Dennis Thomas

Then Stars

Perhaps things are not real, the big house, lies still in the rain, celestial

gardens, unfading flowers, paradise, gazed, reflection, crystal foundation.

Descended, hills, sun picked its way, then stars.

Timeless ground, magnificent murmur of whispering, shuffling bare feet, lit a

lamp, nature, ordinary things, from somewhere.

I write lines, poems of days gone by, sheets of silver, across odd places,

inside lost faces, hidden; unceasing wind, history passes, crumbling walls,

discoloured smoke.

She entered, shadows, almost invisible, life opens up, larger world of

complexities.

Ultimate awareness, choice, soar; we are spiritual in nature, soul has no

boundaries, laws, it is dimensionless, formless, invisible, soul is endless.

Interview

TSTmpj:  Your work speaks to me of the ocean; waves upon waves of clauses that cumulatively move to create the overall effect.  Given that you live in Canberra, not on the coast, do you have a favourite coastal destination, one that perhaps you feel influences your work?

Dennis Thomas:  No, I don’t have a special place at the coast. My place in composing can be anywhere in nature, or on a busy street. It is all a matter of my state.

My poetic creation, sometimes in meditation, is deep, meaningful with lots of colour, inner expression, compressed language, expresses ideas, imagination, dreams, mind experiments, nature , beauty, sometimes its comes from somewhere else, I am a part of this creativity and beauty.

TSTmpj:  I know that you have travelled to India; and this has influenced your poetry, along with your interests in ancient Indian, Chinese and Tibetan mysticism.  There is no way of doing this really, but, given this now global legacy of spirituality, could you give TSTmpj readers an insight into your personal philosophy of living as a westerner in the twenty-first century?

Dennis Thomas:  Yes, I have travelled to India, spending time at a meditation centre, gathering spiritual strength and wisdom from that experience. I meditate most days poetic creation comes from this discipline, encountering my imagination, in deeply mystical language, coexisting conscious will, comes my poetry. Reunite in reflection, comes the production of poetry, purest of ideas, whispering in my ears, from world of spirits. This creation has been formed by my interest in Eastern philosophy in Tibet and China, in their past realm of spiritual wisdom. It is the true focus of inspiration.

TSTmpj:  The music of the 1960s has long spoken to you.  I can see Donovan’s dreaminess in your work.  Any thoughts on this?

Dennis Thomas:  Yes Donovan, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, some of the many creative artists from the sixties with a dreamy melodic voice with lines to match something out of a mystical maze. From this and other forces my work blends into a combination of what I consider to be beautiful words, blending into spontaneous images, possessing a great deal of mysterious beauty, just arrived from nowhere, just sitting back, waiting for it to burst into my consciousness, line by line.

Bio Note

Australian Dennis Thomas’s third collection is Standing in a Cloud.  For him, the Pantheon is a living, breathing, shaking thing.

See:

http://www.bibliotastic.com/ebooks/fiction-poetry/standing-cloud.