Thursday, August 20, 2009

all waits for release

The fire burns time away
As the smoke billows
Leaving ash of the seconds gone
Eaten by the ravenous
Insatiable movement that
Can never cease
Always forward
Sometimes upward
The heat how it spreads
Like memories
Like emotion pouring over the
Sky that is you and I
We can never cease to be
Only cease to hold this physical body
Before we too are released
As smoke for ashes, returning to the light
For we are all candles of God
Candles of Creation, slowly returning home
To again melt into the
Eternal flame that is all
Feel it inside your bones
The yearning to return
The campfire shows us the way
Inside its happiness of energy release
Caressing our faces with warmth
The stars shine down in cosmic
Circles, revolving around one
As we all revolve around the Sun
That blazing candle that will
Envelope all in due time
We are expanding
We are nearing nirvana
We are birds in a tornado
We are marching on precious stones
These mountains rise to the clouds
While leaves bow to the glowing orb
All waits for release, all is already there.

Farewell for now Highlands



It is about time to leave my beloved commonwealth for awhile, so I say goodbye to the highlands of Virginia for a couple months as I move north to continue working on our Appalachian Trail from the top of Virginia all the way up to the top of New York. Looking forward to a few days back home in the pastoral Piedmont before departing.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Committment and Remorse, what does the mirror of this media fire glow against you and I?

I stay away from sports normally, leaving that sort of talk to the professionals and analysts, but I couldn't resist this one, whether people agree or not. I hear there's a lot of negative feedback about Michael Vick's reinstatement in the NFL, and I know a lot of folk just don't care but I think its a pretty interesting cookie to crumble.

"If I can help more animals than I've hurt, then I'm doing my part," solemn words from the once lackadaisical yet bursting quarterback. Granted it took a swift kick in reality to get him there, I know what he says is true now. I think his situation is going to be a great educational tool raising awareness on a few fronts.

Since I'm at a beach house I have the unusual luxury of having cable, and my friend put Dirty Jobs on, where they are at some factory where 80,000 chickens were hatched the day of the recording, and now they're separating male and female. Hatchlings don't need food or water for 72 hours so they can be shipped all over the US stuffed in boxes, 'no problem,' as the guy teaches us.

The manufacturing and processing of animals for consumption on industrial magnitudes is degrading to the land, the water, and our own morals. I feel no qualm with eating meat, though I choose to only sink my teeth into flesh when I know where it comes from, like where the hunter killed it. Industrial sized factory farming is quite the nasty scene, demolishing small farms, unethical and cruel. Lets get it straight I don't condone his past actions and I love dogs as much as anyone and will show no shame in kissing and hugging and playing with our canine pals. I love all animals.

I wonder how many chicken, pig, cow, and soon to be tender veal calf are killed after living lives of overcrowded cages being pumped with antibiotics and hormones because there diet is unnatural and they're stuck wallowing in the mire of their own excrement. I understand dog fighting is different, but at the same time, it's really not so different, they're both disturbing.



It's a perception issue, a cultural thing. So many have dogs they love, it makes the abuse of a dog seem so evil, but McDonald's is making millions. It's a different connection. They say pigs are smarter than dogs but a lot of the same people hating on Vick have cholesterol issues from pork. So enough on all that, but anyone hating on Michael Vick should take a good hard look in the mirror because you know what the good book says, "Judge not lest you want to be judged."

It's plain as day upon hearing Michael talk now that he is remorseful for his actions, humbled by his jail time, and wants to live a better more fulfilling life with his family and friends. And he's one of the most athletic and fun to watch players to ever toss the pigskin. We've got human murderers playing who've gotten more forgiveness than Michael. Practice Christian forgiveness as Coach Tony Dungy explained in the first press conference. So give it up haters, there are more severe atrocities occurring in our atmospheres, and he's going to do more positive good now with his place in sports than many people will ever get a chance to, so let's love our brothers and sisters and as he said, this is the land of second chances, even if you only get one.

"I think everybody deserves a second chance. You know, we all have issues, we all deal with certain things, and, you know, we all have our own set of iniquities in our life and I think as long as you're willing to come back and do it the right way, and do the right things and that you're committed, then you deserve it. But you only get one shot at a second chance, and I'm conscious of that."


Wise words.

I guess I've always been partial to Michael, being a Virginia boy and a Hokie, and since I was able to watch a moment in college football history my freshman year of college at VT, his second and final season. He moved with the grace of someone playing on another level than everybody else around him, knowing how and when to turn it on and hit the angle making it appear he moves at rates unparalleled to his defenders. Anyone who makes something look that easy has got something special.

