Yes oh yes

Please say no
Yes, she says

She came with yes
I learned no

I sigh, then cry
for a yes

we learn to be
as a child sleeps

down there
with smile

the dark night
brings the day

velvety blue
then yellow

yes is near
no is there

It was still

The forest was still so so still
Shhhhhh hear the voices
Be still listen closely
She asked where was the joy?


Last Sunday we hiked into a deep valley in a Missouri forest. The stillness was profound. Only saw a small woodpecker or two. A bluebird. They too were silent. No wind. Cool fall air.Trees were bare. The creek was bone dry. We listened for the joy, it was revealing itself, just a little. I am touched deeply by this capsule of time and space. Find this music by Mark Barnes, Temporary Infinity on Temporal Infinity.

Wrapped

The earth is our floor
Horizon our walls
Sky our roof
She wraps us with a blanket.


Commentary:
Who is "she"? Our spouse? our Mother? G-d? our lover? Perhaps it's our best friend. All gender aside. Is it that desire for the warmth, love, understanding, and hugs. We open our souls to the greater goodness of life. At times it's a scary place....space. Often we stand alone, naked, unprotected in those dangerous places. Knowing that we are wrapped, safe, we go forth bravely, open, with an empty mind, to explore and accept what we find.

The Sound of Peace by John Fluker

Sitting here drawing, Boodha asleep at my feet. The cold fall has begun, it is brisk. Sky is moist and gray. Up pops this piano artist, John Fluker....his music on this album reaches right in there and gives you a touch. http://www.johnfluker.com/  the album is The Sound of Peace. Here is a sketch to accompany this very touching music. Wings...souring....reaching out....looking within.....joy.

 

Fall Color

Yesterday we walked the Missouri Botanical Garden and it was a glorious fall day of magnificent colors. We happened upon this flower, and were overcome with color and filtered light. The entire walk became a wonderment and discussion of the quality of filtered light and color only available during the fall season. My mind drifted to Tim Wheater's flute in "Reverence", this will help to quiet the mind and allow the moment to be.

Poem #3

Pain
Oh lustful pain
has come to visit again
I yearn to know
or better to grow
Let me know you
be my friend
often a foe
Reveal your light
remain as you are
I love you

Jacob Bar Mitzvah

This is the Bar Mitzvah life story of Jacob Elior

Ben Avi Bar Mitzvah

When our first son Benjamin Avi was in Bar Mitzvah training I set out to create a symbol that represented his life.

Poem #2

This past summer I was introduced to the writer Robert Hayden. Not only his work but his life story left me breathless. Do we not know that some grow to create artful insight after suffering darkness. His work inspired this thought.

There is a view from this room
From where you can hear.

There is a song playing
From which you can see.

It is so quiet in this room
One can taste.

Lonely is to be
What not we know of love.

Bird House

I was asked to gift a creation for a charity auction. So i went out to the garage, scrounged up a few scraps from my material boneyard and crafted this little bird home. Try listening to Dan Gibson's Solitudes-Appalachian Mountain Suite....close your eyes and soak in this music....it really will take you there. Where is there for you?

Unfolding

One day about 1995 I was home, restless and wondering where life was next going to take me. I had just left that world of "business" and glad for it. I went to the front door to get the mail....and....standing right there at my front door was a deer. This is really true. We looked each other in the eyes for a lengthy time....it really was a timeless amount of time. That gaze was knowing and yet mysterious. We are not meant to "understand" things like this in a way that we know. Then a car drove by, the passenger sees the deer and shouts. The deer turns and runs off. I stand there, with a tearful eye, and knowing life like never before. I came in and drew this little blue sketch, it is called "Unfolding". And you could now listen to a CD called "Touching Silk" by Frank Steiner, Jr. This is some smooth music! Unfolding.

Prairie

I used to ride through the Kansas prairie often....loved the simplicity and connect between land and sky. George Winston has some cool music to accompany the landscape out in the prairie.

First Graphic

A number of years ago I began an interest in creating geometric graphics that visualize a life event, a musical love or current mind "stories". It began with this visual of Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto, 2nd movement. I drew it in 1976 actually. At times we must close our eyes to "see"....funny thing to say about a visual work !

Poem #1

The wind goes
This way and there
A high flowing river
Thoughts in harmony.

That space between
The essence
A jelly of change
Hidden from the eye.

One cannot touch
We can ask
Become a knowing
Oh...sigh...tears....surrender.