Just Wondering Poem by Diana van den Berg

I was just wondering,
when I get to Heaven,
if God will let me
into the fascinating secret
of how minds work -
in general –
you know, a sort of prototype -
and in groups –
of the great thinkers,
of those who don’t think at all,
of those with hidden agendas,
of criminals,
of composers,
of the scary ones whom music doesn’t touch,
of corrupt politicians,
of altruistic politicians,
don’t laugh, I really believe there are some,
well, at least three,
and also in very specific minds –
mine for example –
why my very own solution to world politics
came to me in my very rushed bath, this morning,
and then there was the Spathodia campanulata issue
yesterday, driving home from the computer shop,
I saw the tall East African tree, in its large orange-bell splendour,
and I could only remember “campanulata” –
I hate it when I can only remember the specific name
and not the generic name
rather than the other way round
because that way it is almost impossible to look it up,
and then minutes after giving up
the search through my mind
the generic name sprang into my head
and I said “Spathodia” loudly to Gretta, the Jetta and me –
and then today when I left work at lunch time
to check on Benji and Cleo
a song I had taught my French pupils
along with many others –
“Sous les ponts de Paris”,
came into my head,
but one line just wasn’t there
I could sing the tune of it
(well, “sing” is pushing it far too much)
and then I remembered the general meaning of it,
then the key word
and then the line,
but with two words that were wrong, but fitted,
then two others instead,
also wrong
and then when I got home
without the song in mind at all,
while playing ball with Benji
“mon marquis” bounced into my mind
and I had the whole song.

Well, I suppose how my mind works
wouldn’t interest anybody else,
but it certainly interests me!

I wonder if the mind prototype is like a database
and based on logical instructions
or mechanical
like the internal workings of Big Ben
or whimsical
and based on flower moments in the breeze.

I wonder...
I wonder...
I love wondering...

(24 March 2011)