Some will protest at my inclusion of notes before the body of the poem itself, but I haven't been called a rebel for nothing. Besides, this version needs to stand out more than aurally from its previous iteration. Audio links to the recitation can be found at the bottom of this post.

Let us not now discuss the history of the now-defunct train tracks of my hometown whose dismantling has provided me with a few recent adventures, photographs, and inspiration at this juncture. Instead, what of the seemingly paradoxical natures of humanity, which drive us to both crystallize and dissolve boundaries by both terror and joy at turns? And what of the creative hats we don and discard at will?

We depend upon human-issued statutes and regulations for the smooth operation of our day-to-day, yet it is these also which restrict the expression of our innate exuberance and creativity due to their imperfect correspondence with real Law, that of the universe itself. How similar are the ill-fitting labels we place upon ourselves and others as we navigate the world!

Only recently, armed with an upgraded smartphone camera, have I attempted to approach the world as a photographer. Here, as with so many endeavors, theoretical knowledge proves indispensable along the journey towards a skill's refinement, yet mindset is fundamental from the first steps and is the mother of experience's smooth accretion. What does it mean to look at the world as a photographer would? A poet? A film director? A musician? A chef?

In my experience, the common requisite seems to be the ability to experience and transmit wonder through the chosen medium. The imagination brings forth the world-as-it-could-be while the rational self attempts to clearly behold the beauty of the world-as-it-must-be-beyond-the-veil-of-the-sense-organs'-imperfect-apprehension. The two meet, and there is an instant of epiphany; the intuition of some fundamental harmony just beyond grasp emerges, however briefly. False dichotomies dissolve, and the world shines with polarities canceled.

To experience the world as a poet means the realization of the world as poetry itself. As a chef, that passion is the fire whose touch imbues substance with its ability to bestow sustenance. As a musician, that all existence is the most exquisite symphony whose beauty is so great that much of it must remain silent to us that we can operate. As a photographer? That life's eternal beauty spills forth wherever one looks—poignant, fleeting, agonizing in its perfection—and begging to be immortalized by a shutter and a lens.