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Almost
Independence Day
"Oh brave new world, that has such people in it"
Are words I said when acting in a play
When I was young and filled these words
With the air of my youthful heart
And released them like balloons
Because they had to be true.
Possibilities of brave new worlds
Walked down New York sidewalks with me.
But that was back when I thought
People might be learning something
From their history books.
(Hitler? Come on! How'd that happen?)
And I knew
The great eastern sun was rising,
Because I had seen it myself.
So ready for the revolution
Of goodness was I.
Now the ocean fills with blackest sludge,
Bringing down the world a little darker.
Greed and cowardice go hand and hand together,
(Ultimate weapons of mass destruction).
And blame hovers like flies going in circles.
Oh brave new world, that has such people in it.
I know we shouldn't give up on each other.
But it looks so serious, so sad from where I sit.
The heroes are silent and the masses are too busy
Just getting by. Schedules must be written and kept.
Meals eaten, dishes washed.
There is no time for revolutions of goodness.
There is no time. No time. No time.
Any sense is drowned in the drone of Muzac
Everywhere you go.
So no one can think clearly.
Clearly, no one's thinking clearly.
Usually, when there is an accident,
Someone comes along to clean it up.
Aren't we going to be rescued by aliens from space?
I guess that's what everyone is hoping.
Either that, or it's not that bad.
How could it be so bad that we can't put it back
The way it used to be?
Oh brave new world that has such people in it.
Shopping mall sales.
Marketing ploys.
Television truths.
Lie detectors.
Leaders lecturing.
Average Joes carrying on.
Panel discussions.
Troops doing the war thing.
That's old news.
News and more news.
Slanted news.
No news is good news.
Maybe there are angels doing silent dances
In secret valleys where flowers grow.
Maybe the homeless guy is Jesus in disguise.
Bodhisattvas, filled with prayers
For all beings to be at their ease,
Gather in underground meetings
Planning revolutions of goodness.
Maybe dolphins have a plan
Or snails, or whales, or robins.
Oh brave new world that has such people in it.
- AKF, July , 2010
This is a letter from Dr. Masaru Emoto, the scientist from
Japan who has done all the research and publications about
the characteristics of water. Among other things, his research
revealed that water physically responds to emotions.
"Right now, most of us are angry when we consider what
is happening in the Gulf. And while certainly we are justified
in that emotion, we may be of greater assistance to our planet
and its life forms, if we sincerely, powerfully and humbly
pray the prayer that Dr Emoto, himself, has proposed.
Please participate in this prayer and set an intention of
love and healing that is so large, so overwhelming, that we
can perform a miracle in the Gulf of Mexico.
We are not powerless. We are powerful. Our united energy,
speaking this prayer daily... multiple times daily.... can
literally shift the balance of destruction that is happening.
We don't have to know how...... we just have to recognize
that the power of love is greater than any power active in
the Universe today.
Healing
Prayer:
I send the energy of love and gratitude
to the water and all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico
and its surroundings. To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, turtles,
fish, shellfish, planktons, corals, algae and all living creatures.....
I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you."
*
"It's
not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems
longer."
- Albert Einstein
“There are times to cultivate and create, when you
nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures.
There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life
feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there
are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They
have reached their climax and must be harvested before
they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times
that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring
of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms
in life are natural events. They weave into one another
as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and
fear, but messages of how things are.”
- Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche "Sacred Path of the Warrior"
"The
future approaches us at 60 minutes an hour"
- Richard Seymour
"Last year, while vacationing in Bangkok, a Venice
of the Orient, I became aware of the ease and freedom
with which the Thais approach the water. One day, at my
hotel, I saw a middle-aged man lower himself into the
deep end of the pool, but just when I expected him to
start swimming, he brought his feet together, placed his
hands along his thighs and with his head above the surface,
began to float upright as if standing on a transparent
shelf.
Approaching the pool, I examined him closely- several
feet of water separated him from the bottom- and there
was no device to keep him afloat.
"Excuse me," I asked, perplexed, "Why don't
you sink?"
"Why should I?" said the man, "I don't
want to."
"Then why don't you swim?"
"I don't want to swim," said the man.
'What do you do to buoy yourself like that?" I asked.
"Can't you see?" said the man, " I do nothing."
"But what's the trick?" I asked watching his
every move.
"Being oneself. That's the trick," he said,
shifting in the water.
His thighs spread, his feet tucked under him, his hands
clasping his shins, he became motionless, gently bobbing
in the water.
"Being oneself-that's all?"
"That's all," he agreed.
"But when I am myself and do nothing, I drown,"
I objected.
"To drown is to do something," said the man.
"Do nothing. Be yourself."
"Easily said! is there a place where I could learn
it?" I asked.
"There is," he replied, a bit impatient. "Water."
"But do you know someone who can teach me how to?"
"I do. You can teach yourself, " said the man
with emphasis, as he turned away.
-
from "The Art of Looking Sideways", Alex Fletcher
"while you and i
have lips and voices
which are for kissing
and to sing with,
who cares if some
one-eyed son of a bitch
invents an instrument
to measure spring with?"
- e.e. cummings
The Swan
Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air
-
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees -
like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of
the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to
everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?
©
Mary Oliver. From The Paris Review # 124, Fall, 1992
So July is a month of poems and pictures, I suppose. It
has been unseasonably cool in Ojai. Robben is on the road.
I get up early and do yoga. 5:30 is early, isn't it? The
sun is already up by then, so why not me? Sometimes I take
long walks at dusk. Nobody seems to have any money, at least
not the people I know, but things roll on in pretty much
the same way they always have. I seemed to have developed
a fondness for eating sardines. Always knew they were good
for you, but somehow, nothing tastes better to me than a
sardine on a plain cracker these days. Must be needing the
Omega 3's. Go figure. My friends are all scattered about,
doing stuff. Without me, I suppose. Everybody seems to be
running around. So I'm a little, maybe just a little, lonely,
well, kind of, with the hubby gone and all, but really not
minding it. Lots of "me" time. Although lately
have been thinking about getting another cat. So Reason
steps in and says, "Oh boy, that's about the last thing
you need, Missy." I wonder how long I'll be listening
to Reason. I saw Andrea Marcovicci sing the other night
at the teeny tiny Gardenia in Hollywood. She was marvelous.
Too bad the Gardenia's food is so awful. Seriously, an inedible
baked potato? Never thought it was possible. Anyway, Andrea
showed us all how it was done. Roomful of singers there,
felt very cozy and cool. Tomorrow there will be fireworks
at the high school but maybe I'll stay home and read, although
I love fireworks. Just not loving crowds these days. And
the crowds at the high school fireworks are rowdy and noisy
and eating stuff while sitting on blankets. I guess an executive
decision will emerge over that one. Had to string some fishing
wire around my fish pond to keep an egret from getting into
my koi. They sure are big birds, egrets. This one was standing
on my deck, looking hungry. He's not going to eat my koi,
not if I can help it. I thought the fishing wire was a pretty
inspired solution, but I may be outsmarted by an egret.
Time will tell. Reading this back to myself, I sound like
an old farmer, some guy with a piece of hay sticking out
of his mouth. "Heh, that's not me!" I say. "I
am SO not an old farmer guy!" Or am I? "Of course
not," I remind myself, "I'm singing in Denmark
next year." Hmmmmmmm...
Lots
of Love to All Y'all,
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