Jeanne Shannon

The World Seen Through Broken Glass

It is Tuesday in the Mirror World. The notion of elsewhere.
The notion of glass.

The axioms of causality are being shaken to their foundations.
To return to the hexagrams itself. The I Ching insists upon self-
knowledge throughout.

Does French glass reflect the pale light of springtime in
Antibes, landscape of plein air and perpetual ennui? Will local
glass reflect Antibes more authenically than glass imported
from another continent?

Virginia, 1942. Sewell Beverly was the editor of The
Dickenson County Herald. He could remember summers
before the blight that killed the chestnut trees.

Walk barefooted; there is no glass.

Hexagram 32. Duration is a state whose movement is not
worn down by hindrances.

Did Jim Morrison break through the doors of perception? The
smallest part can be a doorway to the whole. Li Po pulled away
from society to connect with peach blossoms.

Photinia (the spell checker asks if I mean photon) serene under
the honey locust. Pear leaves blood purple. Catalpa leaves
green hearts.

Is the world seen through broken glass whole or is it fractured?

Did Morrison read the hexagrams?

1943, Dickenson County. Children went from door to door
selling Rosebud salve and mottoes. "The pure in heart shall
see God" in glitter on purple felt. Anna May carried a nickel
under her tongue so she wouldn't lose it. Glitter on her hands.
Barefooted, wading the creek. Careful not to walk on slivered
glass.