This poem by Mary Oliver has been on the surface of my life a lot lately.  It resurfaced first this past weekend on a retreat I was on at Easton Mountain with my gay shamanic brothers.  Later I stumbled upon this poem again on an environmental collegue's blog.  Shared here to continue inspiring and nurturing a deep peace.

Wild Geese

Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Life has become so interesting again.  All these shades of being.  Nourished again by good film.  Inspired again by interesting music.  Seduced by a different rhythm.  Breaking out of the energy of being always 'relaxed'.  Running alone, but being led hand in hand.  So many ecclectic ways to express.  I'm overpowered.  I try to identify the words, the perspective on which to perch and view life, but you show me I've missed something, forgotten the chaos, the complexity, the difficulty -- that's beautiful.

Wonder state
Flawless being on the skirt of the universe
Infinite compassion stretched across broad shoulders
Breathe me and stretch me from the inside out
Blow me out of my way
Unravelling senses onto the floor

This is an excerpt from Amy Sedaris' new book titled "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence."  This was also published in the Advocate actually...  The Advocate continues to poke me issue after issue with its vibe of 'we won't stop until we get free love in your face or else'.  To me the stories are usually those of forceful creativity, and lack any nurturing.  Forceful with a sort of fuming dark smoke that wants to overtake anything that it permeates.  Not striving to understand before being understood.  Parallels of this are everywhere, not just in the gay community.

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I find my timer to be a great tool when it comes to unexpected visitors because it keeps track of the time so you don't have to.  I bring one with me when I drop in on people.  Unfortunately, the only thing you can expect with most unexpected guests is that they are not expected anywhere.  So when the unexpected guest doesn't know when to leave, expect to educate them.

I recently had a gay friend drop by unannounced.  This is always a high alert situation.  If you don't act quickly he may become a permanent fixture.  You can always lie.  Make up a story, such as...

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here.  You can help me pick out the best photos of my vagina from these contact sheets." OR "You can't stay.  It's March Madness" (or whatever month-Madness it is when they drop in.  This is a sports-related reference and will work on all but the jockiest gay men). OR "If you stay, can you help me babysit the babies in the back room - I'll go get it."

Homosexuals are easy to fool because they have such great imaginations.  Try to avoid allowing him to get high or drunk.  This will really cloud his sense of time.  If he does insist on drinking, this is your chance to empty your stash of weird liquors.  Gay men will drink anything alcoholic because most of them feel a great need to escape, but pour heavy because he's not leaving until those bottles are empty.  Never ask for advice, such as his opinion on beige versus tan.  He will go on for hours.  As a last recourse, yawn a lot, especially when he's speaking.  Hopefully, he'll get tired of hearing you say "I'm sorry, what was that?"
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After I read the Amy Sedaris exceprt, my inner mood felt tight, and constricted, complete despair, not a product of good comedy.  Lacking any sense of the love that is present in our lives, lacking reverence for what is actually appearing in our life at every moment.  Opportunites can seem both wanted and unwanted.  Amy's excerpt was an energy of pushing the unexpected away, and getting it out of your house when the timer goes 'ding'.  Not having time for our friends, not having time for 'strangers'.

Rumi has been an inspiration to me, a few exerpts from the film "Rumi: Poet of the Heart" especially:

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label me and define me and you will starve yourself of yourself
nail me down in a box with cold words and that box will be your coffin
because I don't know who i am, i'm an astounding lucid confusion.
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i you he she we
in the garden of mysitcal lovers
these are not true distinctions
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I encourage us to consider how if we put each other in boxes with little labels, it will be our own coffin.

With Love for all humanity,
Eric

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Shortly before his death on July 27, 1958, Lt. General Claire Lee Chennault was asked to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the U.S. Congress.

Asked about foreign aid, he said bluntly, "We send people to distribute that aid.  We send some of the dumbest, most ignorant people I have ever encountered. We have to change our whole method of giving aid. We have to get down and contact the people, make friends with them at all levels."

He led the Flying Tigers (an all-volunteer service) in China before the United States entered World War II. When America entered the war, he took command of all Allied Air Forces in the far east.

He is buried in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery and to symbolize his dual loyalty, his headstone is inscribed in both English and Chinese (the only one at Arlington National Cemetery to bear a Chinese inscription), and the bust of him in Taipei is the only statue of a westerner to grace the Taiwanese capital.

An air force base in Louisiana was named in his honor in 1987 and on September 6, 1990, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp bearing his likeness.  (A companion stamp was issued by the Republic of China on Taiwan.)

Red Hook, Brooklyn   -   circa July 2006

Going back in time, relaxing the eye that is typically so blind.

New dimensions unfold.  Contrast becomes as loud as silence.  Black pushes, white rests.  Endless cycles.  Stay with it, the next one's even better than the one before. 

photo.ericchenault.com