Companionship

Magnetar Enigma Deepens (NASA, Chandra, 10/14/10) – NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center [CC BY-NC 2.0]

Dear Companion,

I am sitting in my “writing spot”, a LazyBoy reclining chair next to the French doors that lead onto my deck, when, as happens every morning, my neighbour Squirrel drops down into the deck space. This busy animal seems to be constantly looking for food. It has dug its way through all my planters and window boxes from last year, turfing the dirt over the side, but what particularly attracts her (I’m guessing she’s a her) is my green watering can sitting on the table. The watering can is quite tall and has only a narrow opening at the top. It is perhaps a fifth full of water, so Squirrel has to drop down a long way to get to it. My treat, every morning as I begin writing, is to watch the game of snout down and then back up, check the environs, then tail high hang suspended for a minute or two before the animal disappears inside only to burst out the top in a flying leap, shaking droplets of water in all directions. Squirrel will typically do this exercise two or three times before heading back up to her leafy activities high in the tree. I have thought of topping up the water inside the watering can, but I don’t want to deprive myself of this wonderful spectacle every day.

So my thoughts today are drawn to the idea of companionship, of different creatures sharing the same spaces, not necessarily at the same time. One contributor creates a piece and others peruse the offering, and the companionship goes forward. What I love about Squirrel is that it is all about gesture and body movement, about small acts of sharing. Admittedly, Squirrel appears fearful some of the time, but I think this is just the animal’s instincts expressing themselves, although there may be some predators around. 

In Cyberspace Paradox, our companion-contributor Chen Wang appears to be equally fearful but in a similar routine kind of way as my Squirrel friend. Here the space shared is a musical space combined with poetry and song, “There’s something spinning on the fingertips”. I think all these Acousmatic musical pieces are in their own way Squirrel companions to our every lives. In addition, Michael Eisenberg playfully writes a companion piece called George’s Last Trip,where a character named George equally dips in and out of fear, perhaps also spraying drops of water everywhere.

In The Infinite Closeness of Sky: two poems, Jenny Gillespie Mason provides us with two luminous poems that transform the boundary between human and divine in other ways, although her exploration of the sky recalls to me the explosive burst of Squirrel from the watering can into the sky and her return to the mundanities of everyday life, hunting for food: “Krishna in its blue, so blatantly divine. Just look up!”—while the poet herself ultimately falls back into what she calls her own “rusty, granular personhood,” “with God as the new cup.”

In other important news from Cosmos Co-op, I have taken on the mantle of heading up Untimely Books, allowing our intrepid founder Marco Morelli more time to pursue the many other endeavours that currently need his attention. I find this an exciting prospect—Untimely Books has published already 8 books and 6 more are in production. I will be looking to expand our lineup of books by bringing in new participants to the Co-op and our community.

A reminder that we will be hosting a live listening and discussion session on 4 June about the Acousmatic music we have been showcasing. In addition, our next Community Potluck and Creative Showcase will take place on 18 May in Longmont Colorado, while on May 23rd there will be a virtual meetup to discuss the question What is Integrality?. You can see the full list of events and learn more about the co-op and how to become a member on our website.

Yours in companionship,

Geoffreyjen Edwards
Senior Editor, Metapsychosis journal
@geoffreyjenedwards