Imagination and Freedom

“Imagination creates reality.” - Richard Wagner

A week ago, I thought I would have sent you a new short story by now, but I made little progress on that or on a book synopsis I had begun working on. Oh, well.

Instead of a short story, I’ll append herewith a poem I wrote years ago, which I’ll offer as my “good question” for the dialogue on Wednesday. The translation into French, also done years ago, is by Odile Rollin.

The poem has an interesting story behind it. Back then I hosted live poetry readings in my home, inviting guests to bring something to read aloud. On one of those wonderful December evenings, Frank Rackow’s jazz quintet joined us and played a jazz background to the reading if you wanted that accompaniment. I had a collection of French poetry with English translations along with the French, and selected a poem by Paul Éluard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libert%C3%A9_(poem) and I read the English translation to jazz accompaniment. Then Odile read the French, also with jazz by the Frank Rackow quintet, and in my opinion her reading was better than Paul Éluard’s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bktcB5QpNp0

Be that as it may, the experience inspired me to write the poem appended below not long after that December evening. You can use it to evoke ideas for your contribution to our dialogue on Wednesday.

Poem by Arthur Clark

Freedom

for Paul Éluard

Freedom is what it means to you

and if you don’t know

don’t ask the dictionary.

It might mean a new life

free of all possessions

and obsessions

and all obsession with possessions.

It might be that night

you crossed the Rio Grande

or the darkness of another crossing

that only you would know.

On the road

or down the Mississippi

freedom might mean campfires

or cheap motels and a hotplate

or a life and a family

with the love of your life

or solitude.

Freedom might be death.

If life has become your prison

death might be your light

at the end of the tunnel.

Or it might mean simply letting go

and never looking back except to learn.

Perhaps freedom is just an open heart

curiosity and transcendence

in the midst of the mess that you’re in

a clairvoyance by which you see

each day as a gift and a chance

to create a gift in return.

Perhaps freedom is in the power

of your imagination

and your generosity

to open the door

of gratitude and the sense

of your life and its place

in the bounty of all things.

Whatever freedom means to you at one time in your life

it will mean something different at another time years later.

Do you think the dictionary will tell you any of this?

Or had you better look for it in the hours of your remaining days?

So now as the hands approach midnight

open the book of your life

and begin to write the meaning of freedom

on the blank page

of each day.