Paying Attention

"Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on the forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager."
         - Susan Sontag




[photo of a sundog, seen by paying attention and looking up]

Sweet Release

Sidewalk Scratchings

Frida

Old Goats

'Zombieland' - T-Bone Burnett

Accentuate the positive

Destroy all the negatives

We're gonna stomp that devil beat in zombieland

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Occupy Wall Street - 
Been watching this groundswell over the last couple of weeks. "The revolution will not be televised" [Gil Scott Heron], but the internet? - well, that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.



It's not going away - the genie won't go back into the bottle.

It's on.


https://occupywallst.org/


Final scene from: 'The Great Dictator' (1940) - Charlie Chaplin

Haiku of the Golden Journey

what is this golden?
another autumn rising
this dream awakens

Sunflower Field ~ September Afternoon ~ Remembering Who We Are

From the movie 'Harold and Maude':

Maude: I should like to change into a sunflower most of all. They're so tall and simple. What flower would you like to be?

Harold: I don't know. One of these, maybe. 

Maude: Why do you say that? 

Harold: Because they're all alike. 

Maude: Oooh, but they're not. Look. See, some are smaller, some are fatter, some grow to the left, some to the right, some even have lost some petals. All kinds of observable differences. You see, Harold, I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are 'this', [she points to a daisy] yet allow themselves be treated as 'that'. [she gestures to a field of daisies].  
[cut to a shot of a field of gravestones in a military cemetery]

Haiku Fire of the Wandering Poet

in the long day
at my cane's tip...
a fuse cord


-Issa, 1816

Obsessive-Compulsive - Hah! It's not always a disorder.

"Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsession mercilessly."
- Franz Kafka

THE JOURNEY by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its still fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.

Dust Radio - Chris Whitley

Big Sky Country - Chris Whitley (1960-2005)

Dandelion Wine Summer Count Haiku

two rabbit morning:
white tails dashing under brush -
a good day to live

><><><

final raspberries
summer sun distilled deep red
sweetest juice is last

Questions & Answers

The poet in the child is crippled, I think, when the child is conditioned to expect an answer whenever there is a question.

Miller Williams
Making a Poem

Ending of City Lights

Calling on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

"We do not walk on our legs, but on our Will." ~ Sufi proverb

Slippery Slopes

If you're living on the slippery slope, better learn how to become a mountain goat.

For the Grandfathers, Fathers & Sons

Sons and Fathers

He carried you on his shoulders
Always remember this:

He offered you his back
To climb upon

So that you could see farther
Than he would ever see

As it should be
Pass it on

><><><><><><



Fathers and Sons

He sees a horizon
That we can only imagine

Lifted by his Father
He stands on strong ancestral shoulders

He is a good man
A strong man --

Your son
He rises

The Tramp Meets the Fiddler of Dooney

Charlie Chaplin in 'Sunnyside': The Tramp Dancing with the Wood Nymphs

 

The Fiddler of Dooney  

 by W.B. Yeats

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney.
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With ‘Here is the fiddler of Dooney!’
And dance like a wave of the sea.
  

Perspective

One of my favorite 3rd grade facts: There is no new water on the planet and there never will be. Water that the dinosaurs drank, peed and that ran back into the earth, evaporated into the atmosphere and fell as rain. This has continued, the water being recycled again and again, including our own body's waters. Proving once again that there really is nothing new under the sun.

Now that's some serious perspective -
and responsibility.

Harry Nillson presents another version, a bit more people-centric, but no less true, in an excerpt from the 1971 movie 'The Point':

Pure and Happy ~ Raising the Sun

From the movie 'Black Orpheus' ~ pure delight and happiness. A wish for the same for you, dear reader ~ all it takes is carving out a moment to play a song and help the sun rise another day. Here's to you, m.c., one of my best carving teachers, and to another spin around the sun. Here's to rising again...

Time Sensitive Material

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  - Mark Twain

Forty-four days at sea crossing the Atlantic, from the Caribbean to Europe, via sail only, my son, his crewmates, and the ship, Tres Hombres - all arrived safely to their home port in the Netherlands this week. Another safe crossing into and THROUGH another Great Unknown as they "sailed away from safe harbor" wondering: How many days will it take? Will our food last? Will we catch the wind?" Many unknowns.  None with answers - not until they've finally arrived. 

Now, for the 'next' - the next new horizon for himself unknown - as it is for all of us awakening to another day, facing the eastern sun greeting us again - welcoming us to another precious morning.

Use it well.  There's no do-overs.

Forgetting and Remembering Haiku

I forgot to say
about the apple blossoms
how their fragrance fell

"Hearing is a form of touch." - Evelyn Glennie

A 45 second meditation - then a short teaching from Evelyn Glennie, percussionist/musician, artist with sound, who understands the vibration within sound, listening and touch on a profound level - oh, and she happens to be deaf. Amazing, the depths she has plumbed of one of our human senses! Imagine if we magnified that awareness in all six of them! She demonstrates how to make fullest use of all I have.

Check out the movie: 'Touch the Sound' - a small clip:

Old Weeds

Calvero [Charlie Chaplin] is an old vaudeville clown who has just given the performance of his lifetime. Immediately after, backstage, he suffers a heart attack. When asked if he's alright, he responds,  "Of course. I'm an old weed. The more I'm cut down, the more I spring up again."

Ah, even so, it's his time and in accepting this gracefully he tells the doctor: "I believe I'm dying, Doctor -- but then, I don't know, I've died so many times."

The doctor asks, "Are you in pain?"

"No more."

For me, the take away moral of the story: once I check out of this hotel of life -- no pain. As long as I'm here: pain. To expect anything else is ludicrous! So I had better get strong enough, smart enough, and pragmatic enough to learn how to ride these very high waves that  bring the 'good stuff' into shore, also.

"The heart and the mind --- what an enigma." - Calvero

Spring Is Sprung!

Finally! At long last, after this looooong winter - it's here - Spring! To put some spring into my step and into yours, Charlie Chaplin at age 63 will show us how it's done! This, from his 1952 film 'Limelight', playing Calvero, a washed up vaudevillian clown dreaming of his old, youthful performing days. 

Sixty-three! Bless ya, Charlie, for showing how us how it's done.  

~ Sweep As You Go ~

forget what's down the road tomorrow
sweep as far as your broom will reach
today
which is only the couple of square feet
in front of you, around you
and beneath you

sweep as you go

unfortunately
despite your expertise
your neighbors will have to
sweep their own two square feet
as will your spouse
your children, your parents and friends
everybody owning the patch
beneath their feet
each with their own broom
whether they choose
to use it or not
none of them needing
your help, guidance
or advice on how best to hold a broom
regardless of how spot on you are

just a willingness to
hold their own
and

sweep

Rising

barn's burnt down
now I can see
the moon

- masahide

None But Ourselves Can Free Our Minds

Welcome to the new digs.