our common humanity
…on average, the entire volume of 5 liters of blood in the circulatory system is
pumped through the heart approximately once per minute…
it is a blessing to wake up
breathing in the glory
of this very day
this I know this newness
to be able to look around
wondering wheresoever
awake could be leading us
sisters and brothers
as we might find ourselves reaching out
through a solid commitment
to our common humanity
in each and every beating heart
in every instant blazing forth
the vortexes of our aliveness
always already becoming
what we know not
07/10/16
presented to the folks attending
the Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium reading
Old Capital Books
Monterey
John Dotson works as poet, performance artist, playwright, producer-director, and sculptor. He was born and raised in the historic city of Kingsport, on the banks of the Holston River in the Appalachian mountains of east Tennessee where his ancestral roots run deep. He graduated from Northwestern University near Chicago. His life path includes scenarios in New York, Iowa City, the northern Rockies in Colorado, and Los Angeles. He settled in Carmel over forty-two years ago. Recent years have brought opportunities to work in Wales, and his next book is Singing in My Chains: Dylan Thomas at the Birth of an Age.