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WALKING ON THIN ICE

WE HAVE TENTACLES

August 6, 2011 2 Comments

WE HAVE TENTACLES

we have tentacles
extending into the immediate
not only the capsule of skin
tentacles that mix
and throb and meander with
the immediate

innumerable tentacles

innummerable tentacles
permeate into our skins,
our cells
ultimately and immediately

every tentacle
is connected
to every other
tentacle

the thickness of it
is that it is clustered

skin is abstraction
for a bundle of will
a bundle that seems to bump
itself around

eyes, legs, hands, mouth
allow the bundle to move
through the greater mass

it is sticky, the bundle,
pulling itself through this
mother mass

this is what we perceive of
as separation

separation
clumped together again
with gravity…

I pray
and it casts a net of will

tentacles
into this greater mass
of information

I pray
for immediate perception of
connectedness

everything is so simultaneously logical
and illogical, simultaneously banal
and miraculous

the banal part
is mostly the grind of ambition
of getting through the day well
and the miraculous
is the empirical stuff
that I observe “around” me
signs and sounds

it would seem
it should be the opposite
that the mind inside this shell
should be where novelty resides

and everyday sights and sounds
should be not so novel

but I look at our breathing
tail-swagging cat, and hear
the river of traffic outside,

and I know it is an orchestra
and a ballet

and the permeating song
of crickets outside
the lush August sonic carpet

it is thick, This

the carpet of sound
is thick and humid
it is fabric cumming
into my perception
that by handling with mindfulness

I either tune in to
or it tunes in to me…

I focus my ears, my eyes,
my attention and it is a machine
that becomes keener

the volume and quality
pulls itself together
by my tightening attention

Lady

Dear God-It-Ess-Universe

May 24, 2011 No Comments

Dear God-It-Ess-Universe,

Of immediate concern in the vicinity is the flooding that’s happening in the U.S.

And of course, the tornadoes.

I am writing to let you know that I am concerned. I do not wish suffering for people. But of course I choose biosphere over people, if that choice has to be made in that way.

Perhaps extreme weather events are the only way we’re going to change, and perhaps people in the U.S. in particular need to be awakened to extreme weather events and their cause.

I think the best thing we can do is stop driving cars unless necessary, stop eating meat, unplug everything we can, and live within the rhythm of sun, moon and birdsong.

It’s reputed that meat, the desire for meat, is the cause of much suffering on this planet, both to our biosphere and to massive amounts of people and animals.

It takes so much more water, fertilizer, land space, vegetable matter to raise a pound of beef than, say, an equivalent amount, calorie-wise, of asparagus.

Forests are being clearcut in the Amazon to grow things to feed cows and to grow biofuel so that people can have luxurious lifestyles. The Amazon is the greatest area of lung on this planet. Please help us cease this clear-cutting by making wiser choices as ethical people and by creating better, more ethical opportunities for the people doing the clear-cutting as a vocation.

I am making incremental changes in my lifestyle to try to consume less, eat more locally, eat less meat, etc. Three weeks ago I bought four bags of magic beans. Two weeks ago I cooked two different things in the oven at the same time to save on energy consumption. The week before I learned how to make a healthy, inexpensive and tasty variant of hummus. This past week I’ve started to make my own bread.

I’m buying cage-free eggs from local farmers. The vendor at the West Side Market showed us pictures of the chickens. They are beautiful. They laze about in tall beautiful expanses of green grass. The egg yolks are bright, rich yellow, and I swear they taste extra fine.

I am soon getting half a share of produce from Geauga Family Farms. Pick up points are not limited to Geauga. There are points in Cuyahoga and Lake County as well.

I have doubled up duty on car rides. The two days I commute to work, I also do something special with Grandma. And I’m doubling and tripling up other car trips as well. I’ve started to consider only going to entertainment and poetry events in my local community as much as possible. My near goal is to commute with friends to get to events that are further out to minimize our impact on the environment and pocketbook. I aim to do everything I can do, within reason, yes, yet stretching my idea of reason to something that can effect change and help me live in a more joyful and reverent manner.

So what I’m asking you is to ease up on the floods and tornadoes, Universe. Have some faith in us and help us keep the faith by making immediate changes where we can perceive possibility for change.

Other prayers of note:

I pray for moderation, yet I pray to be possessed when I should be possessed.

I pray that I am ethical, calm, joyous, productive, and the same for Smith.

I pray that a certain family member starts writing a poem every day.

I pray that I finish my commitments so that I can feel more free to follow through on commitments to myself.

Thank you for the many, many blessings and miracles I receive daily from you-me-It-Universe.

Some private thoughts, hopes, thanks, prayers as well…

Love, Awomen and Amen,

Lady

LADY’S HUMMUS RECIPE

1# chickpeas, soaked overnight, rinsed, boiled in lightly salted water 1-2 hours until soft.
2 heads of garlic, roasted at 350 degree Fahrenheit 1/2 hour.
1/4 – 1/2 cup of your favorite vegetable oil (olive oil is a hoax perpetrated on the masses)
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Squeeze roasted garlic out of its skin and mash in large bowl with fork, then blender. Squeeze cooked chickpeas between fingers as much as possible and put in the bowl as well. Add the other ingredients. Mix as much as desired (I like little chickpea bits left in mine.)

