Photography © Jennifer Matthews

 

Four Ways of Looking at the Soul

The soul is a quantum diver, he said,
And because he is learned, I listened.
It plunges into being at the start of life
And emerges at the end of death
Without passing through the years between
And so remains inviolate and unchanged.

The soul is a paradox, she said,
And because she is wise, I listened.
It is both alive and not alive
While in the world of flesh,
Unknown and unknowable until it collides
With death and leaves a traceable path through time.

The soul, said the soul, is self-creating,
And because the soul is beautiful, I listened.
Wave and field and wave again
It moves at its own speed if left alone,
The world of time and space all relative
And measured by the necessity of its existence
.
The soul is uncertain, the universe said,
And because the universe is, I listened.
If you measure its place you change
Its destination; mark its destination
You change its place. It is a fluctuation in time;
It is of-a-piece in space; and both at once;
Existing and not existing yet always fundamental.

 

Mark Levy is a recovering English major who was a freelance writer for many years. The holder of 2 Ivy League degrees, he has nevertheless learned to write simple declarative sentences and tries to carry this skill over into his poetry.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of Poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.