In Japan, Ma is the essential space of nothingness—the empty, the void.
I’ve been thinking about the in-between
places lately like the space between
words and the silence between notes
and the summer between school years
and the nights between days and how
essential the in betweens are and what
I’m wondering is if death is the in between
space or if life is
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This gives me chills. It’s a very interesting thought and is said very well.
Hello, Ann, this is Michael from the book festival last Saturday.
A nice poem, ‘Ma.’ The word also means ‘mother,’ of course, so i thought some more about my mother (or parents) and yours. That puts us ‘in between’ as, I guess, ‘life,’ to stick with your poem. I also find you voice/persona interesting here. It seems informal as if your intention is not to declare a great truth but just to throw out there something you’ve been ‘wondering’ about. I kind of thought about cutting those references to yourself (that almighty ‘I’) out of ‘Ma’ so as to focus more exclusively on in-betweens. But maybe your point is more about that rather humble voice you project instead of about in-betweens–?
Anyway, nice meeting you, Ann,
Michael ([email protected])