DISSIPATED ASSETS by David Zimmermann

Book Review by Cynthia Morin

- Hold a book in two hands and open to any page. . .-

I like this practice designed to call forth my trust, intuition and belief in the possibility of knowing the unknown: simply opening to any page and allowing the insight that may touch me from the written word of the selected page.

It is not uncommon for me to keep a book or two handy for the purpose of meditation and reflection. I have noticed that this system, designed for its simplicity, doesn’t always work. Instead of reflecting on one passage or one page, I continue to read, page after page. I become a sponge soaking up the elusive foamy bubbles coming to the surface of the written pages.

Foam
When we enjoy each other as we are
There is no need for gratitude
Or perjury or truth.

Two drawn into the sea
Without the need for victory,
Beyond the horrid ministry of thought.

As drops set free to ride
Upon a momentary crest,
As swimmers in the nature of the self.

And so it was, when I began to read David Zimmermann’s newly released Dissipated Assets. A relatively short read of less than 120 poems (mostly one page and often one sentence), the book sucked me into the heart of Mr. Zimmerman’s honest and vulnerable expressions. Dissipated Assets is about love and death, forgiveness and trust. Though it may touch on topics of war, environmental destruction, and disease as the stories unfold, there is always the thread of an elegant grace of being and regard for the human experience.

55
I am become one of the old
Who fall asleep too early and
Wake to a private day
Deep in the middle of each night.

Being a lover of the ancient Persian poets, Rumi and Hafiz, I relish poetry that offers a blend of esoteric beauty of the allness with the rawness of the human condition. Many of Zimmerman’s pieces offer this same unexplainable light, and sometimes humorous, vision of our deepest desires; naively wanting to be both human and godly essence. And, as with Rumi’s writings, one sometimes loses ones bearings - who is this Beloved that touches the heart of the poet? This intimate language speaks of love for the other? Self? God?

33
I am now free to write it out,
A song for just ourselves,
A poem spare of images,
A knowledge free of thoughts.

And after I’ve been still I lift
My hands up in all prayer,
For I’ve been answered in this life
By knowing your regard.

We get a few glimpses of David Zimmermann’s childhood from a soulful perception and depth that perhaps only children experience and, a few pages later, catch a glimpse into a clearly adult story that is without garments of adult façade - more vulnerable than a child’s expression.

Pneumonia
Go out into the cold dark rain, get wet,
Let other forms of life begin
Inside of one that you no longer need.

96
A church should be a way of saying thanks,
A bank should be a place where there’s enough,
Policemen should be helpful when we’re tired.

I recommend you immerse yourself in Zimmermann’s path of freedom. Put Dissipated Assets by your bedside but don’t count on being able to read just one page at a time.

89
I loved you long before the world began
And in that stillness now have come to rest,
The better to perceive the quiet tones
That underlie the colors of this life.
Conceit is not conceit which leads a man
To careful contemplation of his heart.
I loved you long before the world began
And in that stillness sing this song for you:
May all of life begin anew each time.
The cosmos of you swims into my view.
As you allow my presence in your life,
So I allow myself to come to you
And in that light where laughing we combine,
May music, ringing, singing end this line.

David Zimmermann has been writing poetry since he was 15 and released his first book of poems, Names for the Known, in 1988. Total Eclipse: The Destruction of the African American Community of Harrison, Arkansas, in 1905 and 1909,co-written with Jacqueline Froelich, won the two the Violet B. Gingles Award from the Arkansas Historical Quarterly in 1999 for the best paper on Arkansas history. Zimmermann, a Eureka Springs resident, will be one of the guest authors at the May 4th Books in Bloom in Eureka Springs.

Dissipated Assets excerpted with permission of the publisher, Boian Books LLC 479.253.8335

Cynthia Morin is publisher/editor of Spirit of Eureka Magazine.