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[L. ambo, both], a combining form

[ML. valentia, worth, value < L. valens, ppr. of valere, to be strong],

1. in biology, the ability of chromosomes, serums, vaccines etc. to combine with definite organisms, allergens, and allied matter, or produce a specific effect upon them.

2. in chemistry, the capacity of an element or radical to combine with another, as measured by the number of hydrogen atoms which one radical or one atom of the element will combine with or replace: as, oxygen has a valence of two (i.e. one atom of oxygen combines with two hydrogen atoms).

3. a unit of valence

am • biv • a • lence

a conflict of two

the day after the witch told me of my clubfoot, I received a simple instruction from another person re: intensely conflicting impulses “see if it is possible to hold . . . all together rather than going with one and running with it.”

OK. so what happens in the space between and around two conflicting notes? dissonance. and if the notes keep being struck? (as I write this an eyelash falls on the page) [in music a chord that sounds harsh and incomplete until resolved to a harmonious chord.]

I am interested in the vibrational field (of/between) creation and destruction that holds them both, that does not necessarily seek to resolve into traditional harmonic structure though the possibility of a new thing emerging from this interaction is ever present. That night Kim Jensen read at the Poetry Center from her new novel: The Woman I left Behind (see http://www.kimjensen.org ) articulating a conflict between human desire and the will to power enacted via characters entrenched in historically responsible positions.

Back to the site of a body: when these conflicting impulses arise/fight within me I create a ring around them, and my legs begin to shake with current. (In yoga I am told this is an action of burning stored karma.) If I stay in posture w/o attempting to allay or discharge the energy it opens into another field, which I have imagined as a pasture with a giant red gash or a column of fire moving through it. It was under these conditions that I released the nine horses.

Again, Apollinarie:

La Victoire avant tout sera
De bien voir au loin
De tout voir
De près
Et que tout ait un nom nouveau

(from La Victoire)

This entry was posted on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 11:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.