i would rather be an oak than a eucalyptus
For the Poetry Train this week, my offering is a poem based on a freewrite I did a few years ago out on Santa Cruz island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Ventucky. It was published in Artlife Limited Editions 20th anniversary issue as a concrete poem in the shape of the tree (which you can’t quite tell by this scanned image). I am not talented enough
as a blogger to make a concrete poem in this space yet!
If you’ve read any of my recent posts about rituals and burning maybe you will see why I chose this poem for this week.
i would rather be an oak
i would rather be an oak
coast live oak: quercus agrifolia
hundreds of years old
a graceful granary for acorn woodpeckers
but to be a eucalyptus
wouldn’t be bad
i would grow fast & furious
vast horizontal branches
extending toward sunrise
& yes to the stars
heavy with leaves
i sweep the ground
i would be a huge billowy sail
with the wind we would r i d e
you could swing your way up to my crow’s nest
we’d find our way
you could hang on my branches
& bounce back
i would cover the ground with
my rich intoxicating menthol scent
a thick carpet of leaves
nothing can compete
the earth embraces me
damp & cool
i would be young forever
my peeling bark would never betray my age
a new skin every season on my limbs
freshly shaped & pruned with each passing storm
my leaves would never go gray
but always red & tawny, crisp & fresh
i would be home to virginia
great horned owl: bubo virginianis
sheltering her
she protects me from
corvus corax: raven
ravenous, raucous, rude
hidden in my branches, she perches high
scoops up unsuspecting
spermophilous beechiyi: ground squirrels
devours them, digests them, regurgitates them
my carpet of leaves decorated with
skulls, ribs, tibias, teeth
no you wouldn’t leave children with me
i would be a grand & ferocious eucalyptus
elegant, colorful, intimidating
a maiden aunt not a matriarch
until a freeze does me in or
a fire weakens me and
fallen i become
porch for house wren
yard for sceloporous occidentalis: blue belly lizard
balcony for tyranus verticalus: western kingbird
nursery for peromyscus: deer mice
bench for humans
a blaze on the beach
my ashes would drift
& i would travel the earth
don’t brush me aside
let me land on your tongue
& you have me forever
purification: pine, frankinscence and myrhh
Following our smudging ourselves and the house with white sage on the eve of the lunar eclipse and embracing our house with a circle of protection (a smudged string we encircled out house with), the following day I burned pine incense and Tibetan Purging Incense Powder, then, on the advice of Lucy in the Sky, I learned how and why to burn frankinscence and myrhh on the third day.
I knew frankinscense and myrhh were biblical–that the Three Wise Men or Kings had brought gold, frankinscence and myrhh to the baby Jesus when he was born but I had no idea what they were or what they looked like or what to look for. As a child I thought they were some rare exotic magical substance. Now I know that both are resins made from saps of trees–incisions are made into the cambion layer, the living layer between bark and hardwood (deadwood) which encircles the tree. Sap, the tree’s blood, oozes out to harden into a resin, a hard substance that will melt when heated, and in melting, releases scents which go directly through our nostrils into our body, our lungs, our hearts, our bloodstreams, and which we eventually breathe out through the pores of our skin.
It is a long and amazing story but it worked out that Lucy happened to have the keys to a store which carried what I needed. She let herself in, found what I needed, figured out the price and the tax, found a blue velvet bag to put the resin in, and away I went. The nuggets are small, about the size of you littlest fingernail. But what to do with it?
On an abalone shell which had belonged to the grandfather of one of closest friends and former housemate here, I put Three Kings charcoal and resin on top, then I lit the charcoal. (You can also light the charcoal and then put the resin on top). I put a few nuggets of each on top, and as they burned down, I added a few more. (Side note: the charcoal powder created by the resin was used to make kohl eyeliner! I haven’t tried this yet.) I smudged the outside of the house first, from bottom to top, with extra care on all the windows and doorways, then the inside. Before we went to bed last night, I burned a bit more.
Since burning, cleansing and purifying with the sage, the pine, the frankinscence, and the myrhh, my bouts of sleeplessness, my dreamless stressful nights have been transformed…I am tired, sleepy when I should be, and my mind my body relaxes into a dreamful, restful, problem solving sleep.
and then this morning (Sunday) we went to church!
everything’s hitched to everything else
John Muir wrote that if you tug on something, you’ll find it’s hitched to everything else in the universe…and that would include you…and me…and the church of the asshole neighbors.
