The Cosmic Streams and Rhythms III

“Soul and Symbol,” the title of part 3 of Streams 9 (1995), relates to the heuristic elements of transcendence and symbolism.

“All the bright lights and bells
are yourself returning
from wandering.”
Mei Mei Berssenbrugge
Book of the Dead, Prayer 14

Poems exist apart from the poets: “For poetry was all written before time was, and whenever we are so finely organized that we can penetrate into that region where the air is music, we hear those primal warblings, and attempt to write them down, but we lose ever and anon a word, or a verse, and substitute something of our own, and thus miswrite the poem.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson “The Poet”

In Celestial Pantomime: Poetic Structures of Transcendence, Justus George Lawler wrote, “poetic patterns are . . . (the poet’s) own unthematized and spontaneous response to the same reality that mystified primitive man.”

In a Minute
by Robert B. Feliciano

In a minute a world could end
Yet I strive to live and stay alive
Each day is another adventure in the worst weather
In a minute two people fall in love
Or shove one another aside as the daytime
Sky slides to the west
I’m not the best
But in a minute anything could happen
A minute is all I really need to keep alive
And above the knees
(Streams 9, page 102)

Reflections
by Isamar DeJesus

When I look in the mirror
What is it I see
A girl who lost almost everything
Her heart was all bruised
Her mind was confused
A life filled with only despair
When I look in the mirror
What is it I see
A girl who found hope
So that she can cope
Her mind is steady
Her heart willing and ready
When I look in the mirror
I see all that was and is
A reflection of me!
(Streams 9, page 118)

“The map is not the territory,” is a General Semantic axiom.

The map is a tool for the wanderer; and it furthers the understanding of the world for those who do not travel.

Rachel Lauer was a strong influence in the development of Ten Penny Players’ educational program. She wrote:

“At Pace University, New York, we have incorporated critical thinking into a program called Roots of Knowing. Our objectives are (i) to offer a framework of universal concepts that unify the disciplines and (ii) to show how these concepts can help people process personal and social events throughout life.”
A meta curriculum based upon critical thinking

These universal concepts became the prototype for Ten Penny Players’ Seven Heuristic Elements of Poetry. Our objectives were (i) to offer a framework of critical concepts that unify the poetry from all our students and (ii) to show how these concepts can help teachers across the disciplines present poetry to their students.

Dream Drifter
by Dervis Joyner

I dream and often get caught
up in what I’m dreaming about. Sometimes
I mistake my dreams for reality. Could
it be that what I dream about has
not yet happened, but I saw it before
time?
If so, it’s not a dream anymore
It’s a vision. Or is it? I often
drift too deep into my mind, sometimes
it feels like I can’t come back, but
I do not yet know myself, why is that?
I ask the same question
over and over again, Who am I?
But I don’t get a reply, sometimes
I wonder if I’m all alone.
(Streams 9, page 119)



What I Seem to Be
by Jamel Williams

I seem to be an R&B singer,
But really I am a hardcore underground rapper.

I seem to live life in a dark alley,
But really live life as a mystery.

I seem to be a 1950 Nova,
But I’m really a 1995 Lexus Coup.

I seem to be Christmas,
But really I’m Halloween.

I seem to like it here,
But really I want to go home!
(Streams 9, page 133)

Streams 9