I am currently writing a research paper on the concept of Khôra, which is introduced in Plato’s Timaeus. Today, I took a walk in the woods to philosophize in true Socratic fashion. After much contemplation, I created this erasure poem to grasp at the concept of Khôra, a space that evades all logos and mythos.
HER
In her
empty space
lifts
Other
memory
waiting silence
wells, flows
no one
still
darkened
She will not
be held
but uphold.
I wrote the original poem in 2012. It’s interesting what one can find hidden within a text.
The Sphere
Domed in the starry sphere,
empty space
drops like wind and lifts winged arms heavenward.
Smothered in a veil of memory,
awaiting stillness in silence
from her heart a song wells, overflows
ballads sung to no one.
On moors, shadowed and still,
darkened with fires kindled in vanity,
spilling a bowl of ashes mingled with tears,
and drunk up by earth’s dry mouth
she laughs at my calamity,
embarks to root me down, and hold me.
I will not be held,
but trample on the wasted earth,
and bound until her gravity deny,
and uphold the wings of liberty
in the face of the daunting sky.
M. Chaplin
