The mind tree

[sundarramchand]

The mind tree,

like a river Flowing underground through the subconscious,

under a cracked earth,

creates reflections

Perceived by the mind’s I,

Which, through its bird-eye and fish-eye of a mythical “meenagaruda”

Populates the consciousness with infinite number of star like images, thoughts, memories,

each individually beautiful and memorable ,

but also modulating and reflecting the others ,

like indra’s net

which pours through the crevices, cracks and singularities in the body

and creating a magnificent , transcendental image in the heart ,

strange attractor of all thoughts,

at once supremely divine and yet lovably humane,

of a beautiful but angry goddess in the same mood,

but more controlled and yet more sterner and more punishing and

punitive than goddess kali ,

Smiting what seems like a humiliated buffalo demon but seems to metamorphosize

Into a child or rather adolescent shiva.

Each infusing consciousness in the other,

Shiva for having hurt the goddess

The goddess a curious expression of hurt with a ghost of a still to be born smile playing on her lips ,

Possibly the beginning of sympathy and even love and affection

And thus the eternal dance of the heart, mind, body and soul, both individual (who are stardust) and cosmic,

Continues….

[PrinceMyshkin]

"The mind tree," this poem begins but never as far as I could tell provides us with a predicate as to what the mind tree does or is; instead there is a seemingly infinite branching out of quite beautiful metaphysical images or references to Hindu mythology, so that one must give oneself over to a dream that has no conclusion - and finally, not much in the way of shape that I could recognize.

[sundarramchand]

I could attempt to say "the poem attempts to deal with the unity of the cosmic and individual soul" but again, this may only be an approximation.

As hinted in the poem, the meaning 'emerges" or is supposed to emerge in the limit ("the attractor").

some of the motifs that have been the inspiration behind the poem :

- The implicit link between individual and collective belief systems (as hinted in "indra's net etc)

- A self-reflective belief system that walks the razor's edge between an expanding , completely irregular belief system and one that is limited ("Meena - Fish Garuda - eagle"
reference to fish eye and bird's eye view lenses

Again, an important process is looking at "seeing through other's eyes" BUT not completely and retaining one's essential point of view

- How cracks and defects could lead to interesting star like constellations and patterns

- The "mind-body-brain" connection as reflected in the link between the conscious and subconscious mind and the reflection of the belief networks in the structures of the brain and the heart (the metaphor "written in blood" comes to mind in the context of the images)

- Of course, the image of a "goddess" who is human enough to be angry but whose rage / wrath is majestic enough to ennoble her and elevate her to the level of a "goddess" (at least for a brief period of time) but who is still human enough to feel sorry for the victim of her anger and feel a kind of affection for him. In this sense, my theory is that the "gods" / stars are archtypes / roles which we are all compelled to act out / play for a length of time as and when the need arises.

Essentially, the poem has moved from the contemplation of an austere abstract beauty to more human aspects of relationships

Of course, there are the universal archtypes of a perennial underground river ("saraswati etc" in Indian mythology), stars as symbol of individuals and their relationships as well as the prominent beliefs of an individual and of course the link with the cosmos.

I suppose, the poem is meant to be chewed upon, relished and savored (not spat out like chewing / bubble gum!!!:-)

[sundarramchand]

In connection with cracks, i could also twists, deformations etc

[deryk]

I enjoyed this, but I feel it purposely outpaced me, which is fine. Except after reading about your intentions, I must say, it may be more to your benefit to establish less goals for yourself for one particular poem. I like your poetry, but it feels like you're setting out to do the unmanageable after reading your follow-up.

[MorpheusSandman]

This is one of those metaphors that could likely stretch on for as long as you cared to write it, perhaps taking up an entire chapter like Tolstoy's famous beehive in War & Piece. The mind and body as a tree is nothing new in literature, yet it's one of those conceits that offers a near limitless palette for exploration and I feel like you only cracked the surface here. I also appreciated the wealth of allusions, even though the significance of them escapes me. It's stuff like that that adds richness to poetry.

[hillwalker]

I feel poetry like this is more effective when cut to the bare bones. It's almost as if one needs footnotes to illuminate what you were intenting to express, and that for me kills any poem stone dead.

H

[MorpheusSandman]

It's almost as if one needs footnotes to illuminate what you were intenting to express, and that for me kills any poem stone dead.As someone who frequently reads poets that require copious footnotes (Donne, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, etc.) I couldn't disagree more! To me, that's part of what makes great poetry, the idea that it's so rich that no individual alone can understand it completely without it becoming a communal effort with everyone lending their unique insight and interpretation. It may be more difficult, but it's also more rewarding.

[tailor STATELY]

Enjoyed your epic in the making.

Just one niggle for me - I balked at "more sterner".

Sincerely,
tailor STATELY

[sundarramchand]

I suppose "more sterner" could be an example of poetic license for taking controlled liberties with grammar !!:-). Thanks for the appreciative comments, especially the comments on the richness of the imagery as well as its epic nature !!

Isn't poetry in the real sense essentially "taking on too much" or trying to, trying to convey the transcendental truths and paradoxes that cannot be really conveyed ?
If you mean that there are too many themes which do not flow seamlessly into one another, yes, compared to my other poems, i have tried to fuse multiple images / concepts in as spontaneous a manner as possible.

I also agree that criticism can involve as much or even more creativity and / or intellect as the original (in many cases, seeing significance may be more difficult than writing the piece , i suppose). Of course, one can go to extremes !! (see my spoof of a criticism of painting in the general writing section) but that is not what is meant here

[hillwalker]

As someone who frequently reads poets that require copious footnotes (Donne, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, etc.) I couldn't disagree more.

My quibble was with the writer having to provide his own copious notes as an explanation for what the poem's meant to be about. If the poem isn't doing that for him why bother?

H

[sundarramchand]

In my opinion, poetry (unless one is being clever about it) is both about self-realization and insight and also for trying to convey that to others and i do not think it is a futile attempt to try to convey that to others

[MorpheusSandman]

My quibble was with the writer having to provide his own copious notes as an explanation for what the poem's meant to be about. You mean like TS Eliot?