Cabbalistic and Arcane
Poet: Dr. Alireza Bemanian
|March 8, 2026
© www.bemanian.com
Cabbalistic and arcane,
covered and disguised,
or overt and superstitious, the judgements and convictions,
notions and conceptions, or scrutiny and cerebrations,
the prance and cavort, glint and caper,
or scintillates and twinkles, merge and form,
urge and fulfill, and congeal and cohere.
Insidious and deceitful, guileful and duplicitous,
or astute and adroit,
the rapturous and ecstatic grasps,
enraptured and ravished perspicacity,
or apprehensions and comprehensions,
constantly blur and muddle, obscure and smear,
and besmirch and tarnish.
While, the stretch and spell of the moments beguile and lure,
the murmuration and mutter resonate and resound,
and the intimations and reiterations allude and evocate,
the contrivance, ruse, and expedient,
march and rally, and sweep and stride,
the journey, its momentous stroll,
the wonders and rambles,
are intended to be grandiose and strenuous,
when the indications, introductions, and inductions,
embolden, augment, and sustain.
To keep them embroiled,
implications and involvements,
the core and gist, and the nub and pith,
their slant and timbre, cohere and harmonize,
conform and comply, and obey and adapt;
the emotions and reactions, passions and sensations,
and instincts and inclinations dilate and distend,
the alchemy and sorcery,
or, the spell and charm,
of warrant and inducement involute and intricate.
Themes & Interpretations
The Triptych as Epistemological Argument
By naming each stanza, Dr. Bemanian constructs a logical progression: raw perception, cognitive corruption, purposive synthesis. Most lyric poems about the mind stage its workings as simultaneous; “Cabbalistic and Arcane” stages them as sequential argument, giving the poem a rhetorical spine rarely found in verse of this philosophical ambition.
“Or” as the Marker of Uncertainty
The word “or” recurs throughout the poem not as a rhetorical device but as a genuine epistemological marker. This is a principled use of indeterminacy as poetic argument. Each “or” acknowledges that multiple incompatible descriptions may be simultaneously valid.
Perspicacity Ravished
The image of sharp insight being “enraptured and ravished” disrupts a foundational assumption: that clear thought is self-protective. Perspicacity is precisely what becomes most vulnerable to ecstatic overwhelm. The sharper the faculty, the more fully it opens itself to what it perceives.
The Ego as an Artificer of Ruse
Words like “guileful,” “duplicitous,” and “expedient” describe the necessary survival toolkit of the human psyche. The ego must deceive itself in order to function. Self-deception is treated not as a moral failing, but as an essential, highly skilled adaptive mechanism against chaos.
Involuting Rather Than Illuminating
The final verb “involute” is the poem’s most decisively anti-Cartesian gesture. Rather than ending on revelation or ultimate clarity, understanding becomes more intricate as one approaches it. The pursuit of understanding does not converge; it coils inwardly in complexity.
The Campaign of Mind
The martial vocabulary of the third stanza — march, rally, sweep, stride — reframes cognition as strategy rather than passive discovery. The mind campaigns for truth, deploying “contrivance, ruse, and expedient.” This is a pragmatist claim: knowing is an interested, tactile, and motivated project.