By J.J. Tindall
Whirl
What is a whirlwind?
They happen every day, somewhere.
The world, we know, whirls.
Rain whirls: a waterspout
Of converging rain and lake water whirled
Off Navy Pier as a front
Rolled in.
The lake
Was dancing
With the sky.
Perhaps
Not quite a whirlwind,
But perhaps a
Whirling dervish.
Wind is weird.
We see the moon, and its effects,
But of wind, only effects.
Plastic
Bags and dead leaves swirl
In small, micro-whirlwinds
Like the one in the alley
As I took the recycling out
To the green bins:
Walgreens receipts, Anthony’s Pizza menus, failed
Lottery tickets, blind bats, blond doves,
Maple seeds, broken gods.
I saw them swirl.
I wondered: had I sown
The swirl?
What is a dervish?
We know they whirl.
According to Google, a dervish
Is a Sufi devotee
Who has taken vows of austerity.
But dervishes whirl
From every faith
And fervent lack thereof.
Dervishes thrive wherever
There is faith
And wherever there is fear.
They dance, they whirl, they howl.
They howl like wolves, like poems.
The long and short of it is they
Seek to bowl
Demons over with their intensity
And devotion.
But there is no devotion
Like that of the demon.
There is no howl
Like that of the dervish.
And this is, in part, because people were not made to howl.
There is no devotion like hatred
And there is no dancing–classical, modern or jazz–
Like leaves in a whirlwind.
You could never get it quite that pure
Regardless of your devotion, commitment or concentration.
Not all winds whirl.
Many howl, and they all dance
In the presence of mind.
There and only there.
I wonder:
If I sowed the swirl
Shall I reap the whirl?
There is wind without mind
But there is no dancing
Without mind,
No world without mind,
No dervishes without broken, blind
Gods.
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J.J. Tindall is the Beachwood’s poet-in-residence. He welcomes your comments. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.
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More Tindall:
* Chicagoetry: The Book
* Ready To Rock: The Music
* Kindled Tindall: The Novel
* The Viral Video: The Match Game Dance
Posted on August 9, 2016