Breathing Room

Morning on the marsh

Yesterday I took The Amazing Bob to the doc. That nasty cold he and I shared is refusing to let him go. I totally understand -- TAB's all irresistible like that. We have new meds now, which hopefully, BETTER dammit, do the trick.

In the meantime. We breathe in, breath out, read poetry, paint. And hope.

Small quilts of white mist
Curling above the dark woods.
Pine trees are breathing.

Elevator doors
open into quiet. Breathe.
Consulate comforts.

Random Haikus

Beauty near TAB's doc's office

What art offers is space -- a certain breathing room for the spirit.
John Updike

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Stepping into Freedom: Rules of Monastic Practice for Novices

Owl Dancing with Fred Astaire
Sherman Alexie

During a traditional Native American owl dance, the woman asks the man to dance. He is not supposed to refuse. However, if he does refuse, he must pay the woman whatever she wants and then tell the entire crowd at the powwow exactly why he refused.

I.
I met the Indian woman who asked Fred Astaire to dance.
He politely refused her offer.
“He was so charming,” she said, “even when he rejected me.
But I kept wishing it was an owl dance.”  


II.
An owl dance is simple: two steps with your left foot forward,
one step with your right foot back, all to the beat of a drum

 currently being pounded by six Indian men in baseball hats.
They sing falsetto. Many non-Indians wonder what they are singing

but that is too complicated to explain here. Let’s just say
they are singing an owl dance song. It is not necessarily romantic.

I mean, sisters owl dance with brothers
and sons owl dance with their mothers.

Yet, at every powwow, there are beautiful Indian women
who owl dance with beautiful Indian men, all hoping

for love/sex/a brief vacation from loneliness.
I must emphasize, however, that our love lives are not simple.

There are Indian men who have never been asked to owl dance.
Alone in the powwow crowd, those men tap their feet lightly

along with the drums. They sing softly under their breath.
Perhaps they secretly wish they were Fred Astaire

The rest of Owl Dancing with Fred Astaire is here. 
Jerry Lee Lewis -- Breathless