Space

I have noticed that in every place I have lived I cherished the “empty spaces.” For me a blank wall or a corner of a room without furniture is a psychological and creative necessity. It is the space my mind longs for, explores and ponders. For me “empty space” is not the absence of stuff but the presence of possibilities. We live in a culture that encourages us to accumulate and fill the spaces we occupy with things — often ubiquitous, mass-produced, low-quality things. Many of these things are copies of copies, far removed from any meaning they may have once possessed. We often fill our spaces with sounds, the hum of the TV, podcasts, music or unneeded conversation. Filling our spaces with such things merely masks the emptiness, lack of meaning and futility of mindless consumption.

The empty canvas or the empty sheet of paper represents possibilities. It is the silence necessary for the poem to be called forth … the void before the mark takes its shape. You would think that empty space or silence is easy to achieve, but unfortunately it is exceedingly difficult. One must battle fiercely for silence or empty space … and once achieved, one must be vigilant to sustain it. We must hold back the onslaught of powerful, well-resourced forces that seek to fill the void, shape our thoughts and emotions with sophisticated tactics. Our mind and attention is the battlefield, and one of the responsibilities we all have is to find a quiet, empty space and fill it with meaning and truth.