During the 300 hr teacher training at the Esalen Institute, Janet Stone gave us an overnight homework to write a poem or something about forgiveness. This came out.
In a forest clearing I am building a fire. In a clearing on my way through the dark forest. I will stay here a night, or a week, or perhaps longer.
I am chopping up the firewood Continue reading “A Fire in a Forest Clearing”
“In biological terms, <Jamestown> marked the point where before turned into after. Setting up camp on the marshy Jamestown peninsula, the colonists were, without intending it, bringing the Homogenocene to North America. Jamestown was a brushfire in a planetary ecological conflagration.”
– Charles C Mann, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
This is what happens when a journalist writes a history book. I need a bigger spoon!
Having been to Jamestown just before the season when the camp was set, I get shivers thinking about it. Brilliant blue skies over the mighty James river, fresh warm air, tall trees all around, after weeks and weeks of nothing but the Atlantic in sight. Case in point though, who knows what the trees were like back then. Still, the colonists arrived at what looked as the Atlanticist paradise, and then a couple of months later, all hell broke loose. And then some more.
Offer love, trade in time
Say yes, accept yes only
Be the earth, be the fire, be the water
Be the magic
Close the door, shift the doorway
Close the accounts before travel
Then dance
Love letters understated 