In defense
I sense
The greater rest
In here I call forth
My feet

You move without notion
In a wild dance
Absent of rhythmic patterns
Aligned in center abstract

The ether howls
All the worlds motion
Put in one gigantic swing
A shapeless blade
Forging your will

Water fills your thoughts
From the ground
You swim in endless rage
Floating in nothing
But
Vast emptiness

In distant times a calling
A rush of flow
In here
I call the fallen elements

As the compass spins
And equator sings
You walk
Free of form
You move in perfect motion
In center balance
Eight portals stands
In here
I choose
Distance

Very interesting. I'd like to take some time with this. At my first reading: I very much like it; and--there seem to be contradictions. However, I must read it some more, allow it to sink in . . . the poem is more than worthy of that. Besides there may be something more that I am missing upon just one reading!

Thank you once again, I was having trouble to decide how I would end this. If I would leave it with a mystery or a clear meaning. So, I decided to do what I originally planned, and I think it worked out...somehow.

OK. Just one day, one more reading, and I find "I Choose Distance" much easier to understand. Still withholding my comments for further readings, though!

One question--Stanza 3--last line: The first time I "read" it as "waste [or 'wasted'] emptiness." Tonight I read it as "vast emptiness." Which is the correct one? Vast emptiness seems to be less redundant; although "waste[d] emptiness" is not necessarily redundant; possibly some people might consider it so--I do not.

Aaah, thanks Frankie! I guess that's why I still have much to learn! And yes of course, it should be "Vast" not "Wast".... lol

Should be correct now

Dear Eccer, sometimes your poetry contains contradictions which seem deliberate. Are the following contradictions deliberate or not? The poem is slightly hard to follow due to these seeming differences.

The picture drawn first in my mind is of a male, feeling somewhat inept in the presence of female's wild grace, beauty, and unpredictableness (which might even frighten the male to a degree, though he seems 'drawn' to her). Yet there is an undercurrent of something negative ("swim in endless rage;" "fallen elements").

Following are the contradictions I note:

"You move without notion
In a wild dance
Absent of rhythmic patterns
Aligned in center abstract"

[Personally I like this stanza! The first three lines read as though the woman is free & wild, as does the word "abstract." However, the fourth line reads "aligned in center." Anyway, contrast this overall 'free motion' to the following:]


"You move in perfect motion
In center balance"

[Now she is moving in perfect motion, center balance--opposed to the wild, freeform way portrayed above.]


"You swim in endless rage"

[Brings in a negative 'feel' to what otherwise seems positive or neutral in nature.]


Eccer, these were the contradictions referred to earlier. I like the poem (even the unusually worded "Aligned in center abstract"!). Otherwise I would not discuss the poem in this much detail. However, it leaves me feeling that I am the one missing your point, somehow. Can you help me to understand your poem better? I would like to. Perhaps I am perceiving it from the wrong framework.

Hello Frankie

This song is about the stillness of the mind and the reaction of how it would move, if threatened. It's basically... a overall view of my thoughts as a Martial Artist My art is often described as "The martial arts of distance", so that's where the inspiration came from.

I guess the main problem is that I go to deep sometimes. So i'll try to explain what my main goal was with this text.

"You move without notion
In a wild dance
Absent of rhythmic patterns
Aligned in center abstract"

What I basically am describing here, is the 8 directions one can move in. Our body moves like a compass, and if you are able to find your center within this, you will find that the possibilites are endless. Like an abstract picture that can only be explained by a thousand words.

"Water fills your thoughts
From the ground
You swim in endless rage
Floating in nothing
But
Vast emptiness"

This stanza is a thought process in which I depicted all the five elementes. Earth, water, fire, wind and aether. We often use the elements to describe the certain feel of techniques. And after sometime.. you will discover your body is moving by these laws.

"You move in perfect motion
In center balance
Eight portals stands
In here
I choose
Distance"

This is the final process. When you have come to your senses and your body moves unconsciously with you. In perfect motion, from a wild dance, into to a straight line so the attacker does not hit you.

So if this made any sense to you. Let me know haha I am sorry if my text isn't formulated properly. Still learning you know...

Not at all! This is a wonderful description and one with which I have no frame-of-reference (except possibly creative writing process, but that is ill-defined). What you describe is well-defined in your explanation . . . and makes clear the transformation within the poem, meaning that there is no contradiction. Rather, you are poetically guiding us through the thoughts/feelings/processes of your martial arts . . . How much different this makes your poem! The "Eight Portals" I knew must have an important meaning, but I'd not heard that reference before . . . Thank you very much. You have widened my horizons!

Your thoughts are not too deep. Don't back away from your own depth. As you see now, my thoughts were not deep enough! I was thinking of young love.

Great! And thank you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJCP9hecZao
This is a video which demonstrates a few basic and advanced techniques in a flowing motion. Keep in mind this is not how we would fight if it came to that :P

Oh, Eccer, thank you for sharing a video so beautifully filmed (as is obvious from the beginning). But I was only able to watch about 15 seconds of it--the amount of violence was too upsetting to me. Please understand my "differentness"--I'm not trying to hurt or insult you by saying that at all. I did see the blow-after-blow flow in those seconds; more than that was too much.

Ooh, haha That's totally fine Frankie.

Keep also this in mind, our ways are also of peace and harmony

... ...