Leap of Faith

 

“Leap of Faith” by Tiffany Davis-Rustam

 

small fluid dynamics

the barely perceptible

nourishing nuances

gently enmeshed in

the ebb and the flow

within delicate tissues

an aqueous breathing

of crystallin lenses

miraculous organs

enlighten the brain

taking into one’s ken

form and function

of all that exists

in the visible world

concrete insights

admitting of knowledge

and yet despite all

that is seen remain

deeper realities ever

invisible mysteries

vital insensible truths

that may only be reached

by one daring enough

to suspend the mechanics

of cognitive vision

shirk safety and

step from the edge

of that rational ledge

direct into the

ungrounded air

of a brave

leap of faith

Decemberish

 

Image From wallarthd.com

 

I miss the late sun
rods and cones
perked by sworn affidavits
of light upon broad
panoramic existence

I miss the long day
sight degraded
by limited aid of a
tingling protracted
ballet of electrons

I miss what I know
to be there in the night
or is this instead
a believing not knowing
what dawn will reveal

I miss what I see
of my context
the nearness and
distance attending
my place in creation

I miss what I learned
in my evening hammock
from edified scripture
of imminent birth
by the light of one star

I miss what I thought
I could see plain as day
before realizing nothing
is quite as it seems
till it’s seen in the dark

Blindness

Abstract Photo by Blind Artist Craig Royal

what is it the blind man
can see with his mind
might it be the perfection
we sighted can’t find

* * *

“We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to know how little we know.” – Daniel Kahneman

Parallax

“Soldier” by Marten Jansen

binocular vision
displaces the truth
mislocates twin images
right and left phantoms
in overlapped blurs
poor ocular orbs
fooled by off-center
rivalrous angles of light

binocular vision
intrinsically least
of reliable senses
untrustworthy organs
who lie to themselves
about everything seen
their perceptions all
called into question

binocular vision
a handicap turned
vital talent engages
the brain to make
tangible sense of illusion
to calculate honesty
fixing existence exquisite
with accurate clarity

hence may he draw down
a bead on a target
his mind not his eyes
will well carry the day
kill the enemy
right where he stands
no distortion of conscience
a parallax rectitude

Tanager

“Scarlet Tanager”
Painting by Norma Wilson
From normasdailypaintings.blogspot.com

we look at the world
but see very little
too much of existence
to hold in the eye
too crowded with details
to hold in one thought
human witness
is always impaired
our descriptions
inevitably flawed
less than whole
left with only some few
of remarkable things
who live past the moment
impressed upon memory

one tanager scarlet
amidst panoramic
green foliage
millions of leaves
in their infinite poses
and manifold shades
moved by breezes
unfelt in the act of
organic wave-particles
living their quantum
duality forested entities
fill up our vision
and yet it’s that
lone tuft of red
that momentous
frenetic red harbinger
preening its redness
the bird not the leaves
the red not the green
that will mark itself
onto the mind

we look at the world
observing its everything
flash through eternities
take in complexities
all of it all at once
happens in instants
each instant a real
unreal disparate world
of its own with its
different impression
until all the instants
add up to one
moment of sensory
occult experience
then is the tanager
rightly perceived as
the only reality
true to that moment
with everything else
in the universe
merely familiar but
uncertain background

Line of Sight

“Beyond the Pale”
Painting by Alan M. Clark
From ifdpublishing.com

unlike the others
I see past horizons
unspeakable places
unfit for the sane
where the monsters
all look just like me

Ocularity

Sketch by Freya Bigg
From deviantart.com

the mind’s eye is no mystic metaphor
and blindspot no figure of speech
blankness patterns our every optical disc
such that eyes cannot truthfully
see a whole picture

but consciousness blissfully lives
unaware of this void in our visual field
because subconscious mind fills the hole
with an image invented supposing
what ought to be there

perception forever in thrall to
a partial reality
perspective foreshortened no
matter in shadow or light
all that is learned always less than
accessibly knowable
limits affixed upon rational reason
breached only by fervent faith

Glaucoma

“When Her Dim Eyes Could Read No More”
Book illustration by Mary A. Hallock Foote
At scrap.oldbookillustrations.com

insidious thief
gathering up ganglion
morsels to devour