A Poem Should Not Mean, But Be

New Mating Moon 

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As April winds down, so is National Poetry Month. This year, as with the last three years, I have sought out poetry each day during the month and posted my favorites to my Facebook page. Each year this exercise brings me joy and appreciation for poetry. Like so many Americans, I never read poetry as a kid. I don't even feel like I have the same dislike some people have to it because I never knew any poetry enough to dislike it. I am a word person, though, and I love the way poetry allows a writer to play with language as well as with meaning. Light brush strokes of words evoke rich images in some poems while others seem densely embroidered with word and phrase and metaphor. 

This year, I collected all 34 poems I collected into a new blog, As the Flight of Birds. This title comes from Archibald MacLeish's 1926 Ars Poetica; "A poem should be wordless, as the flight of birds...  For love, The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea— A poem should not mean, But be." Those last lines speak to me especially this spring. When do we work too hard to do anything beyond be? 

My very favorite poem from the month is another poem about being, a humorous poem. I do love the phrases, the words strung together to evoke specific sensory images. But mostly I love the character of this poem, a middle aged, paunch bellied and embarrassing old were wolf. 

No One Wants to Run Through the Woods Naked Under a Full Moon Anymore
by James S. Dorr
 
Well, first off the woods were cut down last year
for land to build the new subdivision,
and while they are nice houses, asphalt and sidewalks
are tough on bare feet, whether wolf-formed or human,
and while one can cut through yards, fences and pools
not to mention rosebushes make such ruses dangerous.
Then there are dogs, whose barking and racket
tend to ruin ambiance,
not to mention that some slip their leashes,
but killing them even if forced to seems futile—
they die too easily which ruins the sport of it—
and either way they tend to frighten off game.
Worst though is the walk back, the moon having set,
paunch-bellied and middle-aged,
clothes doffed of course prior to the transformation,
now skulking through gauntlets of giggling schoolchildren
awaiting buses, braving the glares of late commuters,
only to return to wives back home seething
in their own embarrassment.

How are you being true to yourself this spring? How are you finding ways to express yourself as the days lengthen and spring springs all around you? What is your favorie find of National Poetry Month 2014?


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New Mating Moon 2012: National Poetry Month

New Mating Moon 2011: The New Mating Moon

New Mating Moon 2010: A Flower Story for the Flower Moon

New Mating Moon 2009: The Lusty Month of May

Also, see my National Poetry Month post in 2013 and all other National Poetry Month posts!

10 maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach(to play one day) and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were; and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and may came home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone. For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15406#sthash.4OE8nX6N.dpuf

10 maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach(to play one day) and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were; and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and may came home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone. For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15406#sthash.4OE8nX6N.dpuf

10 maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach(to play one day) and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were; and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and may came home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone. For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15406#sthash.4OE8nX6N.dpuf

maggie and milly and molly and may

  by E. E. Cummings

              10

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15406#sthash.4OE8nX6N.dpuf

maggie and milly and molly and may

  by E. E. Cummings

              10

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15406#sthash.4OE8nX6N.dpuf

maggie and milly and molly and may

  by E. E. Cummings

              10

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15406#sthash.4OE8nX6N.dpuf

maggie and milly and molly and may

  by E. E. Cummings

              10

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15406#sthash.4OE8nX6N.dpuf

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There

New Milk Moon

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It is that darkest of dark time of the year when we review the year that just passed and begin to prepare for the one coming up. For the last three years I have done this in a more formal way and rather than making new years resolutions, I have gwished a theme for the upcoming year. As 2013 comes to a close the need for review of the old and gestation of the new is here again.

Part of a Tribe in the Spring

2013 was one hell of a year. The theme I set last January was Naming My Superpowers, Calling My Allies and it came with a wish and a hope to put my talents to good use and to build my community of allies to help with that work. I was looking for more discernment in my activities and my companions. I think I did a better job in 2013 than in previous years, but my skills of discernment clearly need more honing.

I didn't do as much blogging this year as in the past but going back through my Facebook feed allowed me to review the year in pretty good detail. Last winter and spring were amazing times of growth and exploration. I fell in love with an amazing man and we had some wonderful adventures together. Food, sex, conversations; it was mind and life expanding. My one blog post from this spring dates from this period and sums up a lot of my thinking during this time. And then my life exploded. That relationship fell apart and then I got very ill with a bacterial infection that took all the king's horses and all the king's men to put me back together again. The physical toll was great and the emotional toll was possibly greater. Emotions I didn't know I had overwhelmed me so I did what I am in the habit of doing.... more stuff. The late summer found me in another intense romantic relationship and then in an amazingly intense job. I got the middle school science teaching position I've been angling for for years and it is everything and more. This autumn has felt like a crisis time when everything is falling apart. My summer motto of 'better but not yet betterer' took on whole new levels of emotional and existential meaning. I wrote about my thinking along these lines in this post from late November. Apparently, it is 

Dolled Up Mid-Summer

difficult for my seventh grade students to be 12, but almost just as difficult for me to be thirty three.

