“A man is another man’s face”
An observation I first saw in Michael Harper’s poetry 33 years past
I remember
And find time after time T. S. Eliot’s time
“To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet.”
Eliot even put pale green make-up on his own
Public face
Mask, theatre
The laugh that guy put on in the blues bar
Which signified a laugh more than was one
Signifier, signifiée, semiotics
To my mind
A sign of distance from the center
Signifying
Too much bar
Too much beer
In the sound signifying a laugh that he put on
I was there that night in the blues bar, as so often
Remembering an intense, intensive week for me, year after year
Together face to face all day and into the night
And there’s no putting on of anything
Paulhaven Children’s Camp Pastor, Rec Staff, Cooks, Teens
Campfire, sacred flame, circle, singing
Sacred space, sacred time
They will always remember
Year after year until adulthood when youth and camp end, community yet remains
They remember
I will always remember
I remember
3AM conversations with a few staff around the campfire
When it all comes out
And there’s just us, talking, looking at the fire
And 3AM
But now it’s 3 AM in the blues bar, drinks done
Remembering the laugh that guy put on
The face I put on to meet the faces I meet when they compel a face from me
And the campfire burns only inside me
Behind the faces I now wear
David Fekete 