Ring of Bone

I am a newbie, (infact this is my first node), and I've been y'know checking it all out during my... ahem... "downtime" at work, and as I've been trying to figure everything out, I keep thinking about this poem that I read a couple of years ago that has really stuck with me:

I saw myself
a ring of bone
in the clear stream
of all of it

and vowed
always to be open to it
that all of it
might flow through

and then heard
"ring of bone" where
ring is what a

bell does

The poem was written by Lew Welch a minor beat poet who drank too much, fought depression, and ultimatley killed himself.

The Point is I think he was trying to say something about growth/understanding and cross-association, and connections... definitely connections. And I guess thats what everything should, could, will be.

I should mention, that as I read this node over, that I seem to have made some unconsious allusions to a David Bowie song (that I heard as a cover by phish) called cities, and that song is about finding a city to live in, and that is definitely what I'm talking about.

This was also the title of a collection of Welch's poetry. As a memorial, it was also the name of a small Zendo in California run by his friend Gary Snyder under the direction of Robert Aitken roshi.

Welch wandered out into the woods one day. I believe his body was never found.