More Love

pretty

pet me, petty,

greedy filigree,

perfect pedigree,

I'm up to snuff,

enough to sport

an itty-bitty

bit of snooty

sashay my booty

rock my body

baby

gallivanting

stepping your more

fearless foot forward,

so cavalier,

how could I refuse?

we galloped threshing

the beach with our feet,

rolled over and tumbled

in brickle seaweed.

each poem will be in a 2X2 handmade envelope with its name on it.  I love miniature things so much.

Letter Poems

I am doing a project writing (loosely defined) love letters to words.  Some examples:

panorama

once, I thought you

were a palindrome.

that was many 

years ago.  in the interim,

you are widening.

your third vowel flickers

between England

and Midwestern America.

you belong, my once-

palindrome, in a field

thick with corn.

absence

but I am here.

unless existing is a process

of disappearing.

in which case, I am

an absence waiting

to happen.  I am

waiting to happen

to you.

flirt

you are not my mother, you are a snort!

I said GODDAMN!

Caramelised Onion, Mushroom, and Spinach Muffins

makes 6 muffins

1 onion diced

1t olive oil

1bunch spinach, washed and chopped (abt 1/2 c)

4-5 button mushrooms cleaned and quartered (I used comparable amount portabello tops)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 white unbleached flour

1T sugar

1/2 t baking powder

1t salt

1 egg

1/2 c milk

1/3 c oil

1/2 grated cheddar or parmesan cheese 

Caramelize onions, set aside.  Sautee the mushrooms dry, then add oil for the final 5 minutes until they're dark and reduced.  Add spinach, wilt it. Set aside to cool.

Mix all dry ingredients.  Then, add all ingredients except for cheese.  Mix until just combined.

Pour into a well-buttered muffin pan, 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops with cheese.

Bake at 425 F (215 C) for about 15 minutes

(courtesy http://arundati.wordpress.com with some changes made)

So, this week was muffin week at Earth House.  Every morning, one or two people signed up to make muffins for the house.  This morning was my morning.  Always opting for the avant garde, I decided I wanted mushroom muffins.  (Side note: always opting for pushing the envelope way too far, I decided to add 60% dark chocolate chunks to some.  While not a bad taste per say, I did feel it was just distracting to the subtle savory flavors in the muffin.  Not recommended.)  

So I did my research, and what muffins they are!

Tune in next week for these!

The Spirit As Cinema

"One of my spiritual influences was J.  Krishnamurti, who rejected any opportunities to become a guru.  I once saw him speak at Carnegie Hall to three thousand of his nondisciples.  Somebody asked him why there was evil in the world, and he answered, 'To thicken the plot.'  That inspired me to perceive reality through a theatrical filter, and now I just admire how skillfully everybody plays themselves, including evil people.  On the other hand, another influence, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, told me, 'There are no evil people; there are only victims.'"

    -Paul Krassner

Past As Prologue

Afterword (or, The Bridge)

Because desire always exceeds

its object.  Because the energy you gave me

feels big enough to birth wings.  Because

I want you to push into the wetness 

and I know it.  Because of the salt

and the wind.  Because everything

that is supposed to happen

will happen, is happening, or

has already happened.  Because

ambivalence is more beautiful 

than justice.  Because my heart is 

shooting ahead, and I have no choice

but to follow it.  Because I want you

to be happy, with or without me.  

Because of the birds fleeing the storm.

Because the harbor is permeable

and shining.  Because it felt like

the last night of my life

but it wasn't.  Because a web of cables

is there to catch me if I blow

sideways, and always will be.  Because 

I walked across the bridge and was free.

-Maggie Nelson

I memorized this poem on the car ride to my meditation retreat.  We couldn't have books, and I felt like I wanted to have it there with me.  And of course now whenever I read it I think about being there, and what it felt like.  The flavors of the rooms.  The qualities of light coming in the windows.  The sounds that the world makes when nobody is speaking for days.

I memorized the poem, though, because it reminded me where I am in my life.  I think the first line is really the most important to remember.  And the third to last.  And the third line, I keep trying to figure out what I think it means, and I've formed an opinion.  But make your own.

Old Notebooks

As a person who has been writing most of her life, I have a lot of old notebooks.  Today I was helping my father clean out the attic, and I found a journal from 6th grade, with only one thing written in it:

To Draw You In...

Imagine... if someone lived, only to you...

If I should fall in love...

I hope that it inspires me to create something as wonderful as this.