Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Beijing 1990: Long Walk Home

The first time I moved home to Beijing, 
it was a late 1980’s bone-chilling winter. 
No one had heat, ration coupons, 
cooking coal, communal hot water.

We made much noodle soup.
Ate dumplings on special occasions. 
Got warm walking the neighborhood 
to the local hot water dispensary. 
Learned to self-generate internal heat. 

We wore two layers of long underwear 
under thick cotton pants and
winter coats of multi-layered felt. 
Night markets served roasted 
sweet potatoes pulled from the guts 
of roadside coal-fired barrels, 

Hot almond pudding was poured from
giant Silk Road ancient-brass teakettles,
and fresh warm hand-pulled noodles 
swam in salty garlic ginger 
broths as old as Beijing. 

One day we had an opportunity. 
A trucker carrying trade goods, 
up north beyond the city borders,
offered to drop me and my friend, 
at the Great Wall of China. 

It was -20 degrees celsius that day. 
To get back to the suburbs,
in order to catch a bus into the city, 
we had to walk many kilometers - 
stone by stone along that great wall.

At any shelter we came upon, 
we stopped to get out of the wind - 
old remains of guard-houses,
land-surveying lookouts, 
navigation towers, 
stacks of fallen stone piles. 

We recalled stories of potential - 
invasions, battles, explorers, artists. 
Those who came before us - 
our collective ancestors of humanity
whose steps we were retracing. 

Recently, 
a modernization took place. 
No need to walk 
the Great Wall of China. 
Now, you can fly up 
in a chairlift and toboggan down,
shielded from the cold to avoid 
our ancestral trials and tribulations. 

Recently, 
I saw a butterfly walking. 
Stretching its legs, 
resting its wings, 
cultivating an alternative 
perspective. 

She used her arms, 
hands, legs and feet. 
It wasn’t because she couldn’t fly, 
She valued the climb, 
savored change. 

After investing her energy, 
to acquire this experience, 
she flew away - 
her choices converting 
from experience into new wisdom. 

Is that why the crawling caterpillar 
decided to become a butterflying? 

Intention and desire 
to experience unencumbered flight
instead of undulating wave motion. 

If evolution occurs by choice, 
then does changing your state, 
exist as potential, 
imagined-inwardly. 

Futuristic possibility 
imagined manifest. 
Stone by stone, step by step, 
transformation slowly remakes us - 
Born children we all become ancestors.










Los Angeles 2021: Sky Dancer

Sky Dancer 
Look up at the Sky. 

Our Earth moves 
around a structure 
we call the Sun. 
This movement 
is called a revolution.

Our Earth's surface, 
respective it's center, 
rotates once every 23 hours, 56 minutes - 
at a speed roughly 
of 1,610 kilometers per hour. 

Sky Watcher
Look deep into the Sky. 

Our neighborhood galaxies 
are moving towards a structure 
called the Great Attractor
at a speed of nearly 
1,000 kilometers per second . 

This region of space is roughly 
150 million light-years away from us. 

The Great Attractor’s mass 
is 100 quadrillion times greater 
than our Sun. 
It has a spacial span of 
500 million light-years.

The Great Attractor is made 
of both visible matter 
that we can see - 
along with non-visible dark matter 
that we cannot see. 

Sky Observer 
Look deeper into the Sky. 

The motion of our Earth 
is relative to our Sun. 
The motion of our local group of galaxies 
is related toward the structure 
we call the Great Attractor. 
 
What universal structure defines 
the motions of all things? 

Movement 
inside and outside us- 
circling spiraling cycles 
within and infinitely 
around us. 

Sky Being 
Look up into the night sky. 

Our Earth is moving 
towards 
the constellation Leo 
at the speed of 
390 kilometers per second. 

Therefore all of us, 
all life on Earth, 
are moving in unison 
in the same direction, 
towards together in the same destination. 

Seen or unseen, 
conscious or unconsciously - 
we are made 
of the same materials 
and animating life forces. 

Sky Listener 
Notice the night sky. 

Our true nature 
is a diversity 
of ever 
transforming sameness 
producing uniqueness.





Los Angeles 2021: Earth Dancer

Earth dancer
Look to the Earth 
Down, around, inside you.

Look to the Wind 
Up, about, within you.
 
Look to the Fire 
Interior, 
Dematerializing unmaker.

Look to the Water 
Around, about, 
Materializing maker. 

Fluid flow essential to form. 
All forms of life 
omniformly 
held in liquid. 

Viscosity reforms 
all forms 
uniformly. 

Without Water 
there is no form, 
no unison. 

Shape your imagination 
with your expanding presence - 
grow to form. 

Look to the Air 
Transporter, 
of your other world 
life-force energy.

Move through the portals 
into your worldly vessel - 
that which we call human 
is that which is Earthbound. 

Look to Blood, 
Composed of the same material 
that matters into human, 
also matters being alive 
into the Stars. 

Look within, 
Lead your breath 
to transport 
more 
of your exacting presence. 

Existence, 
presented as your presence. 
Flowing 
throughout your channels. 
Streaming 
the data of your imagination. 

Matter making 
is a state of art, 
the art of making 
your state of mind 
into matter.




Diatoms magnified