric dance between synapses
that shapes poetry I don’t know it.
The place poetry flies from
shouting in tongues
is invisible,hidden in a space smaller
than a ganglion tucked in vegetative flesh,
dense as the cauliflower
I pick for dinner and less pretty.
If I held the organic seat in my hands,
the two of them cupped;
mine would look no different than the one I did hold
in anatomy lab.
Hubris is hard to own
when the seat of it is so common, so small
and whispers in that place I hear
but is earless that poetry
is less a quality of brain
and more one of mind; that meld
of body, spirit, and thought
catching something new
in a process old as being
and as hard to define.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
ha…love your word play…an express(way)…nice…and all the references as well through out…Hubris is hard to own
when the seat of it is so common…is a really cool line as well…it is def not easy to define, but i think you did a fine job….smiles.
Thanks, Brian. I had some fun with this one!
The poet’s mind is the workshop of humanity… The product are words with intense profoundity that moves and reshapes affections…
Oh, I like how your mind works, Obinna. And I agree.
I agree, poetry is a challenge to define ~ More of the spirit, and leaping thoughts for me though ~ Have a good day Susan ~
You too Grace!
oh wow, Susan. this is definitely something! what a clever way to investigate the poet’s mind.
loved the hippocampi – line… very witty!
Thanks, Miriam! I agree it is something, but have no idea what yet… I’m just going to call it a crazy free write for now. It is the product of transcribing all day and then watching a lecture on the neuroscience of creativity on You-Tube 😉
haha good combination
🙂 for today’s prompt, anyway. I am going to let this one sit for a while and maybe send on over to IP for some serious help…
only if you bring the hippopotam… errr… hippocampi 😉
They are definitely coming along. What will we call the babies? Hippocamplets? Hippocamplings? By the way, I love the line-at-a-time stuff you and Mike thought up.
awww definitely Hippocamplings – sounds so cute!
thank you – it’s such fun and just marvelous to see poems develop…
🙂
I am really enjoying watching those poems develop.
oh, me too! i got the idea from a story-email-game i play with a friend – thought why not try it with poetry… so cool what a bunch of people can do
Super clever and great take on prompt. k.
Thanks, K!
heh-heh ~ a scary place to be …
Hey–that’s my head we’re discussing 😉
😀
I liked your statement that poetry is less a quality of brain and more a quality of mind….but then I wonder (to myself) what is the difference between ‘brain’ and ‘mind’? I will come back in some time and read your thought on this, if you have one.
Mary–glad you brought that up. The difference is more of a philosophical one. The brain is the physical engine that runs us, or better put, interacts with our bodies, filters everything, and responds accordingly. The mind, on the other hand, is comprised of the brain inclusive of the body; the world, and our selves as a whole as we interact with it, including the social self or selves. The mind includes the brain, but is much, much more than that little graying cauliflower.
Wow… amazing piece, Susan. I especially like the last 2 stanzas.
Laurie, thank you. This one just jumped out of nowhere and surprised me. Not exactly sure what it is yet, or what it will become, but I like parts of it, a lot.
Me, too.
Thanks, Laurie!
I really enjoyed this. Well done.
Oh, thanks so much. I had some fun with this one, or my brain did, or my mind.
Terrific writing!
Thanks, Deana
EXCELLENT! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that many medical terms used in a poem that absolutely sings. The second stanza is a tour de force.
David, thank you. This was one of those days I was rolling in terminology (work-related), and I spiced up the stew with a lecture on the neuroscience of creativity. I had fun on my somewhat guided tour, and glad you did too.
“those caves of flesh, the open spaces
in the brain where we run dreams, but all of it dark
and if there is an express(way) to understand
the flickered, electric dance between synapses
that shapes poetry I don’t know it.”
I feel like that could be a poem in itself. Brilliant. the opening is so thought provoking to “There are no maps to this
country I travel. There are roads
drawn through imaging and scalpels
but none of them named Cherry, Peach, Plum,”
Jennifer, thank you. Now I am blushing brightly.
Wow, this is pretty cool! I like the flashy show of words–they make the simple lines stand out. Like these:
If I held the organic seat in my hands,
the two of them cupped;
There is a subtle power in that, the two of them cupped. Wonderful!
Nico, thanks so much.
I loved your tour of the brain, the contrast with mind, a richer concept. Neuroscience is endlessly fascinating to me. The creativity currently on display in science is perhaps more innovative than what we can achieve in art yet the reductionism may be anathematic to creativity in a way. Great work!
Oh, I so agree. I think we will find part of where creativity resides in our brains, and maybe some of how it all works, but the “mind” is of itself more complex than what the brain can hold (I think), and much more tricky to study than the brain, which is tricky enough on it’s own. But, then we move from neuroscience to philosophy 😉
Glad you liked!
no atlas for this country i travel…i like…and i def. like where it took you…what an interesting journey…the paths in our mind…
Thanks, Claudia. It would be so easy to get stuck in there 😉
very brainy take on the prompt:) totally enjoyed it…
http://myrandrspace.blogspot.com/
What fun your beasty brain
a zoological map of menace
and playful platipi
undefined!
Oh, Sabio! Love it!
wonderful poem, lyrical anatomy
Thanks, Lucy!
welcome to uncharted and unchartable territory!
Hubris is hard to own….and even harder to identify!
well spun and sung, Susan!
Thanks, N. You would think, since it has driven so much, there would be a little seat in each of our brains (or minds) with a sign on it saying–this seat reserved for hubris. No such luck 😉
Another good one. Love the “ganglion tucked in vegetative flesh” – made me smile.
Thanks, Terry. Whole thing is rather irreverent, I think 😉
Define poetry – impossible. Know poetry when you see it – now that I can do, sometimes 🙂 Might I suggest a minor alteration which, in my view, would improve an already strong piece? If this were my poem, I would change “mine would look no different than the one I did hold
in anatomy lab,” to “mine would look no different to the one I held in the anatomy lab.” (alterations in italics) I think this would improve the flow of these lines 😉
Thanks, Tony. Actually planning on ditching the whole thing but one line 🙂
Brilliant, my wordsmith 🙂
Thanks, C.
Nice work Susan: Source of inspiration? How about a sequel that looks at how thought is shaped by culture – (and so too is the actual physical make-up on the brain).
Thanks, Mike. There are actually only three things I like in this free write and it is going to have a major reworking in it’s future. Interesting idea for a sequel, after I get this into some sort of respectability 😉
Don’t be too brutal – A cake can’t be all chocolate chips 🙂
ooooo–did you say chocolate? Nah, I will be gentle, but it is all over the place–the way you would expect it to be with someone rummaging and walking around in there without a map, in the dark 😉
Wow, this poem really stands out so many gems entwined,”Hubris is hard to own” that says so much and really grabbed me ! I enjoyed this!
Thank you–that is actually one of my favorite lines, and will survive to the next version 😉
ganglions and hubris. yes. I am reading under the skin here. way to go beneath the surface and expose, Susan!
Thanks, Jane. You will probably see this again, in a much more coherent fashion.
I hope so. It has everything.
Thanks, Jane!
Firstly– LOVE the cauliflower reference! I always think I am doing a brain bisection when I cut one in half! Yep… that’s where my mind goes! But your last stanza could be a stand alone. It is spot on and lovely all at once.
Thank you, Kim! This one is wandering all over the place. It was suggested to me that I start with the first line of the last stanza and go from there, which is what I am going to do 😉
But fun to explore, and I sense you enjoyed the ride, as I did. Well done.
Thanks, Nelle 😉