Wishlist for the Universe(s)

August 24, 2010 No Comments

“Ask & Ye shall receive” request list:

1. The happiest, most ethical universe for me & Smith & Mandycat, together. 1a. Fame & crazy riches for Smith. 2. The happiest, most ethical universe(s) for all other perceiving entities. 2a. The mass realization that we are all one. 2b. Happy reunions for all families. 3. Reversal of global warming, or alternatively, sudden weird, scientific knowledge that global warming is a myth. 4. Sustainable, ethical farming practices on a mass scale. 5. Benevolent alien benefactors. Since I’m asking, heck, why not? And I’d like them to take me, Smith & Mandycat around in their spaceship for a while. 6. Riches. Why not? Or at least, that I don’t have to worry about money & that we can travel, have a bathtub, clean sheets & a comfortable couch, warmth in the winter and coolness in the summer, keep Mandycat happy, keep this apartment in Cleveland. 7. I’d like us to see Alaska, Japan, Chile, Peru, Nepal, Thailand and other places. It would be really really awesome if we could go to the North and South Poles to see the northern and southern lights. I’d like my family and friends to be able to travel to far flung places as well. 7a. Since I’m asking–it would be really cool if teleporter technology could be used to do this traveling. 8. Cell phones that operate on a level such as to not disturb bee navigation, and safety of the bees. I want fruit to be massively affordable & available to everyone on the planet, perpetually. I would like everyone to eat 5 servings of raw fruits/vegetables daily. 9. Elimination of illness via mass mindset. 10. Pharmaceuticals and health care to be provided for everyone for free if needed. Good health for everyone. No pain unless it is good pain. 11. A partially managed, world-wide economy that offers a minimum good standard of living for everyone regardless of perpetration or circumstance. 12. Cybernetic implants that make use of the brain while one is sleeping to carry out work tasks on the Internet. And google for the brain. I’d like this to be available & provided free to everyone without ill effects, but not make it mandatory. 13. Constant discovery/enjoyment/acclaim unless one is exhausted from the discovery/enjoyment/acclaim and needs to rest a while. 13a. I’d like to have that wire thingy or some such thing inserted into my brain so that I can stimulate my pleasure centers whenever I want, but I don’t want it to be addictive. 14. A worry-free existence for everyone. 15. I would like to be a Buddha or some type of thing like that. That would be most excellent. 16. I’d like Smith’s books and Wendy’s book to become globally famous in our lifetimes. I’d like for everyone else to have this opportunity as well, but especially Smith & Wendy. 17. I’d like Wendy’s cat situation to be happily solved. 18. A reliable, inexpensive used car for Anna. Or a free new one! 19. I’d like for torture to be stopped, period. I’d like the drug war ended. I’d like jails to return to non-profit government-run organizations, or better yet, for us to not need jails at all. 20. No more war, occupation, or killing. No more guns or nuclear bombs unless the bombs are used to detroy asteroids on course to hit the planet or some such thing. 21. Free, massively available, non-polluting energy. 22. Happy leisure and happy work for everyone. 23. Legalization of marijuana, happy LSD trips, etc. Decriminalization of drugs. 24. I’d like to become a film maker of miracles, and for my films to be famous. Writing some acclaimed ‘holy’ books would be cool as well. It would be most excellent if all my thoughts could just be, like, recorded instantaneously, you know? And then output into cool consumables for the culture. 25. No more fear. 26. Cool, far out, trippy special effects in reality for everyone who can handle them. 27. Magic carpet rides & the like. Invisible jets. Weird lassos. 28. Whatever else I’d like if it seems like it would be good for the above goals without hurting anyone. No subconscious vendetta wish granting. No ‘gotcha’ fine print caveats. 29. It would be really cool if there could be, like, no more cancer, heart disease, diabetes, alzheimer’s and arthritis. 30. What would be really really cool is if all this could like, be suddenly implemented or like, get rolling so that everyone can start enjoying immediate dividends. Anyways, this is my wishlist, so it carries my best intent–and it would be like, really cool, you know? 31. I’d like for the family business to be successful, but not at the expense of my family’s peace. I’d prefer to work, say, 10 hours per week, 20 at most. Yet I want the business to succeed. Or better yet, Smith would win the lottery or some such thing like that would happen and we all wouldn’t need to work. Although I think it’s fun to work with family. Ifn indeed we do need to work for like, the maximum happiness for all of us, I want us all to be clearheaded and successful at work tasks. I would prefer to just focus on things I like to do, as I like to do them, without having to worry too much about logistics. I’d like to strategize without anxiety. 32. I’d like to make art occasionally but I don’t want to feel anxious about it. 33. I’d like to have lots of worry-free time with Smith. 34. I’d like to be able to perform miracles & have magical powers, especially flying.

O, yeah, I almost forgot. It would be really really cool if all this happened in my ‘apparent specific continuously-experienced universe’ so that the clump of consciousness formerly known as myself can experience all this.

– –

Addendum: Since I’m ordering a new reality, I’d like to mention that I am really tired of plucking out facial hair and shaving my legs and underarms. I’d like that hair to stop growing. I’d like for my entire head of hair to turn silver ASAP rather than two-toned. I’d like for my eyebrows to remain brown, though. And I’d like to weigh, oh, in the 110 – 135 lb. range. I want to appear weirdly young for my age–like when I’m 60, I want to look 35. And when I’m seventy, in my 40s. I’d also like to get rid of my cellulite & excess skin. Thanks, reality!