I count West Coast artist and poet Sabine Miller among my close friends, even though we’ve never actually met in person. A few years back we played numerous long-distance rounds of  The Question and Answer Game, and it was thrilling.

Sabine is a master of non-ordinary juxtapositions and connections within poetry, as evidenced by her most recent collection Branch to Finch with Ornithopter Press. She is one of the most non-linear thinkers I know, so playing The Q&A Game with her is quite a ride:

Are you awake?
          Russian nesting dolls

Does the ocean have a soul?
          Dark matter

What is the dream of the ruby-throated hummingbird?
          And you, too, are wild
          in the oak’s dream

When will I be loved?
          The wind is so gentle today

Questions Michelle Tennison,  Answers Sabine Miller (2015)

Which brings me to the thought that there is something really different going on here with this game. On occasion it can feel quite personal, even healing.

Perhaps it’s because, due to the element of chance, we feel brave enough to ask some personally significant questions we might not otherwise choose to ask.

And there is something more. 

To comprehend these Q&A connections we often have to find meaning that isn’t obvious by means of logic alone.  We need to engage other channels of perception. For me it is an intuitive process that seems to work best when we engage the heart,  because the heart can recognize truth even when the rational mind can’t quite get there.  And, by the way, it is into just this very territory that I gladly entrust Sabine Miller to be my guide.