Even with the major hiccup in the summer of being, ya know, almost dead for close to a month, I still followed my standard M.O. of going full speed ahead in 2013. I may have still had difficulty knowing what to say no to, but I had allies all along the way. My friends were amazing during my illness and recovery and I learned so much from the men I met and loved this year. Building community, or at least thinking about how to do it, was a major theme of this year. In my 2013 gwish post I used a photo with the african proverb, "if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together." I don't know how far I got, but I know I got there because of my friends this year.

During this time of gestating my intentions for 2014 I have employed many of my traditional gwishing techniques. I drew a tarot spread, listened for resonance with colors, images, animals and phrases. I thought about what I wanted and what I did not want from this upcoming year and finally, after weeks of thinking and listening, found my theme for the year.

2014, Don't Just Do Something, Sit There.

By Sharon Flowers

The phrase is a title of a book by Sylvia Boorstein, a Buddhist teacher I first heard through Krista Tippet's amazing interview with her. It is a joke, a play on words, a phrase that always makes me chuckle and smile wryly. You're right, you're right, I know you're right I mutter as the phrase pops into my head. In the last few years I have cultivated my doing self and have learned so much from that, but as I continued doing and did not feel any better about my life it became more frantic and obsessive. In a particularly dark moment of this last autumn I was on a date with a gentleman caller, drinking beer, talking about politics, looking forward to our adult sleepover, when my internal commentator noted, "Dang, girlfriend, you got this doing-and-not-feeling thing down to a science!" That frantic doing has metastasized into uncontrollable worry and anxiety this winter and I feel miserable much of the time. And it is all so boring. It is the same stupid patterns I've had for years but now that I see them they are achey and dull, not even succeeding at what they were designed to do.

I did draw a tarot spread this winter (and will talk more about it below) but this year my theme came a lot from listening for resonance with words and images. The blue heron, a patient and stealthy hunter, will be my theme animal for this 

By David Jakes

year. Herons sit still as a tree waiting for their prey to forget they're there. They work hard to not spook off the good stuff that will surely come their way. Like herons, chicory flowers have been making themselves known to me for years. They are the weediest of the weedy plants and will grow out of sidwalks, along highways, in gravel drives and on the edges of lawns. It is used for salad greens, livestock forage, a coffee subsitute and a medicine for all sorts of ailments. The gorgeous blue flowers are said to be able to open locked doors. Powerful allies to have in this year of bravely facing the habits of mind and heart that rear their head in physical and mental stillness.

Other symbols of stillness and introspection have come to work with me. The first was an unlikely and ancient copper Buddha found in Helgo, a Viking town dating to about 800 C.E. The small, beautifully worked statue appears to have been made about two to three hundred years earlier in northern India and then worked its way through trade and capture this important center of Viking trade. 1500 years after it was made and thousands of miles away, the Buddha continues to be a visual representation of the ability of humans to achieve some kind of peace. This Buddha is a conundrum,

The Helgo Buddha

 though, because this statue has traveled so far away from where it started. Like the heron who can spread its 7 foot wing span to find a better pond or stream and the weedy chicory that has hitched rides with humans to all ends of the earth, the Helgo Buddha has traveled but not lost it's stillness. My tarot card for the year is the Hermit, another character travels with stillness. This Hermit card came at the end of a spread full of winged hearts, this is the cups suit in my Fairy Tale Tarot deck. This suit is correlated with emotions, dreams and the moon and the winged heart itself is a Sufi symbol for unconditional love and devotion. My spread indicated that work must be done finding or giving support and unity in this realm before connection and healing can happen. Then those powers of love can be used to help others, fight for what is right and increase the true wealth of love in this world.

• 2014 will be green like old copper and healthy trees, grey like heron feathers, carved stones and a hermit-wizard's cloak, blue like summer skies and weedy chicory flowers. 
• 2014 will be a year of answering the phone with "What fresh hell is this?" and hoping it really is a new problem rather than the reheated boring problems I have seen before.
• 2014 will be a year of knowing what to keep and what to let go. It will be a year of cultivating Right Memory (seeing the patterns but facing the world fresh), of Right Heart (Finding new ways of love while releasing obsessive and painful habits) and Right Attention (now that I don't have to be perfect, I can be good). 
• 2014 will be a year of attending to my people, building patterns of connection and of swirling round and round with others who want to dance. It will be a time of building the world I want; don't just sit there, do something.

