TAKE ME, BY SURPRISE - Thursday June 17, 2010

today’s Musing  written and published from Cranston in south- east  Calgary, near the Bow River valley

 

Morning walk: 9C/48F, drizzling stopped – it is now just a steady rain, walk short, dog wet, spring in Calgary is starting to feel like a Vancouver winter . . .

 

Yesterday, I rushed around first thing in the morning tidying up for a cleaning lady who never came (now I’m half-done), but that’s another story that takes too much energy to tell in relation to its importance.

 

If I’m going to spend time telling a story, if I’m going to ask you to invest minutes of your valuable day to read it, it should be a story worth hearing, have some point to make – that adds value in some way to our lives, otherwise, why bother?

 

Please, wake me . . .

 

You are life, and I sit here at your edge, like a beach waiting for your wave. 

 

If you can’t wave, could you at least wink?

 

Take me. Take my by surprise. Shake me up. Startle me. 

 

Noise of life, seems quieter this morning – critic hasn’t gone away, pessimist hasn’t stopped pessimizing, failed idea or big mistake didn’t right themselves overnight – but noise of them is always loudest in my own head – so having those voices fall quiet is a good thing.

 

Don’t you agree, we self-sabotage far more than anyone else ever does to us? 

 

I’ve encountered several people recently, doing just that – sabotaging themselves without need to (not just the cleaning lady).  But noticeable to me, and probably to anyone else who watches or listens. But not the person themselves.  So, what to do about that?

 

Silence. Ignoring/avoiding.  Disconnecting. Running from it.  Those all work.

 

The problem is, if we avoid, flee or deflect every time we see that kind of behavior, soon we’ll be alone, looking in mirrors for company, and probably seeing the same thing there. How do we run from that?  Who wants to?

 

I was wondering, in technology age when instant-everything is way of life, when bakeries sell things so well preserved they last for weeks, why they would offer a discount for day old?  hmmm

 

In this fast pace, when pharmacists fill prescriptions in 15 minutes while you shop in their store, why can’t a doctor’s office find time to return a phone call within a week?   hmmm

 

Am I a day late, or day-old?

 

Not sure – but I know my speed is like the pharmacist in the morning, like the baker by afternoon and by evening I’ve lost the energy required to overcome inertia to pick up the phone.

 

Today I want to resolve to absolve – to set myself free of consequences; not that there won’t be consequences, but to be less concerned about them and more focused on what I do in each moment, on things that are truly important. I’m going to think like a pharmacist, and - on things that are not, I’ll think like a physician (now doctors, don’t get all uppity and write me your complaints .. instead, use the time to return calls to your patients and their families) …. and then, as day lingers on, I’ll bake some bread.

 

And, in closing, here’s a treasure for you:

 

For me, it is a reality check, but not the kind of reality check/cheque you cash. It is a quote I found this morning. I am a quote fan, but this one is far better than just something to season your salad days. Worth putting up on a wall to see every day:

 

‘Art must take reality by surprise.’ – F. Sagan

 

It defines the separation between an artist and some guy with a brush and roller; it splits the space between typing and writing, chiseling and sculpting.  I think it goes so far beyond ‘just showing up’, it means to startle. To awaken. To arrest bodies and fire-up minds.

 

~~~

LAGOON REALITY - archived poetry

 

Essence of it must be

more than the noise alone,

there’s an impact in heat

or cold in its rhythm, in its

power; message clear,

cool - one that just

shows up embodied in sounds

those crickets make

at night or in early morn

because otherwise

there is no time to stop

and listen, no time to

pause for it, to hear nature

talking to me, middle of busy day

working at home sometimes

with windows open on a day

when drizzle stops just

long enough, I can hear

crickets sometimes through

that freshness in the afternoon

just like I do at night or early

in the morning - which strikes me

as truly odd since that lagoon is

four rows of houses over and, well,

actually, it’s not a lagoon at all

it is really called a constructed

wetland because it is, though

I think those crickets think that

they are the real thing.

 

~~~

 

Mark Kolke

321,700

 

RESPONSES/COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME; send to: dailycolumn@markkolke.com

 

 

June 16 Comments

 

June 16 - ROAD TO TRUTH –  Thanks for adding me to your Musings list. Great style and interesting thoughts. I really quite like the poetry.  What starting you writing and what compels you to keep going? I have arrived in the wonderfully hot humid South and am breathing deeply  of the smell of summer. Enjoy your day!, DL, Calgary, AB (on a trip to NC)