The Force of Gravity

The Force of Gravity

We didn’t realise the gravity of the situation

the impact of releasing a single word,
a flutter
faintly at first but slowly
the breeze from the butterfly effect
turned into a cyclonic wind

chaos

gravity holds
planets in orbit of the sun
you were the sun
as we were the planets

gravity
gone

there was a supernova
a stella explosion

what was before
and what remains,
a mirage
that is life
without gravity.

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Inimitable and wondrous poet Paul Squires of blog gingatao died two years ago on this day at the age of 46 (1963-2010). He once blogged about removing the word gravity from his lexicon – a decision which may have held more weight than we all realised.

I wrote this poem after his death along with a memorial piece:

Paul Squires, wise and wondrous Brisbane-based poet, acclaimed blogger and author of ‘The Puzzle Box’ died on the 28th of July 2010 at the age of 46.

Paul had been writing poetry and prose since the age of sixteen. His work appeared in many journals including Extempore, Wordsalad, Bolts of Silk and foam-e.

He was the curator of the innovative gingatao blog, an online forum for his creations, which had an incredibly loyal and international following. Paul was voted poet laureate of the universe by his fans from the blogosphere in 2009.

Paul was a jazz poet! He lived and loved jazz and this permeated his unique style of poetry. He would scatter words onto the page in a loose, rhythmic and joyous formation, casting the straitjacket of rules into the bin with gusto.

He listened to jazz and wrote his poetic accompaniment with style and panache. His favourite musicians, such as Keith Jarrett, Moondog and Thelonious Monk, would turn up in his poems with the spontaneity of improvised notes. He believed that time was not linear and his poetry flowed on a similar trajectory.

His first collection ‘The Puzzle Box’ is an incredible work of art and he described it as ‘a non-linear multidimensional text based on the relationship between sound, music and language’. He was near completion of a second book of poetry.

Paul Squires was a generous, gentle and kind man with a terrific sense of humour and deeply held convictions. He once said “life, like jazz, is an improvised art form”. He will be greatly missed but his magical words will live on.

I wrote this poem to honour my friend and source of inspiration Paul Squires.

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