Everything is connected to everything else.
Everything is part of everything else.
Everything has energy.
Everything has spirit or consciousness.
still with me?
Or, as the Beatles put it, “I am he and you are we and I am she and we are altogether” or something along those lines:
Everything has energy.
Some energy feels good: we desire it, we feel good in it; feeling good give us energy and sustains us. Positive energy creates more positive energy.
Some energy doesn’t feel good: it makes us uncomfortable. Even if we don’t know why, we don’t want to be around it; negative energy saps our energy, makes us feel bad. Negative energy creates more negative energy.
Being surrounded by members of the church of the asshole neighbors for many years now has created so much negative energy that it has become debilitating; it has sapped my energy to the extent that I am having difficulties balancing their negative energy with our positive energy, and finding it downright impossible to find the energy to right their wrongs (for example, to provide the DA’s office with information they need to enforce the restraining order, to provide my insurance company with the information they need to determine if they will file a motion to enforce a settlement agreement, to help the city enforce code violations by my neighbors which are impacting my property etc). In addition, this toxic energy has impacted negatively on my relationships with my family, my friends, and my employer.
What to do?
Positive energy can be created, evoked through prayers and rituals; making positive energy can be as easy as making love, lighting a candle, sharing a hug, expressing positive and hopeful ideas.
Sometimes more powerful rituals are needed, rituals which will protect a home and its inhabitants from the negative energy raging around it (failing hillsides, drug deals, trespassing, fights).
The two days prior and the three days following a lunar eclipse are particularly powerful days for creating change, for changing energy. It is a time of flux, a time of energy balancing, a time for cleansing, reflection, renewal. Energies run high and powerful.
We are using the energy set in motion to cleanse, to replace undesirable energy with desirable energy, to replace hatred, anger and fear with love, love, love. We cleansed the house in the hour before the eclipse with white sage and love. Four of my closest friends and my sister “smudged” the house, inside and out, by burning white sage leaves which banishes negative energy. Smoke was wafted across doors, windows, mirrors, the perimeters and then into the center of rooms. Windows and mirrors outside, and the outside perimeter of the house was smudged, so that inside and outside, from floor to ceiling, had been touched with smoke and cleansed. Finally, we smudged a roll of string and wrapped it around the perimeter of the house, and part of our property, particularly in contested areas (where a neighbor assaulted me and where he cut into our fences and gates) as a circle of protection.
***From the Element of Fire Comes this smoke,
which is Air.
From the Element of Earth Grows this plant,
which is Water.
I call upon the Elements and the Blessings of Spirit
To please cleanse our home
For the good of all.***
While this is a lovely rite which I found online at ambrosia’s website , we kept our intention simple and focused on banishing hate and bringing in love, with the emphasis on having loving thoughts and feelings.
more soon…
all you need is love & a lunar eclipse: our ritual
ahhh it was lovely
we smudged with sage, we walked along the ocean’s shore to the river mouth at sunset watching the lunar eclipse, we sent a corn offering to earth/sky/wind/water, we sang all we need is love at the top of our lungs as we strolled arm in arm , we inscribed the earth with wishes, we toasted and drank wine, we soaked in the hot tub and watched the moon get bright…
i’ll post more details soon
and thank you and you and you…i asked the uni verse for support…and i was sent almost 5000 views in 30 hours, views on my post about the lunar eclipse, on my post asking for support. that’s a lot of energy. thank you. thank you. thank you
thank you and please visit again! the art predator
The Lunar Eclipse and Chinese New Year’s Lantern Festival
Astronomical, astrological…
but somehow I forgot to mention that this Lunar Eclipse, this full moon, is the last day celebrating the Chinese New Year–it’s the Lantern Festival–reminds Sophia Kidd, poet, performance artist, and Asian philosopher…
so Church of the Asshole Neighbors, better watch out, the energy is building up, we’re coming to get you!
