Flower for the Day Black Eyed Susan 8-13-26

> > This time of year the Susans are doing well. They are flourishing everywhere despite the weather and the drought and the deer. The susans are in the aster family in the genus Rudbeckia. But how are the black and the brown eyes distinguished. Interestingly, if they have long petals they are black-eyed, if short and rounded they are brown-eyed. The difference is in the petals, not the color. > Here are some black-eyed susans. > >  > > Absence Inside an Absence > > We live in the world of the voice, > not in the world of the word, > According to John the Solitary— > Our lives are language, our desires are apophatic, > The bush in flame is the bush in flame, > Imageless heart, imageless absence between the hearts. > > And if we cry out, > if once we utter our natural sounds, > Even the angels will hide their heads > Under their blue wings, > its also said. > So better forget that, better to forget the darkness above the tongue, > Its shorting of words, its mad silence and lack of breath. > > Besides, there’s another spin, > The flame and counter flame by which we come to stillness > Playing over our faces, > over the rose cane and the missing rose, > Over the dreary schooners of snow > Pulling their nets in across the yard, > over their waters brought to joy. > > Still, the idea of absence aside an absence > Completing a presence is dynamite, > the showings foretold > > Unseeable through the earthly eye, > We say to ourselves, > The earth in our cracked hands, > the earth dark syllables in our mouths. > > Charles Wright > >