the effing holidays

"

namaste to all beings

"namaste" is an acknowledgment of the divine spark in each of us, the soul in one recognizing the soul in the other. it is my fervent wish and intention,  as we go through life, whatever it brings us, that this be the first thing we see in each other. let's treat each other as being the same light.

may the long time sun shine upon you,

all love surround you, 

and the pure light within you

guide your way on.

--kundalini yoga blessing

coyote's hideaway

what planet are you from?

invitation to speculation

i drive by this place several times a week, going to and from one of my teaching gigs.

the door going into this place has no identifying information. all it says is "not a public entrance."

well.

just what do they do in there?

is this a request? an observation?  a prophecy? a command? a lament?

i invite your speculation.

shadow and light

spooky, spooky

go directly to 2:37 for the best part:

at the edge

signs of the times, part 2

 cluck it

someone let a badger loose, but his

claws were wrapped around his camera.

no harm done.

been playing in the wrong casino

one of the two pace horses

nerds unite!

there's something wrong with this, 

but i can't put my finger on it.

signs of the times

i went to the occupy vegas march yesterday. it was well attended, orderly, peaceful, contained, and not much noticed in the national press. at least, not that i could find. in a town full of transients, i see it as a minor miracle that people showed up.

we marched up and down the fremont street experience, a closed area full of casinos, shops, and general vegas oddness. the crowd was paced by two mounted (yes, on horses) metro police officers.

the crowd was highly diverse, in age, political leaning, and opinion.
here's some of what i saw.

folks in wheelchairs

 dogs

 kids, of all ages

 folks my age

activists in training

there will be more photos when i can stand to sit in front of the computer for a while again.

blogstipation

i'm so far behind i can't see there from here.
ideas are clogging the neuro roadway, in a no passing zone.
i have blogs in the brain, backed up from here to next whenever.
the hamsters running between the synapses have collapsed, their little feet still twitching.
life has been like that.

so i give you this:

if you can listen to this and keep still, you're dead. i'll send flowers-dead ones, of course.

as i lay dreaming

sedate me, daddy,

eight to the bar,

numb my guts

til my hair turns hoar frost white,

and my bones

melt into the street.

further fortune

after my birthday post, i realized that i had never completely extricated the fortune. assumptions were made on what was visible, most of them wrong.
so i opened it up.

this is the way i've often done things in the past-
upside down and backward.

thought i'd try it this way this time.

the question is, which one?

fortune unfolding

today i am 60.
i have not yet made peace with that.
it may take a while. maybe a year.

 

then again, maybe not.

impending

 
i turn 60 two weeks from today.

i slide between amusement and dismay.

i did not expect to live this long,

i have but few words left for this song.

i turn 60 two weeks from today.

If I knew I was going to live this long, 
I'd have taken better care of myself.
  Mickey Mantle

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
Seneca

Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week.
Louis Kronenberger 

shadows

summer

the snakes of summer are upon us.

beware the teeth of heat,

listen for the rattle of triple digits.
catch the sun
 coiled on skin
scaled with sweat.

reach out

this weekend, i had the unsurpassed pleasure of a visit by two of my oldest and dearest friends. my oldest and dearest met my newest and dearest. i witnessed as my worlds mixed and merged. i don't have the words to express the joy that i felt in those couple of days.


i have known these two women for something like 40 years. we have drifted in and out of daily interaction, inevitably reconnecting. i have no idea how long it's been since the three of us were together, all at once. i know that it had been too long.

we are all women accustomed to asking, and answering, the really tough questions. there are no off-limits areas. there is nothing that can't be asked. we speak our minds forthrightly. we have worked and played together, debated, laughed and cried hysterically, danced, sung, created, howled at the moon, made and demolished mountains of good food, critiqued our significant others (often in their presence). we don't hold back.
they have now gone back to their homes, spouses, projects, lives, apart from me, and yet still a part of me. i am bereft and connected, a very odd combination.

these are the people to whom i reach out when all hell breaks loose, as has been known to happen in our lives. these are the people who remind me to be the best of myself, even when i don't want to. they remind me of the possibility that we contain, in every waking moment.

so, maryellen and lee-ann, this is for you.

and so it begins

wading pool

extracting the light

 

just for fun

lizard thoughts, upon espying a penis

(spoken very quickly)

 

HEY!  HEY! what is that?

where's the legs?

what's it doing?

wonder what it eats?

does it have a tongue?

maybe i can grow one.

i can grow other things.

 naw, looks heavy.

awful big to drag around.

WHAT? it's leaking.

wait, it's going away.

damn.

 

shadow and chill

slump

there is nothing here

that makes me wish

i had known it sooner, 

or loved it longer.

there is nothing here 

that makes me shiver,

or dance like a fool.

there is nothing here

that i wouldn't trade

for a cat

and a pound of bacon.

there is nothing here. 

the edges

mysteriously, wonderfully, 

i bid farewell to what goes, 

i greet what comes; 

for what comes cannot be denied, 

and what goes cannot be detained.

--chuang-tzu