artist, come home

remember how bright it is,
the old rabbitbush by the hall light?

one of the blackberry vines has
reached all the way to the clothesline.

there isn't any way to keep
the kitchen window from tapping.

the tea kettle had one of its meditative
spells yesterday.

i am thinking again of that old
plan - breakfast first, then the newspaper.

they say maybe they won't have
that big war this year after all.

a frog is living under the
back step.

~ william stafford

sex, drugs and rock & roll

what would those be to a yogini..?
...i thought to myself as i stepped out of the shower...
hummmmmmm?

sex would be the ecstatic asana
w/ a moderate dose of brahmacharaya ~
drugs would be the pranic winds, the amrit..the drops..
riding on the vehicle of breath ~
rock & roll would be stillness
infused with the sound of aum..

the same..only different..
there are many ways to kneel and kiss the ground

solstice poultice

night in day*

the night never wants to end, to give itself over
to light. so it traps itself in things: obsidian, crows.
even on summer solstice, the day of light's great
triumph, where fields of sunflowers guzzle in the sun-
we break open the watermelon and spit out
black seeds, bits of night glistening on the grass
~ joseph stroud

i wrote to someone yesterday about the longest day coming..
it is the shortest day..yes?
it seems every day lasts a lifetime these days in night

o my o
the light yesterday
what tunnel did it escape from?
from dust to dust..
we are space particles..
we are cosmic dust bunnies..
we are night eating day..
day eating night..
eating crow!


visible light is electromagnetic radiation
whose wavelength falls within the range
to which the human retina responds,
i.e., between about 390 nm (violet light) and 740 nm (red).
white light consists of a roughly equal mixture
of all visible wavelengths,
which can be separated to yield the colors of the spectrum,
as was first demonstrated conclusively by newton.
in the 20th century it has become apparent
that light consists of energy quanta
called photons that behave partly
like waves and partly like particles.
the velocity of light in a vacuum is 299,792 km per second.


*a bird black as the sun
california poets on crows & ravens

our mother of perpetual smiles

that is what i call my winter hat..
given as a gift a few seasons ago..
it is hot pink with fern green trim..
looks alot like dipsy's hat,
(the lime green teletubbie)
-cheque out their theme song-

the hat rises to a point like the buddha's ushnisha
and brings a smile to many a face..
cars driving by give me a thumbs up..
drivers mouth the words :
love your hat !
where did you get that hat?

what concerns me though..
even when i don't wear my fine hat..
people are smiling broadly as they see me..
it must be that my hair is sooo short
and my body is sooooo big..
with all my winter coats and vests and scarves..
i look like a pin-headed michelin man..bibendum ~
or a cone-headed pillsbury doughboy..poppin' fresh ~

no matter..
the world smiles when they see me coming..

as louis armstrong says:
when you're smilin'....keep on smilin'
the whole world smiles with you
and when you're laughin'....keep on laughin'
the sun comes shinin' through
and the whole world gonna smile with..
the great big world will smile with..
the whole wide world will smile with...... you!

the road is life

traveling to india..
yet again..
in less than a month..
(for a month)
the 27th of decembre..

now the intention of packing..
of course, the desire to travel lightly..
in body and in spirit..
bringing gifts to friends..
shoes for high-tailing it..
warmth and coolness
and...
as samuel johnson offers..
in traveling;
one must carry knowledge with them,
if one would bring home knowledge.
things i won't be taking include..
phone, laptop, plans and opinions..

i am heading to bodhgaya..
the holy site where the buddha sat and woke up..
often called vajrasana..the diamond throne..
it is believed that when the universe is finally destroyed,
this will be the last place to disappear
and the first place to re-form when the universe begins again.....

for my part, i travel not to go anywhere,
but to go.
i travel for travel's sake.
the great affair is to move;
to feel the needs and hitches of our life a little more nearly,
to get down off this feather-bed of civilization,
and to find the globe granite underfoot
and strewn with cutting flints.
~ robert louis stevenson

our battered suitcases were piled
on the sidewalk again;
we had longer ways to go.
but no matter, the road is life.
~ jack kerouac

guadalupe day

an indian named cuauhtlatohuac,
baptized as juan diego,
was on his way to a nearby barrio
to attend mass in honor of our lady.

he was walking by the hill, tepeyac,
when he heard beautiful music...
like the warbling of birds.
a radiant cloud appeared...
within it a young native american maiden ~

the lady spoke to him in his own language
and sent him to the bishop of mexico,
a franciscan named juan de zumarraga,
with a request to build a chapel
in the place where she appeared.

the bishop asked juan diego for a sign from the lady..
she met with juan diego again and offered roses for him
to carry to the bishop in his cape, his tilma.

when juan diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence,
the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees...
on juan diego’s tilma appeared an image of guadalupe
exactly as she had appeared at the hill of tepeyac.
it was december 12, 1531.

the sweet mother of the americas...


we may petition her for great kindnesses ~
on our behalf..
on the behalf of all and every being..
may it be just so..
as we move into the light
we be that light....
our hearts explode into millions
of space particle luster clusters..
we awaken to the lord of all..
love
bowing to the very centre of our being ~
we get to do this..
over and over and over again..

what the crow said

though friendly to magic
i am not a man disguised as a crow.

i am night eating the sun.
~ michael hannon

and i..
doing my best
not to be a person..
being night
being sun
being anyone
but the one
i think i am ..

dissolve with me
scatter the fractors
of light into night
sun into one..

halleluiah

everyone should be born into this world happy
and loving everything.
but in truth it rarely works that way.
for myself, i have spent my life clamoring toward it.
halleluiah, anyway i am not where i started!

and have you too been trudging like that, sometimes
almost forgetting how wondrous the world is
and how miraculously kind some people can be?
and have you too decided that probably nothing important
is ever easy?
not, say, for the first sixty years.

halleluiah, i'm sixty now, and even a little more,
and some days i feel i have wings.

~ mary oliver

amor caritas

the master of the two dogs,
raja and beauty, told me this morning
that they love attention..
who doesn't?

isn't that it..
we love being attended to,
intended to..

augustus saint-gaudens
did a bronze sculpture
of feminine beauty as a symbol
of the greatest measure of humankind..
our potential for selfless giving to others..
our exalted capacity for amor caritas

where charity and love are, there god is.

portal

9 out of 10..
well, maybe 8 out of 11
humanoids enjoy being spoken to / with..
unless they are plugged in and switched on..
then they don't even know they are spoken to...
once they find out that you are not out to harm them
or want anything from them..
they start moving at the speed of light..
6710000000000000000000000000000000000

i will use anything as a door way..a portal
to connect with them..
those look like very cozy boots ~
what a head of hair you have ~
where did you get those earrings? ~
that is a dandy smile on your face ~
what brand of dog is that? ~
where are your gloves..it's cold... ~

they start dazzling and glowing and shimmering..
the conversation heats up and our hearts get warm..
by the time we pass one another, we are twinkling on all our cylinders..
it is a miracle!

my pal..monty..is out on the street every morning..
with a gleam in his eye and a smile on his lips..
we always greet one another with our bright highbeams..
one morning, i gave him a handful of hersey's kisses..
to sweeten his day, of course..
so this morning, i offered him a tri-fold dollar..
he didn't want to take it..
c'mon..a cuppa coffee..
he winked and received the buck..

on my return, i see him at the table at mc d's..
facing the street..
he stands up and bows with his cup in hand..
i bow back..
we are golden ~

open the door..
it's warm in here..
moving at the speed of bright..