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Uniting

My good friend Charles sent me a note yesterday.
He had printed the card himself,
   placing appropriately one of his photographs
      on the outside.
His image, made a year ago,
   is quite reminiscent of one of mine,
      made last month.
We share an appreciation for meadow salsify.
He had taken the time to write his reflective thoughts
   in his careful handwriting,
      pure black on pure white.
In part, this is what he wrote:
"Your writing and your photography
   are a perfect match.
You find your way into poetry very much, I think,
   as you find your way into a photograph.
There lurks in a corner of my mind
   a passage in Robert Frost
      that seems a commentary on the way
         your work relates to your life.
Yes, here it is:

But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes are one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future's sakes."

I would like to think
   that I am living my way
      into my friend's kind words.
In the meantime I'll hold on to his thoughts
   as I tramp that field
      just south of here.

Proper Response

The proper response
to the world
is applause.
William Carlos Williams

I like that.
But more I believe it.
A fitting response?
Not a long-winded tribute.
Not a well-crafted sonnet.
Not a blog with words and photographs.
Not even a melodious psalm.
Applause.
Vigorous handclapping.
A standing ovation,
   one that might last
     the better part of our lifetime on earth.
At which time
   we would cease doing the clapping
      and then become the clapping.

Don't Think

Don't think,
look.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

I don't know the exact context
   in which the Austrian philosopher
      composed these words.
Odd that a man of thought
   would eschew thought.
And yet isn't that the mantra
   that brings into being every photograph
      that is contemplative in nature?
Isn't that the inner voice
   that is heard when such photographs
   are about to come into being?
Don't think—
   look.
Don't study—
   see.
Don't try to reason it all out—
   go with your God-given intuition.
Don't stay in your mind—
   let go of it
      and allow it to let go of you.
Dare to be in your eyes
   and see with your soul
      and live with whatever results.