AD.


Point of view – foto by Smith

Ylem 1

They’re never simple, simple things
got cause just neath the surface
teeth in nasty places
two sides to each equation
plus bystander option
ain’t no one or other
all or nothing is myth
it’s leggos of egos
layered in sayer
cathedral cards raised in mist

You just have to hope the rope holds
that you scramble through simple sans sin
while rushing forward
juggling onward
forewarned by past spins of the skin

— Smith, 8.22.2011

Ylem — pronounced eye-lum, kinda like island — is the name of the stuff that existed before stuff existed.

If our universe is expanding, the nothingness we’re expanding into is a somethingness called ylem. I don’t know if the ylem we’re expanding into just becomes more dense as we cramp its space, or if the pre-stuff ylem is also expanding into non-stuff which existed before ylem — perhaps this pre-pre-stuff-stuff is called mely, or pre-ylem.

Of course all of this is a joke because the entire universe is a hologram according to some recent theories so there ain’t no real stuff pre-or-post-ylem around anyway and we’re all just programmed projection. I think we’re like cosmic TV which these humongous pre-ylem eyeball gods watch for amusement. If that’s true, the best way to stay alive is to make the EyeBalls laugh . . . do that and they keep extending your contract.

I figure there are a more ylem poems coming down the line, assuming I keep the godz laughing.


Ylem girl – foto by Smith

2 Responses

  1. really interesting piece Steve … very good poem. not heard the word Ylem in a long while…. “the stuff that existed before stuff existed” …. such a taoist thought. They seem to discuss it a lot but always in a round about way. It’s the “ground” from which everything comes.. it’s intriguing..

    In the Indian Upanishads it is also that realm of being we return to or touch when they say we are enlightened.. I think it is the same thing… and they refer to it as ” not this.. not this” nati.. nati… very uncomplicated… but very profound.

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