090: The Fool, The Human

1 Poetry - 1 Video - 1 Music

1.

Your Mirage is My Mirage — four poems by Sherman Alexi

From the Community

Your Mirage, My Mirage

If we could raise the dead
then we'd bring back our fathers.

And this time, this time,
we'd be magic enough

to keep them
clean and sober.

-

Generations

The trees long
for the days when
they were seeds.

The seeds hurry
again and again
to become trees.

-

Crisis of Faith

Of course, the photos
and videos of Sasquatch
need to be blurry

and distant. Nobody
wants to be convinced
that their monster

is only myth. Nobody
wants their miracle
to only be metaphor.

-

Prognosis

We're all born
with the endless

need to be
cradled.

There's no cure.
It's always fatal.

---

I've had this particular post by

Sherman Alexie

(👇🏽) saved about half a year. I often read these four short poems as I'm preparing to write this weekly newsletter, but it's not felt like the right time to share it until now.

Your Mirage, My Mirage

In these few words, Sherman captures such poignant aspects of human being's folly. Aren't we such fools?

We come to this Earth, as spirit incarnate with a mission. (Wild assertion, I know. You don't have to believe it if you don’t want to.)

We're born, and we spend a good few years learning how to operate our bodies. As toddlers and young children, we long to be like our mothers and fathers - all grown up, with knowledge and wisdom.

We become teenagers and give our parents hell. We become adults, and blame our parents for the personal hell we create for ourselves. We're disappointed to discover that we're grown-ups now and we still know nothing, and lament our childhood - how precious it was when we didn't have to pay bills.

We wonder... might we be here on the this planet for a reason?

This is followed by walking around trying to remember that reason - our purpose for being here. It feels a lot like that thing that happens (to me) every other day, when I walk into a kitchen with a random object in my hand looking in the fridge thinking "what did I come into this room for?"

I suppose I'm hoping to find the answers, maybe god... maybe the Sasquatch, in the fridge.

We go to therapy... and eventually learn that we really just want to be loved. We look around and everybody wants the same thing, but nobody knows how to love anybody else. So it seems.

We are foolish, no? But... I'll tell you that we are here for a reason. I'll say it's worth our while to remember what that reason is - even if it makes us fools. We can laugh at ourselves, we can cry. We can throw our proverbial toys out of our proverbial prams. But we are simply human. We are here. That's that's the only truth you need.

---

2.

Ornithographies — film and photography by Xavi Bou

From the Internet

From my understanding, these images are made by overlaying each video frame, capturing the birds' flight to create this 'tracing' of the otherwise invisible shapes drawn in the sky.

If you're interested in the unique technique, you can read more here.

I'm awestruck by the perpetual dance that is nature. Always moving, always in flux. Always re-generating itself - this system of things dying and being born. Things eating other things, and then creating more of itself. Every 'thing' is a microcosm of the larger thing.

And we humans are nature. We are also always re-generating, with a whole world inside our bellies and on our skin - with things that are always eating, dying and being born.

Just like the birds in the sky and the flowers on the ground, we are born from the universe. We are here. And that's the only truth you need.

---

3.

Voilá — a performance by Emma Kok

From the Library

I have little to add, and I just urge you to listen to this performance. I don't speak French, but I found this translation that's as moving as Emma's musicality.

listen to me 
me the half singer
talk about me to your loved ones 
to your friends 
tell them about this little girl
with black eyes and crazy dreams

what I want is to write stories that 
you will hear about 
that's all 

voila voila
here is who I am 
here I am, even if I'm scared 
as I'm naked 
yes here I am

in the noise and 
in the silence

(Original lyrics in French by Barbara Pravi)

---

We are here, and that is the only truth you need.

---

🃏 THE FOOL 🃏

This weekend, I participated in a Tarot workshop taught by an extraordinary human being called Jim Morris at Concord Institute (thats's also why this is coming on a Tuesday rather than a Sunday).

This morning, I drew 'The Fool'. I received a few words of wisdom from him. Whether or not you care much for the Tarot, I wanted to share with you his messages which may also guide you on your journey today.

🃏 Bring innocence and a beginner’s mind.

🃏 Be courageous in the face of the unknown. Like a child, curious and unassuming.

🃏 Let go of the past, the cynicism. The things you think you already know. Surrender.

🃏 Let go of what no longer serves you. Only take your small sack with things close to your heart.

🃏 You are unprepared, this is true. Yet go boldly into the night. Rebel against your smallness and need for certainty.

🃏 Be brave. You are a child of the universe. You are loved.