AMERICAN BAD GOOD DAY EVENING

BROTHERS

“Out beyond ideas of wrong doing

and right doing

there is a field

and I will meet you there”

Rumi

Winter Count 2020 by Sally King

We almost made the Turkey be our National bird.

Turkey is the Give Away in the Lakota way of life

When you have enough, you give to others in need.

The richest family gave the most

that was how you received honor.

Betsy Burton sent me this photo this morning

(She is our very own White Buffalo Calf Woman)

It was wild how many women were out walking at dusk

after the intensity of the election.

Moving the stagnant energy with each step down the road

If you need to get grounded today

My friend taught me this simple exercise

Look up and see the sky , name it’s color.

Look at your painting and say what color it is.

Mine is blue.

Look at your shoes and really see them,

their shape and color.

This simple seeing and naming

is the present moment

and it will heal you

Grounded in your own

sweet feet! love Sally

“A canoe having passed through dangerous waters

finally reaches calm water.”

At dawn on this election day

It was as if heard the loud creaking of a ship,

Our fragile yet infinitely capable America

as she squeezes through the narrowed way,

Jason and the Argonaunts

are we, in multiple of thousands.

Our vessel, so well imagined by so many

will hold true and come through

this fearsome portal.

Courage and Mercy are with us.

Point of Ripening, The Loba at Turning

Honoring the poet, Diane di Prima,

I share her words with you.

“Is there a myth for the female

middle aged

Hermes

large breasted not

quick footed

But

winged.

That rich time when the harvest

is not yourself

You no longer need

to claim it.

“I have come to know myself

I have gathered

myself

from everywhere”

“I am you, I must become you

I have been you, I am always you

I must become you.”

My friend Winnie receives her hay in a mesh bag.

She has to tug small nibbles at a time.

I helped her sneak bigger bites …..

it feels so good to have a full tummy!

We have been surrounded by wild fires

and my nervous system was wound tight

but listening to Winnie’s steady chewing was so peaceful,

her deep contented inhale, horse breath

her warm breath felt on my neck.

I begun to yawn and yawn, letting go.

It’s how we animals regulate.

How we get back into out bodies

after a fight, flight or freeze situation.

Ingest, digest, yawn, breathe.

John will from time to time

recite with joy, a line from Conan the Destroyer, saying

“What is Best in Life”?

I wish you could hear him,

pure Conan the barbarian.

( this painted rock is for his 72d birthday next month)

I find myself returning to earlier times

when I used to make things

when all gifts were homemade.

In need of renewal and connection

I offer to Nandi, the sacred cow,

a stem from the last of the marigolds.

Spirit has been trying to get my attention for days.

A wooden box fell from a high shelf

and splintered at my feet.

It contained my grandmother’s birth certificate,

Oct 9th 1893 and her baptism.

My grandmother reminds me of Nandi,

round and soft and worn.

Today’s puja, the ritual of placing a flower

is for my grandmother and

the soft receptive qualities of the feminine

needed now, in all her forms.

The heavy hand of illusion

presses hard on the breath of the nation.

In the game of tug of war

I want to pull you over the line

until we all fall down, laughing.

Time magazine referred to our current President

as The Disruptor

and Joe Biden as The Challenger.

The blessed neutrality of architypes,

the timeless nature of storytelling

honoring each role in the play of Lela.

Beloveds all, Place your Vote!

With my fists up by my face,

ready to take you out with a punch,

addicted to being mad,

I sold my soul to the devil

and I didn’t even blink.

At my age and in these times,

can old habits at least be seen?

But this is still safe territory,

what if I burn the book of your transgressions?

Then What?????

Will my soft round animal body be ok?

Will it flourish?

Will it laugh out loud?

Delighting in your smile

and seeing all manner of things reinvented.

Fighting is not winning,

What story do I want to tell?