How do I die?
(How do I live?)
What do I take?
(What do I give?)
Where am I from?
(Where am I now?)
How do I BE?
(HOWWWL?)
Tag: poetry
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Stay (Poem)
I think I’ll stay just a little bit longer.
Life here in the mountains can still surprise me.
A wood turner who makes steampunk lamps.
A chef who practices traditional Chinese medicine.
A professor who tickles trout for photos .
A dear friend here from far away who is found to be a distant relative.
(And that latter, I’m convinced, is some sort of Appalachian magic-
Because in the mountains ALL folks are related!)
And that’s just to mention people.
If I were to start talking about these things.
The way the sky looks when a storm is about to hit.
The Canadian geese and the train whistle that help rhythm my day.
The greenery of the town, and my back yard in particular.
(Ere the six old trees that stand sentinel come down in a bad wind,
I might not live to write again.)
And music. Sigh.
The music strikes a visceral cord in me.
The same wail that I heard in the old Cajun songs runs through songs.
So at the end of the day, I feel at home.
One of my trees. And how could I leave a place that produces music like this?
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Melancholia Blend (Poem)
I work as an alchemist
To blend my tea.
I start with aged shou puerh
to remind you of the past,
whether yours, the earth’s, or simply that of tea.
The specifics are not my concern.
I add toasted rice-brown and wild-
to add contemplative notes.
Think about what you will.
Then some cacao nibs and bits of candied ginger
(not too much)
for a bit of sweetness,
because life can be harsh.
But this is a tea true to my life,
so I also add at the end,
vetiver oil and aloeswood oil and cayenne pepper flakes.
Because dry and bitter and heat
must also play a part in this tea song.
Listen to Leonard Cohen when you sip it
and perhaps read Albert Camus.