Moontricks - Mountains

High
High
High
High
I've got mountains
But it's weighing down on me
I can't count them
And they just won't let me be
Let me be free
Let me be free
Let me be free
Let me be free
High
(Let me be free)
High
(Let me be free)
High
(Let me be free)
High
I've got a cold mind
And it locks without a key
Yet I'm still tryin
Open up and let it be
Let me be free
Let me be free
Let me be free
Let me be
Let me be free
Let me be
Let me be free
Let me be

source: https://lyricsondemand.com/moontricks/mountains

Full Circle

 

Full Circle

You held your infant daughter
in your arms
agonizing, cajoling,
willing your love to her.
This baby expected
perfection--
that you read her mind
and provide
every need, every want.
Sometimes that infant
arises now,
and your daughter rails
against you
for not possessing omniscience.

You jiggled your toddler daughter
on your lap
as she laughed,
singing to her,
calling her your "little Punkin."
This half-pint drank
your love
as a thirsty babe
guzzles the milk of life into every cell.
Sometimes that toddler
gazes now
with adoration for her infinite
mother
content and whole in her trust.

You watched your teenage daughter
from afar
as she brooded,
wishing her victory
over that devil called depression.
This young woman envied
your detachment
and accused you
of confusing her
and burdening her beyond control.
Sometimes that girl-woman
rages now
crying, wondering where
you hid
your secret fountain of peace.

You love your grown daughter
with all your life
as she strives,
reaching to her
with the gift of friendship.
This woman recognizes
your humanity
and gently removes you
from the pedestal
to a place in her heart.
Sometimes this woman
perceives now
that though we are family
we can meet
somewhere in the middle. 

-Kathryn Harper

KONGOS - Come with Me Now

Come with me now
Come with me now

Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna show you how

Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna show you how

Afraid to lose control
And caught up in this world
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath
I think I've thought myself to death

I was born without this fear
Now only this seems clear
I need to move, I need to fight
I need to lose myself tonight

Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna show you how

I think with my heart and I move with my head
I open my mouth and it's something I've read
I stood at this door before, I'm told
But a part of me knows that I'm growing too old

Confused what I thought with something I felt
Confuse what I feel with something that's real
I tried to sell my soul last night
Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite

Far away
I heard him say (come with me now)
Don't delay
I heard him say (come with me now)

Far away
I heard him say (come with me now)
Don't delay
I heard him say (come with me now)

Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna show you how

Afraid to lose control
And caught up in this world
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath
I think I've thought myself to death

I was born without this fear
Now only this seems clear
I need to move, I need to fight
I need to lose myself tonight

Whoa, come with me now

Whoa, come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Whoa, come with me now

No Place Too Small

No Place Too Small

It is easy to know how to meld with so much grief.
With joy there is blindness, rose-colored ignorance,
No body to tend, to anchor one to the earth.
When the world remains intact, you move nimbly,
Caressing the surface of things, noticing little.

But grief burrows in.
It needs only the exposed, wounded soul
To dig in as a tick under skin.
Grief bangs around the cellar, shrieking,
behaves unpredictably, hijacking your eyes
When the store clerk asks how you are. Clutching your
throat when you call the dentist’s office for a cleaning.

You walk now among oblivious humans,
an emotional leper
With lesions rotting your heart.
All of existence has its own death,
It too could slip into a tumor-ridden coma
Adorned with catheter tubes,
And gasp last breaths to the sterile beat
Of a monitor, attended by loved ones.

Since there is no place too small
For grief to infiltrate,
You lie down, surrender, pull it
to every cell of your being.
You take orders, as a dog obeys commands
From an owner; you honor and bear it,
And in this way, endure.

–Kathryn Harper

This poem was another exercise in scaffolding. I worked with Naomi Shihab Ney's Kindness.

“Grief” by jan buchholtz, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

One Afternoon

One Afternoon

Bellied up to the kitchen counter
I bite into a pear and chew,
watching the empty hammock shimmy
in the yard. The wind sweeps gray
cotton balls overhead, rushing
them to some destination eastward.
Rubies and topaz fall from tree
branches. I stare, mesmerized,
as juice drips from my chin.

-Kathryn Harper

“The Perfect Pear” by David Gallagher, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 

Neighborhood Activism

 

I'll begin this post with the standard disclaimer that I do not support or encourage anyone breaking the law and putting graffiti up in public places. I'll say, as well, that I have seen visually gorgeous and compelling graffiti on occasion, especially that of Banksy. But don't do it, 'kay?

