{"id":16575,"date":"2019-05-01T10:35:35","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T14:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=16575"},"modified":"2019-05-01T10:38:15","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T14:38:15","slug":"billie-chernicoff-on-robert-kellys-seaspel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/billie-chernicoff-on-robert-kellys-seaspel\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Chernicoff: On Robert Kelly\u2019s “Seaspel”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

On Robert Kelly\u2019s Seaspel<\/em> <\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/b>(Lunar Chandelier Collective, 2019)<\/b><\/h4>\n

How does he do it, I\u2019ve wondered of every one of Robert Kelly\u2019s books, and I still have no answer. You can\u2019t parse miracles, only witness them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A mosaic formed by shells of perception<\/i>, the poet says about Seaspel<\/i>, the latest in a series of book length poems he has written, one each year over a summer month, on the island of Cuttyhunk, off the coast of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u2026fragments of all sorts of shell. Clam, oyster, scallop, side by side\u2013\u2013their origins do not matter, only shape and color\u2013\u2013not the source, only the found fact.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The stanzas of Seaspel<\/i> are various, some as small as two or three trim lines, none bigger than the palm of your hand\u2013\u2013none you can\u2019t hold and turn and admire in its singularity, and hold in mind even as it yields to the whole and rounds out a shoulder, conjures foam from a wave. Birds appear. The weather changes. From broken pieces, a world takes shape, and a story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two figures emerge. They walk and converse, stop and rest. They are the teacher and the student, the physician and his assistant, Christ and John the Baptizer, or Christ and John the Evangelist, author of Revelation. They are the truth and its witness. They are Lama Norlha, sustainer, friend<\/i>, and John, his beloved disciple.<\/p>\n

They drove into town
\n<\/i>to see a sick friend.
\n<\/i>Can\u2019t heal, might help
\n<\/i>John said. The other was silent,
\n<\/i>unless a smile somehow
\n<\/i>creates a small soft turbulence in the air,
\n<\/i>who knows, some might hear.<\/i><\/p>\n

Many other things happen\u2013\u2013tambourine, sea poppy, bell in the channel, pencils, salt, bottle of milk.<\/i><\/p>\n

Things come to mind.
\n<\/i>There is no reason.
\n<\/i>That is the reason.<\/i><\/p>\n

The two companions come and go in the mist. You can\u2019t always see them. After a while you see them in everything.<\/p>\n

East and West also keep company here, and understand each other perfectly. Christ, the Buddha\u2013\u2013both teach kindness, mostly, and, like poetry, silence.<\/p>\n

Swans look like they know\u2013\u2013
\n<\/i>do you think they do
\n<\/i>John had asked, and he
\n<\/i>had just smiled.
\n<\/i>Hours later, out of context,
\n<\/i>out of silence, no smile,
\n<\/i>he suddenly said
\n<\/i>We all do.<\/i><\/p>\n

Seaspel<\/i> is a love story\u2013\u2013 \u1f00\u03b3\u03ac\u03c0\u03b7,\u00a0<\/i>agap\u0113, the true Christian love that Buddha taught\u2013\u2013and it may be the most tender of Kelly\u2019s books. There are passages that both break and heal the heart, that open the heart and walk right in.<\/p>\n

John never learned to fish
\n<\/i>though he had many fisher friends.
\n<\/i>They told him it was simple\u2013\u2013
\n<\/i>with hook and fly (angling)
\n<\/i>or with a big soft net
\n<\/i>scouring the inhabitants of the sea.
\n<\/i>Lake. Stream. But he
\n<\/i>could not bring himself to try it.
\n<\/i>What if they died?
\n<\/i>What if someone cried?<\/i><\/p>\n

Seaspel<\/i>, gospel, God spell, a new testament, a new listening. Here are the joyful, sorrowful, glorious, luminous mysteries, reported with profound simplicity by a poet who is the master of his instrument. I\u2019ve read the book twice, and both times wished for it never to end. And it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Learn all you can \/before he seems to go away.<\/i><\/p>\n

Kelly is devoted to the things that happen, and to the words they happen in\u2013\u2013words, those broken shells and truest colors. Fragments wash up on the shore and offer themselves, the sun rises, a teacher comes along\u2013\u2013this is grace, and if a poet is as wakeful and willing as this one, revelation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John barely glimpsed
\n<\/i>what all that was supposed to mean
\n<\/i>so he asked him and he said,
\n<\/i>Dear friend, Everything is right here.<\/i><\/p>\n

Billie Chernicoff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Robert Kelly\u2019s Seaspel (Lunar Chandelier Collective, 2019) How does he do it, I\u2019ve wondered of every one of Robert Kelly\u2019s books, and I still have no answer. You can\u2019t parse miracles, only witness...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,91,1],"tags":[2041,645],"class_list":["post-16575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-poetry","category-uncategorized","tag-billie-chernicoff","tag-robert-kelly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16575"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16586,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16575\/revisions\/16586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}