February 4, 2023
Good morning.
First day of my Sabbath Project
I’m a beginner. A believer? Not yet. A faithful? Oh, no. Far from it.
What is the sudden reversal?
The mystical women of the Middle Ages. I’ll start with St. Clare of Assisi and Mechthild of Magdeburg.
What’s Sabbath Project? Getting up at 8am. Meditation for half hour.
at sunrise
a bird leaves
its perch
a tree painted blue
a wind chime hangs from a branch
a bird sings from faraway
a mother looks at her child
imagines colors of her voice
the sun recedes behind the mountains
she adjusts the aperture
takes all the photos
a long story begins
yesterday
a snowstorm
a child was born
Can the flowers hear
Do butterflies whisper their wishes
I’m alone walking along a forest path
My hair shines in the sun
You can follow me
Wherever you are
I pace my steps
Aware of watchful eyes
I’m reluctant to stray from the path
The mountain may shake
Obliterate my awareness
Dictionary may not suffice
The majesty in scarcity
Can elevate my expectations
Tomorrow I will start early
Inaugurate a new attentiveness.
note: It’s invigorating to be able to walk to the river again. I met a lot of walkers walking their dogs or their friend’s dogs. The air is clear and the sky is blue. Simple things.
The leaves were changing colors.
Today on my third day
of walking after the fall
I reached the river.
I saw a blue heron, maybe
a younger one, feathers paler blue
Bending down to tighten my shoe laces
I found a penny next to my shoe
I felt richer.
Is it a journal or diary
or just doodling?
Both need writing
and thought.
and repetitions.
There was once a place
Where the mountain breaks the softness of sunrise
Where fishermen sing while tending their nets
Where I grew up,
The narrow streets and old houses play in my sleep
People meander and talk at sunset
On Saturdays a farmer’s market
Filled with animated visitors.
I miss the place.
The past is part of the present
I will understand happiness
Depends on differences of small things
Will make sense later
I am fit not from running
But from gardening
I want you to come with me
And visit this place
You are a good listener.
The future
Can be full of chatter.
I become too familiar
With the world around
There are possibilities
We can laugh together.
Walking
your eye catches
light’s reflection on a spider web
a hammock hanging between
a tree and fence
neurons interlaced to strengthen memory
a bridge for retrieval and deep learning
atoms, stars, horrors
of war, how to be a shepherd
the interlacing of flowers,
spices and herbs in a garden
flowers complementing appearances
and passion
plants to engender savory taste and texture
a simple life prepared a table of elegance
you resume walking
each step echoes
music of Beethoven, imaginative spark of
Virginia Wolff’s stream of consciousness
to express an exhilarating day.
Walking to the river
I met many women walkers today
in twos, in threes
walking a dog,
walking a stroller
walking with a walker
I heard conversations
words I could not understand
I passed by an adult retirement home
glanced at people playing bocce
The sun was higher now
almost home
In crossing a street
my shoe stubbed the edge,
Like a lightning, I hydroplaned
on a concrete walkway,
For a moment I could not believe
it happened
large bruises on my knees,
palms of my hand
my stick laying in front of me,
my eyeglasses, intact
my bones, none were broken
A car stopped,
a lady driver got out, offered
to help me. I thanked her
I stood up on my own.
I arrived home to attend
to my wounds.
I was full of gratitude.
An extraordinary day
The books I am currently reading: Middlemarch by George Eliot and The Artist’s Journey by Marcia Shaver.
Jammed with the rocks at the riverbank
Submerged in water at high tide
Saved by a fisherman brought inland
Now you are with flowers along the walkway
Which journey will I find you again?
You can’t venture on your own.
Will you vanish somewhere
Or drift into oblivion
What will happen if Kierkegaard
or Salvador Dali find you?
I don’t think I will be dancing in strawberry field
I may write about absurdity of abandoned grocery carts.
Perhaps some ideas are astonishing
We think of wild things
Like kissing at the middle of storm
I will not be writing in Russian.
note: The book I am reading: Either/Or by Elif Batuman.
The walkers rest
The vulture hovers
The woman in red is nowhere
I find a penny for your thoughts
How often do we return to a place of enchantment
How do we “recognize the infinite value of every moment”
Rilke says, we desperately try to hold these moments in our hands
Today in my walk I found 12 cents of coins on the ground
Place them among the fowers
A moment of happiness
Not because of the new found wealth
It completes the wholeness of the universe
A new day
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