Structure or Cage?

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. – John Cage

Since I retired last May, I have played with a form of poetry Mesostics introduced to me in the work of John Cage.  My poetic efforts have been using the term Structure on most days.  Several Mesostics arising on many days.  Why the obsession with Structure?  Many recently retired people I spoke with before I retired told me this was the most difficult part of retirement for them.  How to structure their day.  A part of me was not overly concerned as I have certain practices, pursuits, and activities in place not dependent on my professional life.  Actually they inform and guide my life; the profession was to pay the bills.  Still in leading up to retirement I thought about how I would structure my days when the confines of business life were no more.  Now I have experimented and continue to develop and explore this structure of refining my life.

Isn't structure a type of cage?  Delineated boundaries; keeping one focused within a certain area for whatever the reasons - music, life, art, business, and on and on.  What's happening at the edge of the cage?  What happens within the limited view I have from within the cage?  What happens to the caged?

My habits form a cage.  My thinking.  My knowledge and perhaps more importantly my lack of knowledge.  How will I approach understanding my cage?  That of another?  Why does the notion of being caged put me off balance?

Time for a walk.

Photo by Paul's Lab.

Structure of Alexander Technique

                                                 pauSe
                                              inhibiT
                                                    diRect
                                                   unDo
                                                   caUses
                                                   diRect
                                                      Until
                                                     fRee
                                                    nEck



photo by Howard

A Cageian View

I've been reading, Begin Again: A Biography of John Cage, by Kenneth Silverman.  What a man, constantly striving to allow what is, through his music, writing, and being.  I met John Cage twice; he was truly a gentle man, making himself available to someone like me, once only because I asked.

He worked extensively with creating mesostics, a form of poetry, usually drawing from the works of others.  Over the years I have played with this idea, sometimes using Cage's writing, sometimes others.  Recently, I've been playing with mesostics and the twitter stream.  Today I used John Cage to "write through" the blog this month.  This was what I found.  I took one line or word from post beginning with What Get's Caught in the Web? and then moved to the next post for the next line.


                                  Just
            inviting freedOm
                               wHen i returned
     this did not happeN
                       get praCticing
                   still primArily
                             beGinning
                    do not cEnsor