Lunar Eclipse Poem
Tues Aug 28 2007 315am
The moon is burnt orange
the sun took a bite & then another
covering the moon with its shadow
only lit now by light
reflected by earth, by us
It’s spooky & a bit crazy
yet I want to wake my son up
show him our moon
its light should be spilling
across my bed across my face
instead it is eerily dark
when only a few hours ago
it was light
It looks sad alone quiet
up there in the dark
with only a few trees to
hug it lost w/o its light
Inspirational: Next Lunar Eclipse 2/20/08
As a bonus, during the eclipse the moon will be situated, in our sky, near the planet Saturn and the bright bluish star Regulus in the constellation of Leo. The effect will be to create a uniquely beautiful triangle in the sky consisting of the totally eclipsed moon, a bright naked-eye planet and one of the 21 brightest stars in the sky. SPACE.com will provide a complete eclipse viewer’s guide Feb. 15.
But wait, there’s more from Zodiac Arts
The Lunar Eclipse on February 20/21, 2008
The Astronomy
An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at a Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. The closer the Moon is to the center of the shadow, the more total the eclipse. A lunar eclipse is visible wherever the Moon is above the horizon.
If the Earth had no atmosphere, then the Moon would be completely black during a total eclipse. Instead, the Moon can take on a range of colors from dark brown and red to bright orange and yellow. The exact appearance depends on how much dust and clouds are present in Earth’s atmosphere.
The lunar eclipse on February 20/21 is a total eclipse, visible throughout most of the Americas, western Africa and western Europe.
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The Astrology A lunar eclipse is a time of beginnings, endings, exposure and major changes. It always has something to do with “relationships”. The changes are tied to how we relate and will have a lasting impression. Emotions run high, causing upsets and feelings of disorientation. Actions taken often do not have the expected results, but they do bring awareness and enlightenment. The energy of an eclipse is at its strongest during the two days before and three days after its occurrence. At lunar eclipses we: merge, unite, announce, contact, present ourselves, bring something out into the open, make decisions, engage, rise to the challenge, make an effort, change, get a new perspective, join with others, take on greater challenges, travel at a faster pace, feel restless, feel pressured by deadlines and a buildup of emotions, and experience excitement and crisis. During a Full Moon, the Sun and Moon are in opposition, also called the Full Phase, indicating the linking of soul to spirit and awareness of purpose gained through relationship with another. A lunar eclipse is a supercharged Full Moon. The blocking of the Moon’s reflection of the Sun’s light by the Earth suggests that our material viewpoint stands in the way of our “seeing the light”. It serves as a reminder that we need to realize how we are held in the dark by virtue of our perspective.
The Sun is in Pisces and the Moon is in Virgo during the total lunar eclipse on February 20. Practicality and logical processes are temporarily out of balance. Harsh realities obscure spiritual ideals and block imaginative solutions. The challenge is to stay open to inspiration regardless of our daily circumstances.
Hmmn hmmn hmmmnnn
so my cyberfriends, new members of the antiChurch of the Asshole Neighbors, help me out next Weds. Feb 20 during the LUNAR ECLIPSE. Send your energy your prayers your mojo your you name it this way along those moonbeams and sunbeams.
Let’s DEFEAT THE BEAST!!! BTW, you’re welcome to join in in person–wine, some women, song, fire, food, and a hot tub. bring your drum! Be ready to do some primal screaming and let it ALLLLL out! For a preview of the upcoming event, hit play on the first lunar eclipse, then hit play on the second lunar eclipse for a cool effect.
For more eclipse info, both solar eclipse and lunar eclipse including dates for future eclipses, try Mr. Eclipse.
Antlers on my Head, Silene in my Teeth
In the dream
I ride the boy’s bike home up hill much steeper
odd hills parks where roads might be. I think
this is the town of my grandfather.
I pass friends on grass with beers they wave.
Streets that should be easy turn into stairs.
I go toward town: narrow roads some dark tall
buildings canyons I go down to go up.
Cars people shout I turn unintended ways.
Suddenly
I must attend a friend’s ritual performance
suicide with my deer antlers on.
Carry bike up fire escape: handlebars
antlers catch in trees– woven with silene
tough wiry stems cling tight from when I found them
My grandmother hated this silene:
the way you couldn’t get rid of it
the way you’d pull and pull and just get
handfuls of leaves, stem still planted firmly
the way it climbs and strangles what it can.
silene on antlers catches trees pulls
yanks my head so hard some silene left
behind, some silene I carry more
to burden to restore redeem the antlers.
Through window I go lay boy’s bike down see
friend display case sprawled. We range in
office museum store
classroom top floor high above town
a place for condors and preserving them.
