Luxury

y

 Luxury means something different to different people. To inmates in the Antwerp jail it are poetry books in a language the prisoners can read as City Poet Laureate Stijn Vrancken found out when the he looked into what category of books were most borrowed from the jail's library. And yes, to his astonishment, it was poetry. So Stijn asked his fellow poets, writers and readers to bring their books to the 'Letteren huis' (House of letters) in as many languages as we had. I brought a stack consisting of Dutch, French, Cornish, German, English and Italian. Walking through the city with my the emptied caddy, I came upon a magnificent place, totally in period, tastefully restaurated. I asked whether I might take some pictures... I was, as I often do, wearing black. So the owner of the shop explained I shouldn't wear black, that doing so is cheap. One should only wear silk and real cashmere and color, and pattern... In other words to buy stunning clothing one can wear but few times on social occasions because otherwise people would say: Oh, there she is with that gorgeous dress, again and again... He then showed me some mindbogglingly beautiful dresses, one with a coat lined in the same silk pattern as the dress itself. I said: I obviously could never afford that lifestyle. His answer surprised me: I should find a sponsor... I can't figure out what he really means. Was he seeing Elisa Doolittle whom he could turn into a lady? Was he suggesting I should invest in one such dress and find a lover with good taste and money to burn?

So I have been wondering what my personal luxury would be: A pretty colorful, aging hippie hoody? Or is it rather being in the warm company of interesting people even if they are penniless, impecunious and without funds, had to flee their country for speaking out, for being at risk because of poems they wrote. My luxury is knowing, Tade, Déo and Hazim, and reading their work... Knowing Rollean and his always nonviolent stand for justice and peace.

May they all be safe. To them safety is luxury.

To me luxury is being with four people in a room and each one is from a different continent...

Unraveling the spreading cloth of time

Indigenous Thoughts Concerning The Universe

Basically the premise of this book is that the Native American nations knew all along about quantum mechanics and interconnectedness. The Universe is a living entity with which/whom we can interact through ceremony. It is not there externally as an object to be studied, but we are part of its dynamic web. Life is flux and change... and  the subject makes for exiting writing.

The books starts with a quote by Vine Deloria Jr. which I offer here: All the tribes say the universe is just the product of mind... It fits perfectly with the quantum. Indians believe the universe is mind, but they explore the spiritual end of  it, not the physical end.

We are destroying our world by the “uncontrolled fires of excess” writes Lela Northcross Wakely. We need to cleanse and burn away the old underbrush and the ground of our heart will be purified and open for healthier thoughts. Giving thanks is a good practice. It keeps us grounded and open. Do it every day... Kim Shuck writes about the Milky Way containing ethyl formate, the taste of raspberries and black holes which sing in B flat...  This makes me realize how wondrous and strange our world is, where we expect things to be solid, but know that basically they are not...

There are creation stories, personal accounts of life and great poetry. There is connectedness to the land and travel and that all is as it should be. And sometimes we stumble upon a special place. They can be sacred, historic, they can be a migration route of the Hopi with a hurry star on the face of a rock. The book is wise in old words en new words in reinventing the language in poetry and songs.

I must thank MariJo Moore for her own writings and for realizing this important anthology.

You can order the book from MariJo Moore

Website: Marijomoore.com

001-828 545 1365

*

I sit on the couch and read

because the couch agrees

to let me sit

to keep its structure

solid together for my sitting

while I fall apart