This last gwish is based on my Sabian symbol for 2014, Gemini 22: Dancing Couples Crowd the Barn in a Harvest Festival. The first part of my theme for this year is all about finding peace and joy in stillness, introspection and changing my own patterns of thought and feeling about the world. This symbol and gwish provide the other side of this coin, that of cultivating peace and joy through healthy connection with other people. My best friends and I are working out plans for a game night of sorts, an attempt to build our friend community back up into fruitful health, a project streaming directly out of my work at calling my allies last year. The allies have been called, now they need to connect with each other into a true caring community. This symbol brings to mind ceremonial times out of the daily grind of work to connect, enjoy and celebrate the turning of the seasons. In addition to our game night, I think this image is calling me to 

New Years Day 2014

find ways to connect in my church and school communities as well as rekindle my connection to the wheel of the year through blogging and celebrations. 

Many of my friends found 2013 to be an exceptionally challenging year. Some have much more painful horror stories from this year than I do but my year was hard. I was sick, I was heartbroken and I struggled a lot with uncovering truths about who I am and how I operate. I did have moments of pure bliss, wild adventures and times of deep connection. 2014 will be a year of more discernment, more stillness, more interesting problems and more dancing joyfully in the stream of the cosmos. I for one am looking forward to it. 

* Full text of Gemini 22: DANCING COUPLES CROWD THE BARN IN A HARVEST FESTIVAL

When achievements have been made and there is a sense of security and 'Harvest' in the air, it is time to celebrate with one another. There is a need to get back to a simple, conservative level of enjoyment. There's a sense of being in tune with seasonal rhythms. The feeling of a healthy heart and a healthy mind, while taking a break from the struggles of providing, can bring joy to everyone involved. See if you can take time out to celebrate and to enjoy your environment.

Celebrating the warmth and providence of the Earth. The joy of nature's harvest. Joining with others to celebrate. The reality of rhythmical or seasonal adjustments. Dancing. Barns and dance halls.

The Caution: Being the wallflower, not participating. Waiting for a special invitation rather than responding to the openness of the situation.

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New Milk Moon 2009: New Milk Moon

New Milk Moon 2010: Forty Two with a Seventy Percent Chance of Rain

New Milk Moon 2011: The Quaker Year

New Milk Moon 2012: Year of the Dragon

This post is a New Year's Gwishing post. Be sure to check out previous year's posts: 2011 Building a Better Teacher, 2012 Grabbing the Tiger By the Tail and 2013 Engaging My Superpowers, Calling My Allies. There are older and other New Years day posts under the label New Year.

Ramadan Heroes

The Fathers Moon

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My evening walk was lit by the new crescent moon of the month of Ramadan. All over the world Muslims are fasting from food, water and other sins like lying and thinking badly of others. I was thinking about everyone everywhere who is going without, either because they must or because it will make them better. Blessed Ramadan!

Like years past, I have been collecting and sharing stories about Muslim people and culture this Ramadan month. This year, in keeping with my theme of Claiming My Super Powers and Calling My Allies, I focused on Muslim heroes. I found some really interesting stories about people from all over the Muslim world and throughout time who embody the ideals of being a hero - being the best they can be in service of others. I hope you are as inspired as I have been.

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No list of Muslim heroes can start anywhere except with the prophet Muhammad. Muslims will all agree that Muhammad is a hero because he is the seal of the prophets, the last voice of god on earth. Islam, no matter what fundamentalists may do in it's name, is a religion of equality, justice and compassion. Muhammad was very clear that his followers should treat women fairly in matters of inheritance and daily life and that a percentage of all wealth should go to the poor. He was revered, even in his early life, for his trustworthiness in business and gentleness with children. Ramadan mubarak!

A Timeline of the Prophet Muhammad by PBS

An American Sufi take on the Prophet Muhammad as a Hero

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"What ever I know, I owe solely to my assiduous reading of books of the ancients, to my desire to understand them and to appropriate this science; then I have added the observation and experience of my whole life." Abu al-Quasim al-Zahrawi was a physician who lived and worked in Al-Andalus, the medieval Islamic civilization in Spain. His encyclopedia of medical knowledge was the first to describe many surgical techniques including delicate procedures to remove tonsils, extract bladder stones, using catgut for stitches and techniques to reduce mortality rate during childbirth. The Latin translations of his work, usually with the name Albucasis, were influential well into the modern age. He blended thorough study of ancient texts with scientific observation of patients and a deep respect for human life to change the face of medicine in the Western world forever. He is one heck of a Muslim hero.

