Notes on “the Vault”

“Inside you one vault after another opens endlessly.”

–Thomas Tranströmer, Romanesque Arches

I think of “the vault,” as the space of enclosure that allows for opening.

That enclosure can be composed of time, as in, I’m going to dedicate this ten minutes to writing, etc.

Or the enclosure can encompass space – having a designated, uncontested space for writing.

It might be somehow held in the company of a friend with whom you share a commitment.

Or in the regard of someone who cares for you and your work.

William_Blake_-_Christ_in_the_Sepulchre,_Guarded_by_Angels

300px-Voûte_de_l'église_Saint-Séverin_à_Paris

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Here is Naomi Shihab Nye, on how poems create “a certain kind of “High Line” within yourself” that you keep wanting to return to, “a sudden savoriness of experience”

And here is John Cleese  on creativity and the vault.

* thank you to Joyce Brady for bringing this Tomas Transtrømer poem to my attention