Gifts

Wild Woman

says,

"I never

could have

dreamed

all of the

gifts

life

has had

in store

        for me.......

and they

just

keep coming!"

This is dedicated to my friends and kinfolk in Kacheliba.

Renewal

"Inch by inch,
and row by row,
this is how
our gardens grow."

In the 80's, I was part of a wonderful community of alternative lifestyle musicians and creative artists of all kinds, based around a coffeehouse called Brock and Friends. When I first walked in the door, I knew I was Home. I entered frozen solid with trauma, and those lovely people shone their smiles and the light of their love on me till I thawed out and my petals began to unfurl.

The song above is one that my friend Roger used to play and sing, the rest of us often joining in........the live music was wonderful in that little house full of plants, stained glass and healthy veggie food.

That place changed my life. I wrote this poem, way back then. I also grew a huge backyard garden, in those days, to feed my hungry kids: row upon row of watermelons, cantelopes, peas, beans, corn, tomatoes, everything you can think of. I had a fat rabbit who wandered up and down the aisles munching, and who would lie beside me as I weeded.

In March, in Kelowna, the ground was still frozen, hard, and unyielding. But soon the sun would come and I would once again be planting my garden.

My friends said the little nature fairies must be working with me in the garden, everything was so lush. Those were happy years.

You might like to read the short prose piece I wrote about the coffeehouse here:

http://stardreamingwithsherrybluesky.blogspot.com/2010/07/brock-and-friends.html

RENEWAL
March 3, 1981


Tiny stirrings,
Buds curled, waiting,
Limp, brown grasses
trying to turn green,
A busy twittering of birds
too long silent
in the bare brown branches
of winter........


Soon I'll be planting seeds
in warm, dark earth,
watching greenness growing
where once a wasteland lay,
Letting the seeds go
to grow
whichever way
they want to grow,
having finally learned
to just let living flow.


Perhaps a wondering lurks
within my eyes this year
as I start my slow walk back
from Siberian retreat.


The last frozen wastes
are melting near my heart
and tentatively
-oh, more carefully
this time-
I ponder what new thing
might emerge
from this springtime
of possibilities
I see.


I think
it might be nice
to plant something
besides carrots here
this year.

I read this poem once at poetry night, and everyone chuckled at these last lines. Brock gave me a hug and asked the room at large: "Doesnt she look cute with her long purple dress and her black leggings?" Beautiful people. Happy years. A gift in my life.

Last Tree Standing

[image from Google]

When the

last tree

is left

standing

in the

final forest,

and the

last whale

heaves

its final

mournful

sigh,

will we put

a fence

around them

and charge

admission?

and ask

"why didn't

we save them?

tell me,

why?"

Peace Is Possible

[flowers in the gun barrels - image from Google]

How do we get a more

peaceful world?

By being

more peaceful.

How do we make life

more positive?

By Projecting Positive.

How do we effect

more Change?

By changing.

We are trying

to shift a

Very Obstinate

and entrenched

global consciousness.

But I have

to believe

it is Possible

to make

that shift.

When, individually,

we all

so long

for peace,

how is it that,

globally,

we have so much

war?

I believe

the Impossible

is

totally

Possible -

it just may

take

a little

longer.

After decades of doing Outreach to the Perennially Pissed Off, I still Believe.

That's gotta tell you something! Dementia? Or simply indefatigable Optimism!

A Word from Shirley MacLaine

[image from google]

It is possible

we are on the threshold

of a new beginning,

and

everything

that's happening

is telling us:

"Get your act

together."

-Shirley MacLaine

Ground Truthing

[This scene in Naples is from thegaviotacoast.com]

This morning I read the following excerpt, written by Penny Harrison, editor of the anthology Open Spaces, Voices from the Northwest:

In earth sciences, the term "ground truthing" is used as a shorthand for the process of  ensuring the accuracy of data collected at a distance (e.g. by remote sensing, aerial photography, satellite imagery, etc.), and the tentative conclusions based on that data by gathering actual data from the ground that may confirm, complement or dispute those conclusions. In the vernacular, ground truthing has come to mean a process by which we observe things up close and test objectively what we call reality. As such, it not only applies to science, but can also be used to test our assumptions, beliefs, judgments, and the trajectories of our lives.

....As historian William Cronon tells us in his essay on "The Uses of Environmental History", there is ample evidence that "the natural world exists quite apart from what we believe about it, that it powerfully affects the course of human history, and that if our beliefs diverge too far from its realities, we will eventually suffer as much as it will."

                              ***                 ***                  ***

When I was a girl,

the world felt

young and free.

I walked

on earth

that felt firm

beneath

my feet,

so I could trust it

would always

be there

to carry me.

But now

the planet

bucks and heaves

and splits,

stirred up by forces

hidden from

our view,

as corporate interests

desecrate

and manipulate

the land,

 money, power and greed

the only language

that they

understand.

.

In summer,

I walked  the piney

forest slopes,

down to

the apple orchards

I thought

would always be,

but now a city of condos

covers the land,

no more

the blossoms

far as I could see.

I thought

there would always be

an earth

that felt like home,

that there were enough trees

that we all could

always breathe,

but now aerial views show

barren slopes

stripped bare;

of future generations

big business

does not care.

Back then

we dreamed a dream

of a  better world

but somehow

that dream

has gone 

so far astray,

and we are

slowly waking

to the nightmare,

the fearful harvest

that is ours to reap

today.

How much more time

do we think we have

to turn the tide?

The truth, so scary,

our instinct is

to hide.

The world

will play out

the scene that we

have set

and,

after collapse

or cataclysm,

and a millenia

of relearning

the ancient wisdom

modern man

forgets,

perhaps

one day

that better world

can be ours

to nurture

yet.

Wild Woman on Love

[image from google]

Wild Woman

believes

in love.

She encourages

her single friends:

"Love will find you,

it will.

"And

if it doesn't,

don't worry.

By the time

 you're my age,

you'll be

too tired

to be lonely

any more.

"In other words:

don't look

to MY life

for inspiration -

just EXPiration!"