<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38118" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; color: rgb(20, 24, 35); line-height: 19.3199996948242px; ">On Memorizing A Poem</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38120" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; color: rgb(20, 24, 35); line-height: 19.3199996948242px; "><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38120" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; color: rgb(20, 24, 35); line-height: 19.3199996948242px; ">In the beginning was the Word--<span class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38122" style="display: inline; "><br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38124" class="">there's creativity involved,<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38126" class="">inot just duplicating<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38128" class="">a page of print <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38130" class="">in your brain.</span></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38132" style="display: inline; color: rgb(20, 24, 35); line-height: 19.3199996948242px; "><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38134" class="" style="margin-bottom: 6px; ">You can't clip <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38136" class="">these unique flowers<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38138" class="">of the ages<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38140" class="">and stuff them in <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38142" class="">some mental vase.<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38144" class="">You have to plant them <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38146" class="">inside.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38148" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; ">First reading scatters <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38150" class="">seeds, atoms, <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38152" class="">whirling with life, <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38154" class="">even ones that <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38156" class="">seem inert. <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38158" class="">Repetition becomes <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38160" class="">a steady hand holding <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38162" class="">a watering can.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38164" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; ">Imperceptibly, every word <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38166" class="">germinates and sprouts. <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38168" class="">Tendrils begin to reach out, <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38170" class="">join hands, solidify<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38172" class="">a clause, link it with the body<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38174" class="">of a sentence, until<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38176" class="">each word is tropically bonded, <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38178" class="">no longer exists alone.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38180" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; ">A stanza coheres. The force <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38182" class="">flows on, spirit leaps<br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38184" class="">across a gap to the next stanza, <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38186" class="">back to the one before!</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38188" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; ">Each reading, connections firmer. <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38190" class="">New ones arise, flourish <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38192" class="">like bougainvillea. Roads appear. <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38194" class="">Signs. Turn Left Here. <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38196" class="">Paths and gardens of knowing <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38198" class="">form in the brain. Flowering vines <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38200" class="">perfume the air above the brain!</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38202" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; ">Finally, a world <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38204" class="">lives inside to be invoked, <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38206" class="">called forth like genie <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38208" class="">from bottle.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38210" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; ">Every poem or story <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38212" class="">made one’s own <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38214" class="">initiates its keeper <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38216" class="">into the long line <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38218" class="">stretching back <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38220" class="">to ancient campfires.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38222" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; ">Every teller chants with Homer, <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38224" class="">Valmiki, bards whose names <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38226" class="">we do not know, carries <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38228" class="">the Light in eyes <br id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38230" class="">onward.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38222" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; "><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38222" class="" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- Max Reif</div></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; "></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437480323207_38088" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; "> </div></body></html>