-1-
Sparrows chirp
and pluck at scraps
of empty gutters
-2- An old man leans
on a rake
and contemplates
the dead spring lawn
-3-
Two lovers pass by
their care-less laughter
rising from the lane
as they disappear
from view
-4-
Oblivious are they all:
to the cunning cat
that stalks its prey,
the shadow lurking
by an old man’s garage,
and the slow steady ticking
of two lover’s watches
…………………………………………………………………………
But presence if a multi-perspectived state. In the above selection (written in the early ’70s), the various characters’ presences are not the only ones in each of their respective scenes or contexts. There are other presences that they are unaware of which the reader/viewer/poet can see in a larger frame, context, and perspective. This illustrates that there are multiple-perspectived, microcosmic-macrocosmic aspects to presence, and, in, fact, many presences or levels of presence.
Awareness of the presence of self, others, and alternate ways of looking at a situation undoubtedly creates a wider, larger understanding of what presence is beyond the here-and-now moment of one or more than one (e.g.,”canvas”) individual. I will just add that imagination plays a key role in whatever observation skills and perspicaciousness.