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

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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

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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