Another Art Poem by Heidi K. Haskell

The art of doing Nothing
Ce n’est pas très difficile-
Allow your thoughts to wander
Circumnavigate your mind
Like a giant Ferris wheel.
Do all things without rushing;
Try to keep an even keel.
Weigh each action; watch and ponder
What you take and leave behind.
Savor time like your last meal.

Make ev’ry minutia count:
A grand movement, a great act.
Give weight to the meaningless;
The unimportant, gravity.
Make the pointless aim exact.
Don’t think of time as a mount
To be climbed, an endless tract
Of endless tundra - cold, green. Unless
It is made small, the cavity
Of time devours you – true fact.

When you begin to study
The delicate art of Naught,
You must always endeavor
To forget why in the world
You gave ne faire rien a shot.
Remember, and the muddy,
Gorgeous Nil your mind has wrought –
Despite tries to be clever –
Will be quickly, deftly hurled
Into clarity of thought.

Strive to gain blankness of mind
When you’re forced to choose between
Two impossible actions
Of conflicting urgencies.
Twixt rock and hard place, unseen,
Lies a universe – you’ll find
A calm, warm space, neat and clean
(Freed from those warring factions
And vital emergencies)
And Naught’s all there’s ever been.

No decisions must be made
Only small movements made grand
Through chance and careful planning.
There’s only neutrality.
No big words to understand
How lovely is this charade!
Not an option whose demand
Can lead to self-trepanning;
For such is reality
Where dread fear can freeze your hand.

The fragility of Zero!
How it teeters on the brink,
Ready for the disaster
That inevitably comes –
And much sooner than you think.
Who tries to be a hero
When their stomach starts to sink,
Their bravery is plaster?
Who wouldn’t start to go numb
When their options all just stink?

So burrow into silence.
Wrap yourself in the cocoon
Of small goals and tiny tasks.
Take it step by piffling step.
Swifter still the self-defense
To act crazy as the moon…
No, do zilch – if someone asks,
Shake your head, maybe feign strep;
Translate songs to Gaelic runes.

Keep blunting the keen edge
That your mind used to carry.
This way, keep your sanity
In a world where no one stops
To explain why it’s scary.
When you don’t get a small wedge
Of meaning here, you bury
Not knowing with vanity –
A thousand rabbity hops
To make life less contrary.

Without Nothing’s sing-songing,
Suddenly your heart can feel
Now how boldly in confronts
And it screams without blushing
That you want a brand new deal.
Now your head aches with longing
To establish something real
For someone to act for once –
Not ignoring, only rushing,
Hidden stories to reveal…

The art of doing Nothing,
Ce n’est pas très difficile.