thank full

thanksgiving
i'll
be
heading south on the very day..
after the benefit yoga class
8 am  ~ come!

mila rubie..the red prius of excellent wheels
will be loaded and then loaded again..
where did all the stuff that i can't seem to do without ~
come from?

we are hunters and gatherers in a new way..
shoes and more shoes..
coats of every flavor..
warm gloves and hats
how many hands? how many heads?
tea, cups, dates, chocolate for the road..
phones and cords and candles and sox
bed roll and pillow..elephant..babar..
the stuffed heffalump that i have had for 37 years..
he's been to india and panama..
hawaii and the netherlands
paper stamps toothpicks
reading glasses sun glasses
binoculars
car chains
ghee and rice crackers
yoga mat blankets block bolster strap
books..though i am leaving shelves of them behind
face creme toothbrushes
pencils and pens
the singing bell from japan-
the bell my mama gave me after she died
towels and paper towels
coveted soup pot
ghee pan cinnamon
jizo travel buddha
prayer shawls


Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railing
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
looking up from tables we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in the doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on the stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in the office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you

with animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like the cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
                             ~ w. s. merwin

step, step, step

earth's crammed with heaven
and every common bush afire with god
but only he who sees takes off his shoes ...
                                       e.b. browning

take off your sandals ..
for everywhere you stand is holy ground...
                             exodus 3:5

i had the blues cuz i had no shoes
'til on the street..
i met a man who had no feet..
                   ~ punjab poet


vigorous feet -
not a single thing have i closely observed
my feet on life's way are too vigorous -


if you are making your journey in a hurry,
you are making it poorly..

it's your head that does all the moving.
when it stands still,
you will be still anywhere and everywhere..
you will run like a hare in god's wind..

i have waited so long to be where i am going


in a field
i am the absence
of field.
this is
always the case.
wherever i am
i am what is missing.

when i walk
i part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

we all have reasons
for moving.
i move
to keep things whole.

 ~ mark strand

tidal wave

sadness is a tide in every heart.
                    ~ brian doyle

sad -

feeling or showing sorrow
sorrow -
a feeling of deep distress caused by loss, 
disappointment, or other misfortune 
suffered by oneself or others .
tide - 
the alternate rising and falling of the sea, 
usually twice in each lunar day 
at a particular place, 
due to the attraction of the moon and sun..
  a powerful surge of feeling or trend of events..
heart - 
the central or innermost 
part of something..

how is it we can still breathe?
joke with our friends?
get gas?
eat, even?

the sky is falling  ~

we are far away
from the trend of events
in paris..
in syria..
in the congo..
afghanistan
ukraine
even the here and now
which is here and now
is far away

my centermost innermost beat of the heart
of the matter that matters most gushes and rushes
with something like fear or grief or angst-
a groundswell which is not a calm but a calamity

the sky is falling ~

poor chicken little
shouts all over town
the sky is falling
the sky is falling
poor henny penny
sipping out of her cup
saying if the sky is falling
why don't you just hold it up
                  ~ loren cohen

so... i guide a yoga class..as usual..
share a meal with david
do crossword puzzles with nancy
get gas
write love notes and thank-yous
watch starwars : attack of the clones with pals
do the dishes
floss
pray when i remember to remember

a high station in life is earned
by the gallantry with which
appalling experiences
are survived with grace.
              ~ tennessee williams

1. you must be subjected
to appalling experiences.
2. you must survive these experiences.
3. you must survive with grace.
4. you must do so gallantly.

if sadness is a tide in every heart,
what of the heart of hearts of the terror-makers?
what is this sadness, this tide of sorrow
that eats away the gentleness of their hearts
which leaves a rotting blackness
so dark
so rank
so rancid
that any sliver of shiver of light and bright
cannot find its way home..
lost to the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue
of being human - of being one among the many
of all of us who share the same heartbeat..
how sad..how sad.. how sad
the tide ebbing  and flowing
no grace, no gallantry

shall we do our best to hold them in our hearts..
how can we ?
so we might soothe the sour
why should we?
bring some relief to the rot -
by showering the powering of god knows what!
doing good..some good
it won't work!
bowing to a benediction
uttering a beatitude
bestowing a blessing
invoking anything - everything
to lift up the sky
in the hearts of all beings
all beings?

