The Left Hand Path

“The eccentric is the basis of design.” Wallace Stevens

The path less traveled.

Chthonic awareness in the basement 

looking for the stoppage.

Like a hunter, as a plumber, 

you have to look for the signs in nature.

Nature scoffs at plastic flowers,

trembles at the prospect of artificial intelligence.

Outlaw is honorific, not pejorative, to my mind.

There cannot be beliefs in the shop, or the battlefield,

as you prepare 

for the day’s uncertainties…what you see in front

of you is uncompromising, too real, no room for

daydream.

A plumber I worked with, in Boston,

had to unstop a toilet.

He started with the closet auger, 

reamed that sucker good

to no avail. 

His temperature rose like a heavyweight in mid bout.

He pulled the toilet, got a hose, stuck it in the top and 

the bottom of the toilet, wrestled with it for a long time.

Suddenly, the largest turd either of us had ever seen,

slithered out like a snake.

We stood there in awe for a sacred moment.

For a second, we both experienced non-thought.

Certainty is a temporary experience.

Everything you know is wrong.

Hold and then, release.

Go out with the breath.

Letting go is left hand wisdom.