37 Comments
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Arjan Tupan's avatar

Beautiful. And such an accurate description of all those contrasts and how they can actually be the reason we love what we love.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you!

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Joan DeMartin's avatar

Thank you for so much beauty packed into a few lines. Your poem made my day as your writing often does.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I was marvelling only today about how much Sherman manages to say with almost no words. It is quite awe -inspiring, and this poem in particular reminds me, in a way, of the Tao Te Ching (The Way of Life, by Lao Tzu):

"In harmony with the Tao,

the sky is clear and spacious,

the earth is solid and full,

all creature flourish together,

content with the way they are,

endlessly repeating themselves,

endlessly renewed. "

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Terry. A Jesuit friend once told me that I have a strange and abiding theology.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Joan!

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GGG's avatar

I swear you’re a master at gathering it all together and tying the knot. Zing!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Geraldine.

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yvonne's avatar

Many years ago I lived in Snoqualmie when it was nothing more than a village and we would go into the forest to find a tree for Christmas. One year the snow was very deep and we were lucky to not have walked off the cliff we didn't know was there until later. I looked up for some reason and above me on another cliff was a bobcat just walking along with us, watching. The memories of animal encounters in the wilderness are unlike any others. Thank you for bringing this memory forward again.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Wow! I've never seen a bobcat in the wild!

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Steve Lovelace's avatar

Hiking in the Cascades, I heard a rustle to my left, looked and saw a black bear boar standing watching us walk by. I was concerned for a couple of seconds, but realized he was just curious and checking out the trespassers in his world. The memory has remained crystal clear for all these years and hopefully will remain that way. Thanks for the reminder.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I've never been that close to a bear. I once stepped from thick woods into a clearing where a moose stood about ten feet away. I quietly stepped back into the woods. Moose are scary.

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Steve Lovelace's avatar

Yes they are and one of the funniest looking animals in the world

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Granny Kraken's avatar

"Everything is gorgeous and dangerous when you love it enough." I'll be using that line to explain things forever.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you!

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Karlynn Moller's avatar

Beautiful. I only saw a bear in the wild once while picking berries with my grandmother in Quinault. He took much less interest in us than we him.

Loving something so much it hurts. Seems so counterproductive, yet this is life. At least, for me.

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Wayne Kigerl's avatar

Sometimes, it was hard for moms to tell their Indian children to stay out of the woods.

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Wayne Kigerl's avatar

Bears are the best.

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Maria's avatar

Lovely.

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Elena Solow's avatar

Do bears kill deer? I hope not. I would have said not to cut down any tree. Great job. Lucky you. I just saw some beautiful trees outside the projects on my way home from Whole Foods. You would be surprised at how many trees are in Manhattan. I’m sick of hearing about the Fed and inflation. I think they make all that stuff up. Screw Lindsey et al. The wreath of white roses is pretty on top of the Queens casket. From one of her thousands of gardens. Did you know Balmoral Castle has something like 776 rooms! Jeez

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Bears are apex predators. They eat everything. 776 rooms?!?!

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Elena Solow's avatar

Yikes. I’m staying away from bears. They are beautiful and the cubs are adorable. Yep. 776 rooms and that was just a summer house. All those castles have hunted of rooms. Scary. I live in one room!

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April Kieburtz's avatar

Makes you feel the moment in an abbreviated manner, clean...

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you.

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RonMcF's avatar

Strikingly effective example "minimalist" poetics--the poetry of understatement. Lit students always know of "hyperbole," but relatively rarely of its opposite, "litotes." I predict that term will not come into popular usage.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I didn't know "litotes." Such a great word. It reminds me of the differences in acting, between hyperbolic Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon and Robert DeNiro going with the litotes in Taxi Driver.

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RonMcF's avatar

Exactly.

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Bibiana's avatar

Polarity 🤗❣️

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Antipodes!

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Monica Nicolau's avatar

How I love your poetry!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you!

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Mary Hollowell's avatar

Thanks. https://gettr.com/post/p1qv5q2a3cd

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Yelling at Clouds's avatar

love is dangerous.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Yup

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