"We all use the excuse it was part of our culture, and I don't think that's an excuse. I was kind of abiding by that rule at the time."

I'm more interested in underlying sociological and cultural problems of dog fighting than one media induced martyr.



The hardest part for me now is coming to accept the tough reality that I'll have to be an Eagles fan, but a friend already 'welcomed me to the dark side' of obnoxious and raucous fans. I reluctantly join the boat, but I'm just happy to see Michael wearing a jersey back on the gridiron, where he wants to be, where he belongs, making magic out of a savage sport, showing us athletic grace and drive, the ballet of muscle and grit when everybody around you just wants to take you down and knock your block off. Stand strong and steadfast, and good luck Michael.

what is this beating?

What is this beating
The constant slow droning
Banging on the door
Rapping upon my vessel
Pumping life and wonder
And of course
Confusion

What is this beating
Tapping my fingers
Begging my eyes
For just a glance
Just a silhouette of a fleeting chance
How it hits
How it rips
Rippling through my insides
These waves pound my thoughts
My dreams, my walks
My life

What is this beating
That just won’t stop
The funny thing
Through all the pain and loneliness and wine and long nights
I don’t want it to
Stop that is
Because it fills me with dreams
And the high notes that become the bookmarks of
This quick transient existence

What is this beating emanating from my heart
How it aches, how it keeps me alive
How it breaks, and dives into the skies
How it allows me to soar
How it throws me to the floor
I love this beating rhythm
That sings with the birds
And shimmers with the celestial canopy
Mimicking the sounds of the seasons
And cycles of the moon

What is this beating but the drive of my life
The music of my soul
The harmony of desire and reality
I cherish it so
The high and the low
The darkness and the glow
That emanate from my pores
Singing aura of constant change

What is this beating but me
Subtle energy of thought becoming action
Seed becomes fruit
My tongue aches for a taste
Bitter or sweet
It reeks of relief
As do we all
Begging for understanding and intrigue
Begging of unknown chances
The drumming of what is yet to come
Eager for existence
That is what it is
Listen inside and become the slow beat
Adjusting to our demand
Becoming our moods

What is this beating
But the song of our life
The question becomes
Do we tap our foot to the rhythm
Or do we dance.

i put you to my ear

Dancing in the clouds
Watching the heat lightning
Pulse in fleeting beats
Like fireflies spastically flashing
Dancing in the clouds of my mind
These lights are axons and neurons
Synapses of serenity
Surrounded by thoughts of you
Slow dancing in these clouds
the scales are the same
Billowing in my brain
Echoing in the folds and chasms
These chants stretch
As fires of mass interact
And I can barely make out your silhouette
Painted in moon glow
Painted in passion
I howl with the coyotes in lunacy
Smiling at the soft light
Watching you dancing in the clouds
Of my billowing brain
This lighting strikes so hard
Electrifying my core
Shooting through the shoots and branches
And roots and romances
Of fractal delight forming our shells
I put you to my ear
And hear so much more than the waves.

paths guide us

Thunder clap
Spiderwort and dieing trillium
Speckle the way
Giving way
To bursts of color
Flaming azalea
Oranges and yellows like paint drops
Dripping from creativity
And beauty
And survival

Mountain passes
The trail leads us down the path
The path
Enlightenment
Third eye calibration
From the source
Craggy overlooks
Moonset and sunrise
Sunset and moonrise
Swaying valleys show the way
Magnetic forces spin us round
And we hang on with a mixture of fear and delight
That chase each other as the day and night
Emotional landscapes shift like the seasons
And we begin to realize the resemblance
Of what’s on the inside
And what’s on the out.

a cool breeze stirring about

Rising is heaven and good is the world.
Platitudes…soft chuckle
A smooth cool breeze floating by
Curving and wisping
Smiling and rolling on through the mountains
Valleys and streams, rocks and leaves, bow and hold steadfast
All whisper back in recognition
And peace at the sweet passing
The wind whips and tears
At our eyes and hair
Flopping and flowing
Dog ears and dogwood flowers
Wild is the wind
Falling as petals push me over the edge
Drift smells of lavender and lily
Pollen scrambles for awaiting love
You kiss the back of my neck
And I shudder in delight.

rubbin the dew off

Rubbin’ the dew off
Because the night rubs on me
And I don’t mind it as much
If we rub off on each other

As water appears on the grass
We roll around like children
Greeting the sun
But you already brought light
To my eyes
And the fire of desire to my heart

Rubbin’ the dew off
While this heat evaporates
These thoughts
Back into the great aerial ocean
I’m awaiting the vapor to return
Like your eyes upon me.