Literary Treasure

Keeping Things Whole

In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.

- Mark Strand

I first read this poem in a high school textbook while I was teaching when I first moved to Los Angeles. The simplicity of it was beautiful to me. I wrote it down by hand so I could read it to my friend, Lori, who ran the Continuum office. Continuum is a form of organic movement that accesses the fluid system through sound, breath, and wave motion.

It is impossible to describe in words…one just has to experience it like the bus stop incident Aram was speaking of last week. Emilie, the founder of Continuum, talks about negative space. “In a field/ I am the absence/ of field.” It is such a simple line, and yet pondering it is the space between the words that makes it so potent. “Wherever I am/ I am what is missing.” This is very Zen, as we rush around trying to find something which is already present. It reminds me of a Poetry In Motion poem that should be on the subways in New York City. Deb Margolin used to memorize the poems.

“When I walk/ I part the air/ and always/ the air moves in/ to fill the spaces/ where my body’s been.” Again, the image of the air moving in to fill in the space where our body has been is a juxtaposition of our narcissistic culture of the human moves, not the air. “We all have reasons/ for moving./ I move/ to keep things whole.” It brings me back to myself, to keep moving, to keep being whole. It’s silly really—it is such a simple poem. Like the stupid Jerry Maguire line, “You complete me.” But that line resonated with the masses.

Dissecting a poem in textual analysis is like beating a horse of its beauty. I would rather read this poem aloud, the words falling between spaces, allowing it to do its own magic, others discovering its treasures. Even if they hate it, it has moved through the spaces and found a reason for moving.