true wealth

all this is full. all that is full.
from fullness, fullness comes.
when fullness is taken from fullness,
fullness still remains.

om shanti, shanti, shanti
~ upanishads

stop.

every so every i am certain
i have written my last post for the blog..
chanting one of nancy's favorite mantras..
who cares?

god does not care.
and not only does god not care,
god does not care one way or the other...
~ lawrence durrell

i have been praised -
you should write a book!
and blamed -
never. ever. never.
use a person's real name

liked - disliked
famed - disgraced..

then..
sun strikes mountain glory..
aire gushes vitality..
leaves puddle pools of brilliant crispies..
...here i go again..

settling down to peck away at keys ~
getting the world off my chest..
out and out and out ..
rippling into the big vast..

where who cares and no one cares..
one way or another..

el dia de los muertos

what is death?

it is the glass of life
broken into a
thousand pieces,
where the soul disperses
like perfume from a flask,
into the silence of the eternal night.
~author unknown

ritual

ha!
it's just as i said..
my habit of thinking is thinking me..

is ritual a habit?

an action arising from convention or habit = ritual

a settled or regular tendency or practice,
esp. one that is hard to give up = habit

hummmmmmmm?

it seems that ritual is often connected with religion
and that habit is often connected with baaaad...

do i have a habit of walking every morning?
drinking tea?
practicing asana?
sitting quietly?
jay-walking?

or are those rituals?

do i make a ritual of writing e-mails?
picking my teeth?
smiling?
lighting candles for folks?
taking refuge when i see a helicopter?

or are those habits?

ommmmmmmmmmm?

only the gnome knows...
or knot.....

one bad habit

here's my routine, i have retired
from the late scene
when midnight rings i'm in bed listening
i wake up at five; run by the river
till the sunrise as ev'ry body knows,
i'm disciplined

i just have one bad habit, only
one bad habit
yes i do, yes indeed i do
i just have one bad habit, only
one bad habit and it's you..
~ michael franks

the habit that inhabits me the most is thought..
the habit of thought..
the rabid, habit of thought..
and not only thought for thought's sake..
thought as creating a self..
a person..
a me..
the habit of me..
one bad habit..
and it's me!

as i move through the streets of seattle..
it is apparent that habit is rampant..
smoking,
drinking..alcohol, coffee..plastic water..
and afterwards, the habit of littering..
the remains of the day..and night..

how about shopping?
consuming, dooming all that stuff
to come home and live with me !

cell phones..now there's a habit..
everyone is talking, listening..
reaching out ..
there is a woman i met
who uses the cell phone
as protection -
when she walks to work in the early hours,
she pretends to speak with someone..

will shakespere says:
nothing is either good nor bad,
but thinking makes it so..
~ hamlet

so when does a habit turn bad?
when we make it so..
ah! so!

also from hamlet..
to be or not to be
me.. the habit of me..
thinking makes it so!

elvis..

was the first ~
this all hallow's eve..
then gumby & pokey..
a purple crayola,
a yellow m and m..
a prison guard w/ prison rollers..
(coke cans..who knew?)
a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow..

when the leaves, by thousands thinned,
a thousand times have whirled in the wind,
and the moon, with hollow cheek,
staring from her hollow height,
consolation seems to seek
from the dim, reechoing night;
and the fog-streaks dead and white
lie like ghosts of lost delight
o'er highest earth and lowest sky;
then, autumn, work thy witchery!

~incantation
george parsons lathrop

may i introduce you...?

to a morning stroll down alaskan way..
dark..
good and chilly this early am..
before the dawn warms up the streets..
bones are as cool as a grave digger..

red rose holds on to her beauty for yet another day ~
joined by yellow blush peace rose.. fully bloomed..
another bud soon to follow..
the street sleepers are still tucked into their grey woolies ..
some so tightly curled,
one might think that a wee child is snuggled there..

bob is the first i see..
a white-haired, braided-beard gent with a guitar..
he always wears the pin of our lady of guadalupe..
the queen of the americas..he says..
the empress who showed herself to juan diego..
nuestra senora de guadalupe
our patroness...

along the way, the alaskan way..
every morning... a most joyful good morning
offered from lerone..cheerful and full of vim..
he cheques out the trash bins for recycling..

right near the fire department and ivar's-
mark, with a 'k'... reading webster's dictionary..
to uplevel his vocab..

after i reach the footpath,
i bow to the red cedar tlingit totem pole
and touch the feet of strong boy..

eagle on top, crowning the pole ~
brown bear holding a "tinnah", a money piece..
killer whale carries tenacity and great strength-
hawk, sharp eyes into the future..
brave grizzly bear holding mosquito to warn us ~ all is not easy
and...strong boy..
strong boy was ridiculed as being a dolt and lazy..
strong boy practiced in secret..
when his uncle was swallowed by sea lion,
all the other nephews ran...
strong boy seized sea lion by the tail and tore it in half!
his uncle stepped out alive.

strong boy offers me something each daybreak..
solitary refinement..secret practice..inner strength..

i imagine strong boy and our lady guadalupe
having a starbucks every morning..
immersed in a heart to heart about the
state of the art of the hearts of men..

on my way back..
i stop by the john t. williams totem..
drop a tri-fold dollar in the donation basket..
say g'day to david, the night watchman..

it is light, by the time i reach my door..
a bit steamy from the pace i keep..
my heart is hot..my mind is cool ~
a perfect way to launch the clear cool day