humbled

coming across a body of work

(literary, visual, theoretical,

physical, aural---all evidently

significant to what it is to be

human amidst other humans

in the present, here) put forth

by a wo/man which it would

take two lifetimes to indulge

in---inspiring & making life

more fascinating with each

turn of the metaphorical

page (aspects of a voice/actions

that demand nothing of you

but keeps your focus, acute &

precise, unobligated & easy,

giving back 10 fold satiation),

yes,

this is when the domino effect

of influence is witnessed, wherein

the production of one piles on

another & such mutual interest &

mutual investment of time & energy

together, gets seen by others, gets

found by others & passed on

like a torch whose flame burns

merely with the fuel produced by

its passing & the humbling notion

hits us when standing in the shadow

of a wo/man wiser, one that has no

problem acknowledging their own

ignorance & humbling in the light of

those that have influenced them---

knowing that no truly & spontaneously

original act or thought comes about

without the genius of those that have

come before & that nothing will

progress without those that come

after, creating a pastiche of all people

everywhere, simultaneously walking

at our own individual pace, with one

foot in a shallow puddle of significance

& the other in a puddle of irrelevance---

both feet splashing & mixing, splashing

& mixing, until we stop walking.