Category Archives: mindfulness

January 29, 2023 · 1:55 pm

The Tenuous Nature Of Knowing – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: StayaPrem at pixabay.com

“Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” Oscar Wilde

The Tenuous Nature Of Knowing

Fragments of dreams scattered like confetti
through the brown paper parcels of my life,
strands of meaning needing to be sifted
carefully as flour through a fine sieve.

Through the brown paper parcels of my life
come the instalments of almost understanding,
carefully as flour through a fine sieve,
the making of knowing as episodes.

Come the instalments of almost understanding,
epiphanies of the vast distant shore,
the making of knowing as episodes,
a record of the unconscious to share.

Epiphanies of the vast distant shore,
strands of meaning needing to be sifted,
a record of the unconscious to share,
fragments of dreams scattered like confetti.



Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
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January 22, 2023 · 3:11 pm

I Have Those Days – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: ‘Emotions in my hand’ by alex1972 at portraitphotos.org

“There is nothing to be known about anything except an in initially large, and forever expandable, web of relations to other things.” Richard Rorty

I Have Those Days

Like a wet mirage shimmering
the day caught my attention 
and drew me towards it,
exciting me and terrifying me
all in the same swirling second,
paralysing my attempts to move,
until at last the day passed and,
with a sigh, released me from
all the emotions I had dreamed
and desired to hold in my hands,
for one moment I had glimpsed an
evolution of reality where more
could be breathed and felt.



Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All rights Reserved ®️

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January 17, 2023 · 2:27 pm

Love Is The Fabric – prose by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Lisa is hosting Prosery (144 words) with an invitation to write prose and include the line “Everything I do is stitched with its color.” from ‘Separation’ by William Stanley Merwin. For more details follow the link below.

dVerse Poets – Prosery – Everything is Stitched

Image: Nareeta Martin at unsplash.com

“Love is a fabric which never fades, no matter how often it is washed in the water of adversity and grief.” Robert Fulghum

Love Is The Fabric

I want to claim its orbit, its grand, beautiful reach into my heart of hearts, and onwards into the vast world of everything. Love is just that, like dry sand through my incapable fingers. the ache, the indescribable thing that it is, the pain so sweet and the joy, always searching for that feeling which seems just beyond, out of reach. And the more I reach the further away I become.

And so the grand hunt continues even within this cell of yearning, just as the early riser waits for the crest of dawn, knowing that it is there, though not yet here. There is a faint memory of the experience I want to return to, perhaps to capture and hold. Elusive as it is, in its fulness I know that everything I do is stitched with its colour. Love is the fabric of me.

Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon

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January 7, 2023 · 4:13 pm

One Doesn’t Have To Rail Against Gravity – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“True happiness is …. to enjoy the present without anxious dependence on the futures.” Senecca

One Doesn't Have To Rail Against Gravity

On second thought,
I wonder that we have
doubted our way to fear,
imprisoning ourselves in 
our anxieties unable to notice 
small joys and simple ways of being.

Why do we fight with the nature of things,
are we frightened of feeling seen to be
motionless, flamed out, lost, and without ,
far too gently going into that  long night?

One doesn't have to rail against gravity all day
to find purpose or to feel good,
I now look to gentle hikes through life,
possessing all my weaknesses.

Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon

All Rights Reserved ®️

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January 2, 2023 · 2:44 pm

What Emerges? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” Aldous Huxley 

What Emerges?

Something emerges
between the dry grass of noon
and the last notes of an overture,
as the last of the spirit is imbibed
in an evening of introspection,
that single moment in which
the sole possibility arises
where our past watches with regret,
and how do we respond knowing
our submission is death and
hypocrisy brings censure,
do we offer objection,
see more clearly the 
self in the world
and our part in all that is?
What is met in this moment?



Copyright 2023 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
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January 1, 2023 · 2:21 pm

If We Don’t, Then We Can’t – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” Lao Tzu

If We Don't, Then We Can't

We don't imagine, 
we cannot move towards,
we cannot create something new
until we can let go of the current 
way of doing things,
we are so rooted in what is
that we cannot see other possibilities,
whether it be fossil fuels,
the way we are governed,
so called moralities (o please!)
that we hold to as childhood memories,
and not least the baggage cart 
of our formative years.
Something new begins in the moment
we let go of the rope which holds us in place.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon 
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December 31, 2022 · 3:11 pm

Invitation – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“The patterns we perceive are determined by the stories we want to believe.” John Verndon

Invitation

As we consume time for
yet another trip around the sun
the question remains,
revolve or evolve?
Revolve begs that we attend to 
our underlying repetitions,
the patterns we pretend don't exist,
that we keep hidden in the shadows
so that we can't see them,
though the whole world sees them
and smiles that we pretend.
Evolve invites an unknown,
the departure lounge for
places of no visa,
transcending pathologies,
landing in true self.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
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December 25, 2022 · 2:12 pm

Could We? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.” Sigmund Freud

Could We? 

How are we to understand each other,
is it better instead to ignore convention,
to participate in a discontinuity,
could we chance a conversation?

Is it better instead to ignore convention,
look for possible opportunities,
to participate in a discontinuity,
could we open to each other?

look for possible opportunities,
follow bread crumb trails of dialogue,
could we open to each other
setting aside fear and disinterest?

Follow bread crumb trails of dialogue
to participate in a discontinuity,
setting aside fear and disinterest,
how are we to understand each other?


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
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December 16, 2022 · 2:52 pm

In My Springtime – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Grace is hosting Meeting the Bar with an invitation to write a poem in the Zen style. For more detail and examples please follow the link below.

dVerse Poets – MTB – Zen Poetry

“When the body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are: perfect, complete, lacking nothing.” Dogen

In My Springtime

I saw a road and 
I set out on its journey,
seeking the songs of magpies,
a spring soliloquy of life.

In the walking
the road was not a road,
the journey was not a journey,
there were no songs of magpies.

A little further and
the road was a road again,
the journey was mine and I 
began to understand the songs of magpies.


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
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December 15, 2022 · 3:17 pm

Shall I Tell? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

“Stories are a communal currency of humanity.” Tahir Shah

Shall I Tell?

Some things are worth noting
on the canvas of human life,
however lamentable they might be,
and some are lamentable but
we no longer have the luxury of assuming,
so we must gather together the strands,
give a sense of our flavour,
surely there is no original sin,
we're not that clever,
especially given that redemption
is merely a dollar off,
don't listen to those imposters,
they just love to story
their hero songs of self,
and I wonder if the myth is alright,
will it hold,
will it emerge, unfold,
without a narrative it's only money,
as stories go,
is this mine,
shall I tell?


Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️

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