Sunday, February 19, 2012

7 Things - because a friend asked if anyone wanted to play along.

7 things about me:

1. I recently compiled most of my scribblings and sketches of the past 20 years into an artist's book called Nexus Of Ecstasy, for which I am creating unique covers, and may even plan on attempting to trade for cash in the near future.  I will post pictures very soon.

2. My son is going to be 8 in a few days, and that's really amazing.  He's a great kid, and I just love him so much, I hope he has a fun birthday.  We invited a bunch of his friends to the roller rink/arcade/laser tag/bumper car joint next weekend, and I feel incredibly blessed to be able to provide that for him this year.

3. In an effort to expand my food repertoire, I made veggie wraps the other day:  I cut long, narrow strips of carrot, celery, cucumber, purple cabbage, and escarole, and rolled them up in blanched collard greens with some hummus.  They were pretty good, but when I made a dipping sauce out of peanut butter softened with hot water, Bragg's liquid aminos, some apple cider vinegar, two drops of honey, fresh crushed garlic, and a shot of red pepper, the experience was sublime.

4. Right now, in this moment, everything is fine.  Right now, in this moment, everything in my immediate sphere is fine.  Of course, I realize there are millions suffering with things the likes of which I can't even imagine, and I must keep them in mind while feeling my peace, even.

5. I wonder if I will have a companion/confidante to keep me company when I am elderly.

6. As is natural, given the times in which we live, I have a great many concerns about the plight of my fellow creatures.  The scales seemed tipped precariously towards the 'darker angels of our nature', and it feels almost as if one must wield the shining sword of righteousness tirelessly, as new worries rise to snap at the heels of evolution every day - the onslaught a wave that keeps breaking, as outrage piles upon outrage, and I am dizzy with all the spin.  Sometimes, I feel the tension in my body as if the Earth itself could split open with it.  I do hope that when it finally breaks, I will have helped inspire someone to know how to mend it, and to be included in the process.

7. While I feel as if I'm living in a state of gratitude, I also feel that if I get too comfortable with it, something will happen to change its blessed nature, but that I should also abandon myself to the sheer joy of it while I can.  It seems like, the older I get, the greater the chance that I will fly off into ecstasies, and leave gravity for those who have a use for it. 

Peace  ♥

Friday, February 10, 2012

I am a river of fire



     Rob Brezsny really hit the nail on the head with me when he suggested this image of Horsetail Fall over El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, CA be my (Aquarius') inspirational symbol for the week, and to imprint it in my mind's eye, as it would 'help unleash the subconscious forces you'll need to pull off your own natural wonder.'  I had concluded that the normal birthday-energy-surge was just late, this year, but I think I feel it coming on.  Midwinter came and passed, and I guess it's kind of hard to burst out of a Winter that never really got all that wintry.  I realize we're not there, yet, but I felt the small tick of the season it took to change my grey sweats for a patterned skirt with some bright red in it.  About a week ago, I was talking with this woman I know who is a health coach, and one of the things we discussed was making a collage, or writing a poem - engaging in some creative process to represent one's commitment to one's self.  So I took some time this morning to look through a folder of things I find beautiful that make me happy, and it reminded me of the idea I had to write a legend of my son's birth story, and in turn, of once again returning to the long-denied process I call Saint's (which, of course, led to another idea...).  I find it interesting that I still spend time learning who I am, like it's almost curious how I still discover myself, rediscover, in the change of seasons, over weeks, in a day.
     I am a river of fire.  Reflecting Sol, setting burnished in a molten golden glow, as he bids 'Fare thee well, horizon!'  I am the fiery gateway, the scalded righteousness, the holy burning transformation as your tear free.  Something about gilded rooftops, and coppery brightness - but for the suggestive blinding - and we must avoid combustion for the knowing.  Glories...wondrous glories...and then the dreams.  The one of the boy, in the rowboat, pulling himself in to shore, and then gone.  In a cloud, a puff of mist.  The old Moroccan, it was his fault, He saw what happened, could have helped, could have prevented, could have Done Something.  I haunted him for years, that beach, that sad empty place inside my skull, until finally the Asian lady that worked at the cafe yelled at me, said I couldn't come in there to haunt him anymore, it made everyone uncomfortable, it was time to move on.
     The next was renewal, dared to be hopeful.  Featured the childhood friend and his family, newly constructed spaces, basements and light.  Moving and vehicles.  Nighttime.  Heightened tension and a test, an unquestioned bond proven.  And the next, more hopeful still - new digs again, possibly shared, cathedral ceiling-ed, well appointed and tended.  Clean, cavernous corridor to an underground pedal-boat channel letting out into a sun-filled park that may have been part of something larger, it didn't concern me.  In a storage closet on my side (the service side) of the moat, mini tricycles to pedal back up the smooth, flat path back to the rooms, to finish rearranging the fabulous things while awaiting the arrival of the child, who was slightly awed, vaguely embarrassed, was withdrawn and shy, yet coy and curious.  I couldn't wait to tell him about the pedal-boats, and the mini-tricycles!  Where did he think this piece should go..?
   And THEN!  My god sent me another lover - a satyr, no less, for all his god-light!  Which gave me the thread for the rest of the Porn series, fancy that..(after so much time with the minotaur, it must be time to switch it up)!  Feeling so blessed for the vision, Universe, thanks for it - and I see now why the heavy, dripping stagnance, and humble further.  Yes, I will combust with it, one day, but not today...not today!  Oh, the Balanced way, on a Fool's Journey!  Hanging always, as I am, with this eye out and the leg crossed over, just so...  I will run their racist Gypsy wagon right back over them, with my big, hoop earrings and scheming ways, the crown JEWel, hidden away in my father's treasure stash.  I know secrets, though I keep them hidden under my hood, where they hiss and whisper to you of their danger, tease you with the licking intensity of their passion, and caress me with your assent.  Sneaking through the back, down a tunnel, 'round the bend - In the Out door.  Come, step behind the curtain, boy, now where did I leave my fangs..oh, right here next to my Gloria!  Party ~
     So the boy is going to be eight, and he's turning into to a proper little person, not my baby anymore (well, always my baby, just not a baby).  2012, solar flares, the year of the dragon, the dawning of the age of Aquarius - it's all pretty intense, and I need to remember to stay all in while I try not to fall out.  I've been nodding over this paragraph for half an hour, now, been falling asleep at the computer, three days running...I should be stitching the fabric of my dreams, not squinting into the near-dark, at my disappearing keyboard as it fades with the light.  The heat of New Worlds being Born are warming me from the inside, and my body is exhausted from the process - or the uglier conclusion.
     I am a river of fire, burning through the solid bedrock of my own core, a gateway Between.  You can look, but I'll never tell, the poem contained within my body, the one you really mean.  Out from under the bushel, baby, at least for this week, ride that dragon.

...and the peanut sauce I could've bathed in.