Charles runs it teaches sells books puppets stuff;
phone rings. My friend lays on case wrapped in
condor skin red flesh of face on his face
hooked bill oily black ruff great wing feathers
one extends under him the other close.
Hi my friend says head lifts he grins blinks. Glad
you could make it. He is joyous not ironic. I am sweaty.
Out of breath. Late. He doesn’t care. I am
there. I smile back lean with bike on warm wall.
Charles gets off the phone and in that great room
red yellow black cream Chumash rock art hangs
cases full of the precious the rare
dark raw walnut trims huge paned windows
draws light inside hues of evening sky
with us gathered there: He begins again.
based on notes from a dream 2/17/07 when nila northSun was visiting
jump on the train!
Literalley Rat
Happy Chinese New Year: the Rat! So now, some Rat Haps!
To celebrate the Chinese New Year, sign up NOW for the Asian philosophy and haiku class that Sophia Kidd and I are offering this Sat Feb. 9 from 9am-noon through VC Community Ed. Right now it is under-enrolled, so unless you go on-line NOW and sign up, it will be cancelled tomorrow, Thursday, at noon. If you don’t know her, Sophia has a BA in philosophy from UCSC and she’s spent the better part of the last 10 years in Asia.
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Writers interested in working on craft might also check out Danika Dinsmore’s blog, The Accidental Novelist, which has weekly writing workouts on-line. These are posted on Fridays.
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Th. Feb 7 Artbarn
SIMPLE PROSPERITY Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle Slideshow and Booksigning with Author David Wann Thursday, Feb 7th at 7pm at the Artbarn: 856 East Thompson Blvd., VTA (btwn. ash & kalorama, behind kids & families together)
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Th. Feb 7 VC: Author and attorney Michael Mehas and a panel of local experts in the fields of law and psychology will take part in a discussion after a screening of the film “Alpha Dog” as part of the Ventura College Spring 2008 Arts and Lecture Series.
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Sat 2/9 Artists Union Gallery erotic show opening 6-9pm; Sat 2/16 Erotic Poetry Reading
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Sat 2/9 more poetry!
- Sojourner Kincaid Rolle & Sylvia Y. Curtis +O 2 pm Poetry Zone – Karpeles Manuscript Library (SBa)
- Beyond Words 3 pm KCLU (Radio)
- Mifanwy Kaiser & Claudia March Reder 7 pm Arcade Poetry Series – Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard $3
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Next 2 weekends: The Little Fakers fondly present: Episode 5 of “Sunset Chronicles” A Puppet Rock Opera
The Little Fakers is a collective of puppet theater artists, sound artists, musicians and writers working in the LA area. For the past three years we have performed our ongoing marionette serial at venues across the city including Beta Level, Il Coral, and the Velaslavasay Panorama, and in Joshua Tree at Noah Purifoy’s Sculpture Environment.
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W 2/13 VC
Dwight Reynolds
Professor of Arabic Language and Literature and Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Center at UCSB
and
Scott Marcus
Professor of Music and Founder and Director of the Middle East Ensemble at UCSB
in the Musical Traditions of Medieval Islamic Spain
with
Live Performance by the UCSB Middle East Ensemble
This program explores the many different offshoots of the musical heritage of al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Spain) including Andalusian songs from Algeria, songs from Sephardic and Yemeni Jewish traditions, as well as songs from eastern Arab lands such as Egypt and Syria. This commemoration of the astonishing richness and longevity of these musical traditions focuses on both threads of continuity in form and style, as well as highlighting the remarkable diversity of these various descendants of the Golden Age of al-Andalus.
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AHEAD:
W. 2/13 Moorpark College Read:
T. 2/19 6p REDCAT presents NY School Poets
T. 2/26 David Olivera at the Artists Union Gallery
W. 2.27 noon CA Poet Laureate Al Young at Oxnard College; he’ll be coming to VC in April!
Save the date: 3.8.08 Art City Fundraiser at Bell Arts. Beautiful letterpress tix (by lettre sauvage) on sale NOW from your friendly neighborhood artists (like Sophia and I)! Go to http://artcityventura.wordpress. com for more info. Many hands make light work you know.
Since this is by no way inclusive of everything, for more poetry stuff go to poetix.net
see ya on the prowl, the art predator
art predator 