Thoughts and Words / Joshua Alan Sturgill
The mind is a net
for catching thoughts.
But who has the skill to use it carefully?
Or where can we go to learn the craft
of catching hold of the heavens?
Hanging idly in the hands of our souls,
few of our thoughts are known
even to ourselves. One in ten thousand
is the thought that becomes a true word.
Chatterers’ words are seen and forgotten,
held and lost in the same gesture.
And even when the quiet man speaks
he can’t make himself known.
Long ago, a wise man spoke to me.
He told me of a marvelous treasure
buried in thought: the treasure Insight
— an echo of the Other World,
a splinter of gold panned from rancid mud,
a fish with a coin in its mouth,
a single peal from the mountain temple bell
signals the midnight prayer.
Many thoughts must be crushed and repelled
to find the one worth knowing.
How rare the word both influential
and true. We are told scarcity increases value,
but in our time scarcity only increases ignorance
and truth no longer inspires. If a True Word
emerges from the morass of our thoughts,
it reaches our ears
in language we’ve abandoned
in myths we can’t recall
in patterns with meaningless names
— old measures, arbitrary groupings of stars.
Once, wisdom was a commodity
and beauty our medium of exchange.
We must attend to our loss of wisdom
or remain fools. Submit, said the wise man,
to the onerous cultivation of thought.
Learn what is worthy of love.
Or your conversation remains
a shallow river
aimless
carrying no voyagers
All poetry and supplementary material: copyright 2025 by Joshua Alan Sturgill. All rights reserved.
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