Equinox Eve, Silent Meeting Group

Over seven billion human beings live on Earth now. We have displaced or made extinct so many other species of animals, insects, and plants that we have actually lost track! In the age of Emily Dickinson less than a billion humans were alive and wild bison roamed the open plains of the United States. Today there is just a small herd grazing in Yellowstone National Park, and those were put there to be wild on purpose. Same with the wolves, also exterminated from the land, and now reintroduced by way of the park system. These animals are not wild they are museums of fur, hooves, and fangs, part of a well-managed safari rather than wilderness. We love our museums, they comfort and soothe us when we feel uncertain of the choices we have made.

This (Soma)tic ritual gets us a little closer to how strange and troubled we humans are. I made a flier and hung it all over Philadelphia:

SILENT MEETING GROUP
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20TH
5PM TO 6PM
2ND FLOOR COUCH AREA OF
THE BOOK TRADER
( 2ND ST. & MARKET ST.)
ONLY RULE: NO TALKING
 

There are only a few places where strangers can respectably be together in silence: on an elevator, at the movies, waiting for a bus, waiting to pay at the store. But to come together for the purpose of being quiet, to study one another for a full hour, that is something very different. As much as 80 percent of human communication is nonverbal, remember this detail. Do not fear looking at the people who show up because we all came to look and be looked at.

Twelve people participated, some of them quite odd looking, and one young Goth teen who glared at us with a sneer. Several were uncomfortable at the ten-minute mark, and they closed their eyes to meditate, or to appear to be meditating, but their eyes were closed for the rest of the hour. As soon as the hour was up I casually walked away WITHOUT TALKING! It's important to GO, GET GOING, GO SOMEWHERE where you can sit and quietly take account of your silent meeting. Take the quiet with you to write your poem.