Charles Cameron

The Empty Quarter

Signature

I shall have to admit that the way wind dances

across the surface of a pond or lake, the shimmer

and ripple of it, could be a form of writing –

of music, of painting too -- have I noticed

there's more than one way the surface of water

reflects? Wind has as much skittering practice

as any brush and paints as fair a picture -- a wind

and water way of writing. Why, then -- when

your needle draws blood through the tapestry

of life, is this not in the same calligraphy? Where

fire flames out, is it not cursive in the same

tongue? There is a piercing within every trace

of paint: all beauty bleeds, all flesh is afire

as the devouring signature of all turns all to ashes.

__________

The Weave

The way a maple tree in full leaf

like a ship under full sail fingers the sky,

the way sky gloves the maple,

as wind, holy, fills the sails: one

breath, one hand, the one calligraphy.

__________

The Empty Quarter

Rub' al Khali

Supposing an elevator doesn't function:

perhaps you can take the stairs,

you're a minute late, he's slightly

miffed, you kiss and make up, the

taxi horn blares downstairs at the same

moment it would have, he

picks up his keys, you reach

the restaurant just as if the elevator had

.

been working, but elsewhere a shooting

star fails to fall, there's a slight

shift in the wind, the dunes configure

themselves differently in

the Empty Quarter, the signs

of God read differently, it's a new world... .

Copyright@2010 by Charles Cameron

Biography

Charles Hipbone Cameron passion includes designing playable variants on Hermann Hesse's Glass Bead Game, and talking about why mythological logic has important contributions to make in a slew of areas ranging from dream interpretation to conflict resolution. He worked during the millennial rollover as Senior Analyst at The Arlington Institute, a beltway think tank in Virginia, on the social impact of large and surprising changes, and was a Principal Researcher with the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University.  Right at the moment, he is focusing on the Middle East and developing a tool for conflict analysis -- and hopefully, eventually, resolution!Charles is a frequent contributor to think tank blogs.

Letter I: Charles Cameron commenting on a remarkable conversation between Leah Farrall, a former Australian counterterrorism official, and Abu Walid al-Masri .
Letter II: Abu Walid al-Marsi letter of reply.