Today I needed reasons. I needed reasons to feel balanced. To balance on water, to be small on a big lake allows this to happen for me. The planet is old. It has wisdom, not through words but through presence. I just skitter around on it without listening most of the time. So I packed… Continue reading Floating
Tag: writing
Dog bodhisattvas
I’ve seen them wearing coats, wearing sweaters,riding in bike baskets, and shopping carts. Tied up outside stores, on concrete, waiting for their beloved. Dog bodhisattvas are not bogged down in dogma.They are not downward dogs. Dog bodhisattvas are often harnessed for duty and wearing a badge or service vest, absorbing or deflecting suffering for those… Continue reading Dog bodhisattvas
Essence Trading Post
I signed up for another art class in March. Would you sign up and pay money to be around encouraging artists in a room dedicated to making art? I would. To drop out of regular life to be expressive, curious, and open-minded in the ever depressing news narrative is a bold choice. It is another… Continue reading Essence Trading Post
Cat poem
I choose to stay with you, without obligation I am a house cat I am a 600 lb. tiger. I am sensitive Your touch can feel like 1,000 hands Sometimes wind feels like a gust off the ocean and I remember 200 years ago patrolling a ship’s deck. The big chair in the living room,… Continue reading Cat poem
What are you responding to?
My friend loaned me a washboard to play with. The Zing King, Lingerie washboard: “do not rub hard, the board will do the work,” is printed on the front. This is the best thing that’s happened to me in months. I guess I’ve always wanted to play a washboard. We are making songs about voting.… Continue reading What are you responding to?
The Yew
(Published in Take Root magazine, Winter 2020) The Pacific Yew is a quiet, understated tree. In fact, it is considered an “understory” tree. It doesn’t get that tall and is beneath what are called “overstory” trees (the tall ones). Maybe you are reading the recent novel about trees, The Overstory, by Richard Powers. Throughout history… Continue reading The Yew
Juxtapositions
I heard a hawk’s cry come through a starling’s beak. It was a perfect imitation. Messages come through however they can. Sometimes to break up monotony. Other times it’s a specific insight. Still other times, it’s just funny. We need juxtaposition to mingle and jostle healthy brain activity. I think this is true but I… Continue reading Juxtapositions
Focus on the breath
Are you breathing? It’s automatic and inherent to aliveness. It’s part of the parasympathetic nervous system. Do you breathe when you’re nervous? Do you follow or lead your breath? Inspire and expire; life passes through you with each respiration. Invisible nutrients are swallowed and released thousands of times a day. Clarity is a passing breeze.… Continue reading Focus on the breath
empty clothes
On walks, I often see scattered piles of pants, shirts, or socks, shorts, or jackets. By walking paths, under bridges, near bushes, at intersections,in alleys, near parking lots, by fences. What is the story? Do people dematerialize and reconstruct in other places, leaving clothes behind? Are clothes the first layer to go when change is… Continue reading empty clothes
transformation betwixt land and sea
Plankton are abundant here. “It smells very biological,” said one man I met in the sparsely filled parking lot. One area in particular did smell like the brew of a million creatures. The South Slough Reserve is so understated, I think it goes unnoticed by the crowds. It was America’s first estuarine research reserve, established… Continue reading transformation betwixt land and sea