Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Strategies
Charles Baldwin
Copyright Notice
__________________________
© 1989-1999
Charles H. Baldwin III
Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.
Lao Tsu
Contents
TRADITIONS
DECLARATIONS
CONFRONTATIONS
ideogram ........................................................................................................................... 20
loco • motion ........................................................................................................................... 21
OBLIQUE STRATEGIES
if . . . ........................................................................................................................... 23
pale fire ........................................................................................................................... 24
rainbows ........................................................................................................................... 25
the sound of one hand? ........................................................................................................................... 26
transmogrifications ........................................................................................................................... 27
........................................................................................................................... 28
('fant ə sē, zē) n. [Gk phantasia, ME fantasie]
hallucination. creative imagination. product of the imagination; illusion.
delusion. capricious or whimsical notion or idea; conceit. daydream. fantasia.
tuned in and
turned on.
resonant with
the waves . . .
a sorcery arcane of the earth.
silence.
a frostbitten hush.
ending.
Oblique Strategies 7
touching dreams
And when,
from a haze
of dreams . . . .
I awake!
Only to know
Shadows of shades.
Déjà Vu.
Fingers on glass:
oily reminders —
then smear.
Phantoms of pains . . .
screaming that they’re
there.
A fine line:
the crack in thin ice.
Oblique Strategies 8
samsara
doing what I do
like
waiting . . .
play
ing my p
art
Oblique Strategies 9
tree stretching — embraces
tracing heaven, rooted in
earth bends to the wind.
Oblique Strategies 10
smiles
When
I was a child,
I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child;
When
I became a man,
I gave up
childish ways.
Oblique Strategies 11
So faith, hope, love abide,
these three;
but the greatest of these
is love.
DECLARATIONS
free verse
being.
Oblique Strategies 14
oases of lost connections
an image flashes,
by inspiration touch:
on the surface-blue lake,
for the quick to capture.
figures on a reel:
a solitary theatre
where time dances
on the head of a pin.
Oblique Strategies 15
dark ages
. . . but
struggle night&day,
survive.
free lancing
through cold silent streets;
suckled in the anonymous
screams of the junkies’ nightmare
domain. only to slip over the brink . . . .
[:]
Oblique Strategies 16
nightmare
in an abyss
black as hell
where silence hangs
heavy in the air,
blowing rain
whistles in my ear . . .
approach
cautiously to the edge —
fear from
.
.
.
.
f
a
l
l
i
n
g
Oblique Strategies 17
zerø time
shudder;
little boy out of the blue.
appalled,
people flash to black
shadows burned onto fired brick.
screams drowned in broad daylight,
obscured by the bloodless boiling tar:
at zero time.
Oblique Strategies 18
CONFRONTATIONS
ideogram
{:}
a conflict
brings
danger
&
opport-
-unity.
Oblique Strategies 20
loco • motion
a locomotive
rattles, clanks,
& rumbles th
rough
in the hollow,
moonlit night
knocks;
death(.)
waits . . . at
the door.
private demons
of the night to
catalog : fears
none but
the lonely
(and the brave)
are foolish
enough
to stay
(hop)ing by then
death is gone . . .
whistling
through the
grave yard.
Oblique Strategies 21
OBLIQUE STRATEGIES
if . . .
i see
a dew-laden : breathless
sigh,
crystallize
as icy winter frost;
i (stand)
under
a broken glass holds
nothing, but
empty dreams.
Oblique Strategies 23
pale fire
Oblique Strategies 24
rainbows
a colourful chord
echoes —
building to crescendo,
wave on wave:
velvet peaks of prismatic light.
easy recollections.
rainbow’s
e
n
d
.
Oblique Strategies 25
the sound of one hand?
silent sighs.
a quiet articulation
of breath
sings buzzing,
of whispers.
thin as air.
blinks.
listen —
Oblique Strategies 26
transmogrifications
still
hoping it’s
all just a dream.
____________
Oblique Strategies 27
everywhere,
so much love
is empty words
crashing against
craggy sheer cliffs
of the wide ocean.
so let it be said;
so let it be written;
so let it be done
anywhere,
everywhere ........................................
Oblique Strategies 28