Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Secular or Eclectic 20th Century	About A. R. Ammons Timeline (1926 - 2001)
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Bower   Tree         Recommended Books Bosh and Flapdoodle: Poems, by A. R. Ammons Briefings: Poems Small & Easy, by A. R. Ammons Brink Road: Poems, by A. R. Ammons A Coast of Trees: Poems by A R Ammons, by A. R. Ammons Collected Poems: 1951 - 1971, by A. R. Ammons More >>	I look for the way things will turn out spiralling from a center, the shape things will take to come forth in so that the birch tree white touched black at branches will stand out wind-glittering totally its apparent self: I look for the forms things want to come as from what black wells of possibility, how a thing will unfold: not the shape on paper -- though that, too -- but the uninterfering means on paper: not so much looking for the shape as being available to any shape that may be summoning itself through me from the self not mine but ours.
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This poem is a beautiful, precise description of how form emerges or "spirals from a center" of essential nature. Form is the expression of a more subtle foundation. Ammons is using the world of color and shape as an exercise for the awareness, a way of looking at the outer to discover the inner.

I especially like his final verse, "not so much looking for the shape / as being available / to any shape that may be / summoning itself / through me / from the self not mine but ours." Wonderful!

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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