it is under the greatest adversity
that there exists the greatest potential
for doing good,
both for oneself and for others.
                           ~ hhdl


.. there is nothing outside the self..

thanks giving..last class @ a wing..

salta prima di inacidire
(leap before you sour)

please note!
the thanksgiving benefit class
will be the very last class at a wing..
thursday 8 am november 26
$20 donation


jeri and kathy will
not be teaching their monday classes..
november 30th..
they will use the time to move
props to their new locations..

kathy johnson 
yin yoga
8 am  - tuesdays 
beginning december 1st
studio 1010
714-394-1895

jeri lancaster
7 pm - wednesdays
beginning december 2nd
center for happiness
360-299-2519


everything near becomes distant

home

no one leaves home
unless home is a mouth of a shark.

you only run for the border
when you see the whole city 
running as well.

you have to understand -
no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land.
                       somali poet ~ warson shire 

these snippets - a powerful poem

offered as a powerful plea

after a three hour  plus performance

to the audience ..to the theatres..

from hamlet..b. cumberbatch -

savethechildren.org.uk/hamlet

no one leaves home 
until home is a sweaty voice 
in your ear saying -
leave, run away from me now.
i don't know what i've become
but i know anywhere is safer than here.

peace is healthy for children
and other living things.

rest..not wrestle!

work when there is work to do.
rest when you are tired.
one thing done in peace will
be better than ten things done in panic..
i am not a hero if i deny rest;
i am only tired.
                      ~ susan mchenry

cats - cats - cats

i care not for a man's religion
whose dog or cat are not the better for it.
                                      abe lincoln

we gathered $600 dollars to flesh out the kitty..
it was fun!
the cookies were de-lish..
no adoptions but the word is out..

meowanacortes.org

peace thru love and thanksgiving

in the sixties..in monterey..
my sweetheart and i had a wooden plaque
with the words:
PEACE THRU LOVE AND THANKSGIVING
in our commune abode..
we  made sure that anyone photographed
would be posed in front of this message..

this thanksgiving..
thursday, november 26th
a wing continues the tradition
of an 8 am class
to benefit a worthy cause..
the morning class is $20

though my teeth have proven worthy
these many 65 years..
a crown was called for ~
it has artfully been placed..cemented in..
by my exceptional dentist and staff..
- i have an outstanding bill!

a portion of our thanksgiving cornucopia
will benefit these teeth and dear dentist..
with the rest of the offering basket benefitting -
the convent of our meeting of the lord 
an orthodox christian convent
located in stanwood, washington
quietlightcandles.com


this class will be a helping hand
to local women - nuns -
this class will be my last yoga class @ a wing ~

polish the two-fold spirit 
heart and mind
sharpen the two-fold gaze
perception and sight
intend the two-fold action
love and thanksgiving 
        PEACE

lament

my mate..
my mate for life has gone..
gone the way of the deceiver's call
in the early soggy wet of duck morning..
though he has offered his shimmer feathers
his meat
his wing
for the nourishment of another -

& i praise him for that..i do..

my mate for life
is gone



what the hen must feel
when her drake does not return..?
we humanoids say that animals /birds/ insects
are not the feeling type..
how is it we know this?

i look at the yes of a bird,
the eyes
and i am seeing back to myself..

yes..we are feeling..
our small hearts skip a beat..
the weighty life of loss
makes our wings burdensome ~
flight is not a soaring
with our true companion gone..

i know this ..
i know this from my own wing ~
my own lonely wing..

exaltation for all souls all saints 
all ducks & all hunters of ducks