Great moments (that call to me still from the past)

a few, in no order:

Auntie's house, Orcas Island, WA November 2006/August 2007. my aunt taught me new tricks for life. in return i baked her a hand-picked blackberry pie. in return she introduced me to Rilke, Roethke and Stafford, helped me appreciate Klimt in a different way, and told me i needed to know all the rules before i could break them. and, of course, she taught and i learned that gray(which now triumphs in beauty) begins with equal amounts of the primary colors, then white as needed.

Bed, Holiday Inn, Haifa, Israel, January 13, 2007. the first dream in a long period of dream-dry-spells and the single most meaningful dream i've ever had in my life. i became a lone dolphin in the sea....

Yueyang, China, July 2004: when we pulled up to Fuyue and all of my expectations and assumptions ceased. The students ran, greeting and welcoming. I felt unity unalloyed.

my room, breakdown, usa. 2005ish. when i discovered the Tablet of Ahmad and read it over and over and over and over and...

Shrine, Bahji, Israel, January 2007. completely overwhelmed. my soul, my heart, my thoughts my throat, my lungs all at once, drove out every tear within me...

Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Fransisco, CA April 2005. the discovery of and instant love for Auguste Rodin. his sculptures are figures just waiting to break open 

the trailer, NABI, Houck, AZ, December 30 into December 31, 2006 (and into January 1, 2007). the conversation of good stuff to Great Stuff to tears, then to all of us in unison grabbing the prayer books, then discovering Prayers & Meditations. i think i gained 5 brothers that evening.

Martha Root Hall, July 2007. The circle of hearts. each one spilling All the Love it had to offer to the others. I think that moment was the purest form of love i've ever seen.

Ms. Weavers's poetry class, Spring Semester, Junior Year, 2004. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot. thoughts, ideas, questions provoked. parts of my brain opened up that I never knew existed. suddenly i "dare[d] [to] disturb the universe[...]"

Bean Town, Sierra Madre, CA May 2008 (right now). Listening to Chopin's prelude in D flat major. finally finding the words to express how i feel most/all of the time: limited but limitless. with wide-eyes, a pocket of hopefulness, and the walking, breathing form of ridiculous who will be eternally awestruck.

....................................................

and now some poetry...

Next Time

Next time what I'd do is look at

the earth before saying anything. I'd stop

just before going into a house

and be an emperor for a minute

and listen better to the wind

or to the air being still.

When anyone talked to me, whether

blame or praise or just passing time,

I'd watch the face, how the mouth

had to work, and see any strain, any

sign of what lifted the voice.

And for all, I'd know more-the earth

bracing itself and soaring, the air

finding every leaf and feather over

forest and water, and for every person

the body glowing inside the clothes

like a light.

William Stafford

------------------------------------------------

to life- altering events.

tuning: True Love Waits by Christopher O'Riley