TTM #2: The Fire That Can Make Nothing Of Itself

Details

In which I talk to myself about Mark Waldron's poem The Warehouse and what it might have to teach us at the moment about dealing with the apocalyptic anxieties of the coronavirus, as well as our more day-to-day worries. Also included: a grounding practice called RAF (Recognise, Allow, Focus) which I find very helpful when anxiety dominates my thought processes.

THE WAREHOUSE

This is not a false alarm. This is not a drill.

This is an emergency. It’s not just about an emergency.

It’s not just on the subject of an emergency,

it doesn’t merely refer to some emergency

that’s taking place elsewhere. Neither is it

a metaphor for an emergency, or an exclamation

drawing attention to an emergency.

It is actually the emergency, and it requires attention.

It’s not so much like a fire in a warehouse

where paper is stored, ordered by colour and weight

and finish and size, ordered by shape and age;

it’s more like a fire in a warehouse built for the storage of fire.

The fire can make nothing of its heat inside its burning home.

-Mark Waldron

Text version of this episode here: http://stevewasserman.co.uk/4184-2/