Sublime Recognition

I have no idea what possessed me, just as I have no idea what possesses me now. Possessed, in the way a leaf or bubble is possessed by a slowly moving river, just before it reaches the falls.

Three Drawings — I invite you to look at these. At the time they were first published, very few did, Poems, Notes, and Drawings then being only in its third installment. I think they’re marvelous; though perhaps not nearly so as the one I imagined on behalf of Stephen Monroe, when he wrote his little story, “Uncle Leo’s Mustache,” which was about a lonely man with an enormous mustache that became home to a family of hummingbirds, meaning, Uncle Leo wasn’t alone anymore. The story is significant, because it was born of Stephen’s dawning recognition of his true artistic self. One would hope we will all pass through such a transformation, in keeping with our natural talents, in whatever appropriately affirmative dimension. It doesn’t matter what we do. What matters is that we do it with love, and with the sublime recognition that we are here for a very short time, just before we reach the falls.

[ 1955 ]