Notes From The Genetic Journal
By Stephen Levine

As poet and participator, vortex and forefield, I seek an understanding of this thing
      which is my consciousness.  Thus I  watch the watcher, translating the vibrations
in my mind-stuff to the overtones of language.  I chronicle my genes.
                                    Genetic Journal 1

                               As Creation still in the act of being created I am Man in search of my Self, 
                               investigating the mystery of my substance, the creator in the created,
                               the cause in the effect.
                                                   As Song Master of the Phylums,
                                I ascend the multitonic scale of evolution to the tune hummed by 
                                the Genetic Host beaming in my chromosomes.
                                                   Brought forth
                                by the genetic body gods rising just beyond the peripheries
                                of consciousness            chakraed in internal hemispheres.

        Following the unending stream of life that flows through
           every cell    communing in the constantly expanding
        universe of my body        continuing on to each creature
           in the cosmos           unfolding into infinity.

                            Suspended between supernova and atomic dervish, I am Man,
                                 center of the universe,       disproving Copernicus after all
                            cosmic acrobat trapezing on the tendency toward rebirth.
                               Poised between whirring mass at either end of infinity.

                            As midpoint in the cosmos,     balanced by the senses
                                and the intellect between sabertooth and sky speck,
                            I am creature of the Cosmifarce standing upright
                                in the midst of it all     measuring relativity by the depth
                              of superimposure.
                                              The celestial hollyhock
                            on the karmic see-saw      as many galaxies within
                                as beyond.         A billion stars rivered in my intestines
                            like a Milky Way.            Nebulae towed by my lungs.
                            Ten thousand constellations rising up my spine.
                                      Aurora Borealis my stigmata.

                                                 From the percolation in my cells comes the intrinsic message
                                                    of my life-prana       of the compassings of the genetic directive
                                                 that lead me from the Cambrian lightning to the here&now
                                                  that bring me to the haloessence of my being
                                                 the substance of this genetic yoga.

Begun as always in the reflected microcosm of myself 
by the bringing-to of attention  steadied on the reality
of my tissues         contracting to a single fiber
then drawn in by the concentrated focus of the hidden eye
to a single cell          steadied once again
and allowed to fill with light.
         Icarus on a safe journey toward the sun.

             From the cellular oscillations come the emanations
             that mandala every cell      the radiant sphere
             blossoming from the life monad.
             The yantra-centering glowing in each cell
             allowing me contact with the seed                        
             about which the pearl is collected.
                                                   The one-pointed contact that experiences
                                                   the monotheism of a single cell
                                                             that bright-central star
                                                       in the revolving constellations
                                                   just behind my brow.
   In the centering comes the gradual encompassing and flowing through of two billion years of ectoplasmic history,
toward the chemical  realizable  reality of the Self.                    The central quasar of the life-click composing and dissolving
in the maelstrom of a single cell         the membranes chiming like genesis in the cellular process of destruction and repair:
a cosmos,                  birth and death          creation and dissolution         Shiva dancing the Maha Lila
the walls pulsating like a mantra.
                                 And at the nucleus a thousand forgotten faiths
and the ten thousand names of god rendered alfresco in the DNA/RNA matrix.            Suddenly nirvanaed
to a single molecule            perhaps that single atom of Brahman that is said to sustain the whole universe.
     Resolved to One.        The Self in self.                OM TAT SAT 

Copyright © 1995 Stephen Levine