And yet, someone in my neighborhood recently went around spraying "FUCK TRUMP" in vivid red on utility boxes, walls, and other places -- one of them being the stop sign limit line at an intersection two blocks from me. Another place I saw it was on a construction fence near me, where a massive Kaiser addition is being built. I waited a day to grab a photo and it had been painted over, but I took a photo and can still see the underlying message. 

I admit to feeling a zing of satisfaction and solidarity that someone has decided their activism involves painting the world with a repudiation of this man, what he represents, and all the harm he has committed. Thank you, mystery neighborhood activist! Well done.

KALEO - No Good (Official Video)

Can't fight the temptation
When you get the vibration
Won't do you no good
Won't do you no good

You better start running
When you hear the man coming
Won't do you no good
Won't do you no good

No we don't mind
If you don't mind
Hell I never mind

Don't let the mold break you
Let the feeling come take you
Won't do you no good
Won't do you no good

And you know I got fever
When you hit me right, you know you might as well
Won't do you no good
Said it won't do you no good

And I said, kiss your baby goodbye
Come on, love, it's alright!
Heaven knows they wanna break you apart, yeah

Kiss your baby goodbye
Come on, love, it's alright!
You never know unless you give it a try
Oh baby

Said do you no good

Can't fight the temptation
When you get the vibration
Won't do you no good
Won't do you no good
And you can tell I got fever
You try to shake it off, try it all you want
Won't do you no good
Said it won't do you no good

And I said, kiss your baby goodbye
Come on, love, it's alright
Heaven knows they wanna break you apart, yeah

Kiss your baby goodbye
Come on, love, it's alright
You never know unless you give it a try, oh yeah!

Yeah, yeah!
Whoa, yeah!
No, no, baby
Yeah!

Whoa yeah!
Want my sweet little baby
Whoa you're no good babe
Yeah!
I said yeah
One day yeah, baby!
Ah yeah!
Woo!
Oh yeah!

Impermanence

 

Impermanence

A dead man’s photo peers over my bed
The silent witness who lives in my blood.
Absence is the soul’s starvation diet.
I have been hungry since before I was born.

Plan for madness to heal you.
Plan for sadness to fly.
Plan for hope estranging your happiness.
It surely will.

The finite hours and days,
The years,
Dissolve with relentless measure
And apathy.

This will grieve your heart but release it.
You must not pull back: too late too late to stop.
You carelessly left your spirit alone,
Now seconds plunder its secrets

And take all.
Life perpetuates a feeble trick
on the frail mind:
A creation of memes
Moved by predestination

To obscurity.
The clock lightly ticks and then cocks its gun.
Aims between your eyes.
Are you ready?

-Kathryn Harper

I used James Galvin's Post-Modernism as the scaffold. I attempted to emulate the pace, syllables, and sentence structure. It was a tough exercise and I enjoyed it. 

“Memorial image #2” by jodene e, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A Bridge Too Far ... On Alex Pretti

Rising Appalachia - I Believe In Being Ready (Official Audio)

I believe in being ready
I believe in being ready
I believe in being ready

For the time is drawing near

Brothers, sisters please get ready
Brothers, sisters please get ready
Brothers, sisters please get ready
For the time is drawing near

Oh there’ll be signs and wonders
Oh there’ll be signs and wonders
Oh there’ll be signs and wonders
For the time is drawing near

We’ll turn round and just start over
We’ll turn round and just start over
We’ll turn round and just start over
For the time is drawing near

I believe in being ready
I believe in being ready
I believe in being ready
For the time is drawing near

I believe in being ready
I believe in being ready
I believe in being ready

For the time is drawing near
For the time is drawing near
For the time is drawing near

Crucifixion

Crucifixion

She wills him to leave.
He shred her with words and now
she is every slut who ever lived,
the Levite’s worthless concubine from Bethlehem
as she stands scrubbing under
stinging, steaming needles of water,
as she cooks him out from under
her flesh, now banana tender,
welting purple at the wrists, breasts, thighs.

He permeates her head, the
musky mushroom scent stubbornly
remains regardless how much
she retches and spits;
she bites the bar of soap as though
taking communion, seeking its promise
to trade cleanliness for evil.

She stands, trembling and heaving
from gut to fingertips
shaking bone deep cold,
and the blood,
the blood won’t stop,
evidence of a sacrifice
that was not his
to make.

-Kathryn Harper

“crucifixion” by Colectivo movimente, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 

Xavier Rudd - Follow The Sun [official music video]

Follow, follow the sun

And which way the wind blows

When this day is done

Breathe, breathe in the air

Set your intentions

Dream with care

Tomorrow’s a new day for everyone

A brand new moon and brand new sun

So follow, follow the sun

The direction of the birds

The direction of love

Breathe, breathe in the air

Cherish this moment

Cherish this breath

Tomorrow’s a new day day for everyone

A brand new moon, brand new sun

When you feel life coming down on you like a heavy weight

When you feel this crazy society adding to the strain

Take a stroll to the nearest water’s edge, remember your place

Many moons have risen and fallen long, long before you came

So which way is the wind blowing

What does your heart say

So follow, follow the sun

And which way the wind blows

When this day is done

The Big Box of Crayons

 

 

 And... even if your box is small, more shades can be made when you mix them.

