Martin Burke's 'The Weave That Binds Us' explores humanity in a language
so original it reads more like prophecy more than modern poetry. These
are thoughts unrestrained by the weight of material reality. These
are words that paint us a portrait of Consciousness and reveal the
true masterpiece inside us.
'It will always be so-the heart, and the mind no less than the heart,
nurturing itself there and draws life from and bow down in worship
so as to say I have seen, I believe I live accordingly still sailing
those waters, the boat nearing the islands and the harbours coming
into view speaking their invitations in a language of sunlight and
water and stone the eternal speaking in a tangible tongue a homeland
which is its own precedent where the heart bows down where the soul
bows down where the urge to speak begins and ends in the rites of
admiration.'
The poetry of Martin Burke is seamless, each line flowing like water
to the next. His mastery of language paralleled by the depths of his
insight and understanding. Any serious reader of poetry will appreciate
this work of art. And if you have never read poetry, 'The Weave That
Binds Us' is the perfect place to start.
'This is where the world begins and ends where it celebrates itself
where it says seek me, find me, name me where I have loved the pleasing
sunlight and welcomed the shadows where the verbs no matter how often
they are cited cannot be exhausted where even the twilight is agreeable
and to which the mind says:
This is where the world begins and ends
where it celebrates itself
where it says seek me, find me, name me
where I have loved the pleasing sunlight
and welcomed the shadows
where the verbs
no matter how often they are cited
cannot be exhausted
where even the twilight is agreeable
and to which the mind says Yes
knowing, as it does, that this is where the beautiful
is
the light residing here
water its recipient
and the outcome a further confirmation
of the world you walk in
no, you cannot exhaust it
the poem is never completed
the echoes repeat endlessly
and the music you hear
in one that cannot be written
so you name what you cannot find
but do so in the tentative tense
a novice citing the testimonies
you are astonished by
the one which feeds the heart and says
this is where the heart lies down.
