Once in a while Hafiz takes things too far. Like after I took him to the Celtics game where he noted with ear-to-ear enthusiasm the musical ambush they sprung upon us during TV timeouts that filled the entire arena and every soul in it with raucous abandon and a preview of the apocalypse. Next day I’m sitting quietly on the living room floor in a stare down with some hint of brokenness, stirring the kettle […]
(This post is a continuation of the previous…) What’s a teckinal discussion, Hafiz? the child asked. Well! Hafiz replied, sitting down beside the little one, that is a very tricky thing, you see. That is when we try to identify what each thing is all by itself with such great precision any confusion in it will be squeezed right out. Sensing immediately God was an idea that would break apart beneath such pressure, the child turned […]
One time when Hafiz was balancing on one foot atop an intriguing round stone the size of a small house that was sunk into the sand beside a very fine sea and dimpled by the impact of ancient particles of dust from outer space, with his arms crossed, or flapping like wings against a blue beyond, or hitched to his side, and his other leg folded up yogically– alternately very stork-like beneath him– or resting […]
I’m still learning the lesson of the birds. The one about sitting in the cover of spruce needles wearing the colors of fire and not questioning my birdness. Just letting it happen. Not questioning the tides of daylight and nightfall that inhabit me, that rinse my memory clean of silt and jagged edges and leave me singing about sitting in the cover of spruce needles wearing the colors of fire. I’m still learning that lesson […]
My plan, Hafiz, is to start a movement. A beautiful groundswell. It will involve festivals, of course, local chapters, iconic images, bylaws, speeches that change everything and people who don’t bathe mixing happily with those who do. Food stands. Woven hats. And yes, a cool logo. It will have green in it for sure. The thing is that it must be worldwide— everywhere that people are. And some places they’re not, too. How great would […]
I came in the door grunting like a bison with four empty stomachs and a calf at home with a head cold, dragged a toe on the threshold and nearly sent five half-shredded bags of heart healthy fruits and vegetables two bottles of heart healthy wine a heart healthy dark chocolate bar and a glass bottle of the most perfect most heart healthy cold-pressed olive oil Mother Nature could produce shooting across the floor in […]
Eternity sometimes feels like a boundless readiness coiled up and squashed into every point there is, like a swoop of clowns hidden inside a mote of pixie dust that’s hovering in the air just a foot or two in front of your left eye, all of them banging on the glass and reciting plays and brewing antidotes and tuning chainsaws and singing scales and lighting firecrackers and twitching with anticipation in there, just waiting on […]
It started with an idea, as these things usually do. “I need your help with something,” I said. Hafiz was working on his Nerf ball free throw. “I’m listening.” His face was an expressionless intensity, but the perforated foam hope fell short of the mark. He seemed to savor the data point. Silent as a feather in long term storage, the ball hit the knob on the closet door, rolled across the floor and settled […]
Once I was mumbling under my breath about a feeling that kept coming back to roost in the lee of my chest like a forlorn and beaten pigeon– a feeling like I was mumbling at altitude and couldn’t get enough air inside of me on the upstroke, or like I was gonna’ blow my own heart’s timing belt if I did anything too, too crazy… …like play a few rounds of Truth or Dare with Hafiz. […]
We don’t really know how it starts. It just gets sprung on us. This life. Suddenly, we are aglow. In the open. Sensitive to the touch. Metabolic. Molten. Astonished. Hanging in space. Once, after years of an ongoing ruckus, I reached a certain condition– a sweet spot just above the wick where I was something between a whirl, a mountain pass, a coyote’s sidelong gaze, and a penniless hunger, all dressed-up as a flame. I […]
Embracing Forever 