A Poetry Collection
Thoughts on “Every Sunset Is a Moonrise” by Matthew A. Stanley of Samsara Diagnostics
‘In one tree I find […] More there than I could unearth’ (page 66) — with this line, Mr. Matthew Stanley of Samsara Diagnostics gives us an example of poetry worth living. Stanley is a great thinker, conversationalist, writer, and person, and his poetry exhibits an art of how to weave these dimensions of living together. The word “unearth” is brilliantly used, for to “unearth meaning” suggests we can “dig up” meaning and find it, but this act risks us at the same time “un-earthing” our meaning and lives, which is to say “liquidate them.” It is hard for humans to “mean” without the same time “melting” — how might we avoid this mistake? Stanley suggests that our very hope of not undergoing such self-effacement is found precisely in the reality of finitude itself, which can seem like a curse, but turns out to be a condition of grace.
‘Finitude does not encourage us to escape it — it invites us to embrace it as an adventure’ (6). If we were infinite, would there be any adventure? How? Stanley suggests that we might too easily seek lives where we cover great distances but ultimately find ourselves shallow, because a “deep life” requires us coming to terms with finitude. We must face a condition that is beautiful because it is tragic, a condition that’s tragedy is found with beauty, all of which is difficult to grasp — ‘What do I do with this thing? / For now, put it over there.’ (96). “Put it over there?” As in put finitude aside and not think about it? Or start the adventure of finitude by putting a bowl on a shelf? Stanley says nothing more. The poem ends. It’s finite. ‘…the blossom becomes more beautiful in its falling because it is being taken from us, and in its being taken, we see it in all its fullness’ (52). ‘[W]e are a nothing which has become a something’ (11). Amen.
In Stanley's work, ‘[w]e are being invited into a dialogue about what type of world to create together’ (10), which is to say we are asked what kind of adventure we might live. Finitude is grace. Limitation is an invitation. Because of finitude, it is possible for us to enjoy a journey, precisely because it is possible for things to end and arrive. There is no need to flee great distances; it is frightening to face, but there are depths to encounter with which to then bless our love. Life is the one tree, and thanks to faith, poetry, and finitude, we might learn to relate to ground in a matter of depth and not just distance. Though we must die, we must never be, for good, unearthed.
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For more by Matthew Stanley, please visit Samsara Diagnostics today. Find him on Amazon and also on YouTube.
