The Panel

A poem by Ray Urbaniak 7/26/06

Isness, that is the life of a rock.
It seemed sudden when the isness was broken by a small shaft of light.
After coolness, the light shaft grew brighter.
The cycle continued & continued until it was suddenly broken by a rumbling of the earth.
The light became blinding as the front of the rock split & broke off.
A flat virgin panel was exposed to the light & rain & wind & snow for the first time.
Its surface began to tan & develop a hardened crust.
Many animals passed, but few seemed to notice; they had their own isness.
Then a group of 2 leggeds arrived.
They did a ceremony, then began to peck at the virgin surface of the panel.
This too was repeated for a while.
Then the 2-leggeds disappeared & only the 4-leggeds remained.
The pecked surface once again tanned.
The 4-leggeds began to disappear.
Some new 2-leggeds suddenly appeared.
They held some sticks that thundered & released something that struck the panel & produced little craters on the surface.
They were very visible since they had not yet healed.
Then came some new 2-leggeds that scratched unsightly new lines on the surface & shot at it with colored balls that splattered as they hit.
These colored splatters washed off with the rain, but left streaks on the surface.
The 2-leggeds once again disappeared, and the 4-leggeds once again began to return & the surface scars began to heal, and isness returned.

Definition of “Isness”
Isness names the quality of being-ness that is intrinsic to all that is alive. Isness embraces form as well as essence, surfaces, depth, matter, and spirit. All living things, whether deemed animate, like humans and animals, or regarded as inanimate, like stones or rocks, manifest their own isness.