The Power of Poetry

The Power of Poetry 

with things falling apart
and anarchy let loose, 
 
it was only poetry, he found,
which had any use,

so he reached for his copy
of The Complete Works of Yeats

and bludgeoned the President
of the United States

-Brian Bilston

 

Photo: “Poetry” by Beppie, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 

Paul Weller - I Walk on Gilded Splinters

Some people think they jive me
But I know they must be crazy
They don't see dey misfortune
Or else they just a little too lazy

I Walk thru the fire

An I Fly thru the smoke
I wanna see my enemies
At the end of my rope

I Walk on pins and needles
An I See what they can do
I Walk on gilded splinters
With the king of the Zulu

Singing
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters

Till I burn up, Till I burn Up, Till I burn up.

I'm walking out of my coffin
Drink poison in my chalice
Pride begins to fade
And y'all will feel my malice

Put gris gris on your doorstep
Soon you'll be in the gutter
looking just like butter
A-a-and I can make you stutter

I Walk thru the fire
An I Fly thru the smoke
I wanna see my enemies
At the end of my rope

I Walk on pins and needles
An I See what they can do
I Walk on gilded splinters
With the king of the Zulu

Singing
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters

Till I burn up, Till I burn Up, Till I burn up.

A Contemplation

A Contemplation

My body is no longer my own. It contains a
sprout like a fiddlehead fern frond, curled
inward on itself.

Microscopic cells mystically multiply
with fervor, their intention known only
to themselves.

While I breathe, while I sleep, whether
I churn like a river or remain a placid lake,
this body has

Its own mission. Summer is coming.

-Kathryn Harper

When the ICE agent is Canadian… | This Hour Has 22 Minutes

This is your feel-good video for the day!

Self-Care in Political Chaos

Someone shared this clip from PBS with me: The surprising way to fight political exhaustion, in which sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom talks about "agency" as a key to countering exhaustion from relentless horrible world news and politics. 

She's on point. It makes me think... if I'm standing still awhile, it starts to hurt and get heavy, my feet and hips ache, etc. But if I walk or move in some way, pain recedes. (I had a lot of retail jobs long ago.) Passive consumption of news forces us to stand and hold heaviness, which feels even MORE heavy because that's all we're attending to. I liked her term: agentic. 

This is why I've joined to volunteer with Action for Happiness, and why I've started making "little art" earnestly, on the regular, and why I'm returning to frequent entries here, and might even write poetry again. Since this post is public, I can't pretend I'll be a secret agent -- but I can be an agent for kindness. 

The Bun

 

she is soft and gray
and likes to play, binking and
zooming around.
she snacks on flowers,
a sentient lawnmower
wherever grasses abound. 

        -Kathryn Harper        

What Is Real

"In our constant search for meaning in this baffling and temporary existence, trapped as we are within our three pounds of neurons, it is sometimes hard to tell what is real. We often invent what isn't there. Or ignore what is". 

- Alan Lightman

Picture This - Things Are Different

Some of us will drift apart while others stay together

And some will step in from the rain while others face the weather
And some will take their last breath while others breathe new life
And though they're standing on our necks, there's still the will to fight

Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything has changed
And I know the world's on fire, but there's beauty in the flame
And we don't know how much longer
But we know we're gonna come back stronger, oh-oh
Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything, anything has changed

Some of us will lose ourselves while others rediscover (ooh)
The lovers and the innocence, a baby to its mother (ooh)
And some will grasp it in their hands while others lose control (ooh)
Yeah, we gotta leave our fingerprints to let the future know, oh

Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything has changed
And I know the world's on fire, but there's beauty in the flame
And we don't know how much longer
But we know we're gonna come back stronger, oh-oh
Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything, anything has changed

I'll be the light (eh)
If you follow me, I will be everything you need
I'll be the leader
If you want it, I promise that I will set you free

Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything has changed
And though the world's on fire, there's beauty in the flame
And we don't know how much longer
But we know we're gonna come back stronger, oh-oh
Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything, anything has changed

I'll be the light (eh)
If you follow me, I will be everything you need
I'll be the leader
If you want it, I promise that I will set you free (changed)

I'll be the light (eh)
If you follow me, I will be everything you need
I'll be the leader (eh)
If you want it, I promise that I will set you free