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What do you call a 6'2" tall, 320lb Egyptian man competing at high levels in Japanese sumo? Osunaarashi, or “Great Sandstorm.” Abdel Rahman Ahmed Shaalan moved to Japan to be a world class sumo competitor two years ago and his dreams seem to be coming true. Following his authentic and quirky dreams makes him a hero in many ways, but his team mates and coaches are heroes too for adapting their ancient traditions to his Muslim faith. The traditional pork stew eaten by sumo wrestlers is made with chicken and fish for his team, and his coaches are helping him compete in a big tournament this month despite the fact that he is observing the Ramadan fast. Best of luck, Osunaarashi!


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"My aim is to show that those governments that violate the rights of people by invoking the name of Islam have been misusing Islam." In 1969 Shirin Ebadi became the first woman to become a judge in an Iranian court. She served as a judge in various courts in Tehran until the Islamic revolution in 1979 when she, along with all other women judges who had come after her, were made clerks in the courts they had previous presided over. She began writing about her opposition to these so called Islamic laws and when she regained her law license in 1992 she began representing disenfranchised women, children and other victims. Threats to her life sent her into exile but she continued working for human rights in Iran and in 2008 was awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize for her work. She has inspired growing human rights movements in Iran and continues to speak against the despotic government she says is using Islam against people. Ms. Ebadi's story shows me how even something we think of as monolithic like "Iran" has a past, a future and a diversity of ideas and values. She's a hero to me!

Dr Ebadi was once asked if she had a message for Muslim women. “Yes,” she replied. “Keep on fighting.” 


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In late 2009 Fatma Iktasari and Shabnam Kazimi dressed up as men and snuck into Tehran's Azadi stadium to cheer on their national team as they played a World Cup qualifying match. In Iran, women may watch women play in all women audiences, but are not allowed to watch men play. The movie Offsides showed a fictionalized account of just such an act of political dissidence but I couldn't find any news of what actually happened to Fatma and Shabnam. I hope they are safe and cheering on Iran as they head to the Brazil for the world cup next summer.

This is the best part: "The state—and especially many clerics—argue that soccer stadiums are no place for women because male soccer fans are crude and shout phrases that are offensive to the ears of gentle women. There are also concerns that women might be touched by men in the crowded mass of a stadium. " I whole heartedly agree... and that's the best part of being a soccer fan   

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Can you name a world queen fought and vanquished many foes to protect her homeland's economic and trade interests? Who never married but ruled under her own power for decades? Built earthen fortifications that protected her people and are still in use today? Earned the honorific "A woman as capable as a man"? Became the inspiration for Xena Warrior Princess? The correct answer is Queen Amina, a 16th century leader of the Islamic Hausa people of Northern Nigeria. Legends are still told of her today and multiple universities bear her name. She is a national hero in modern Nigeria and kinda kick-ass all around.

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On July 20th, 1969 the crew of the Apollo 11 became the first humans to walk on the moon. When Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was a 9 years old his father showed him a poster of Neil Armstrong to motivate the young Malaysian to literally reach for the stars. "He was a remarkable person who opened the pathway to space exploration" says the man who became the first Malaysian in space when he spent 11 days aboard the ISS in 2007. When people dismissed his dream of becoming an astronaut due to his nationality, he studied to become an orthopedic surgeon, knowing science was the key to space travel. While aboard the ISS he performed experiments on cancer cells, bacteria and lipid crystallization. Like so many astronauts, he saw the earth differently from space "Seeing how small and how tiny the Earth is from space made me realise that we are actually insignificant. There are millions and millions of galaxies out there, and it saddens me that people are killing each other and destroying the earth and killing the environment." He has spent the years since his spaceflight working to inspire young Asians to study science and space. "You must dream big, believe in yourself and be very vocal."

As a Muslim, Shukor's trip presented some challenges to the expectations that he pray towards Mecca five times a day, and that he fast during Ramadan (when the trip occurred). The Malaysian government convened a council to figure out what he should do and how he should do it. "During my time in space, I heard the azaan (Islamic call to prayer) and it was the most magical sound I've heard in my life." He added that "In space, you just feel closer to the Creator". 

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"I think Afghanistan is not a jungle, with lions everywhere to scare people. There are human beings living in this country. The people of Afghanistan are braver than the rest of the world." There are brave people everywhere but Sosan Firooz is one of the bravest I've heard of. The 23 year old Afghani woman raps about her beloved homeland and the tragedies her people have faced in recent years. It is very frowned upon in Afghani culture for women to sing, especially in western clothes and sans headscarf as Sosan does in her YouTube video and her uncle has cut ties with the family. Her father, however, acts as her secretary and bodyguard whenever she leaves the house. Her ultimate goal? To help her family out of poverty and see her country get back on its feet. I wish I were half so brave! Sosan is a hero of mine  

Watch the Upworthy video here!

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"It’s a good thing that we have people from all faiths and all cultures that come here. And we all support one Constitution, one Constitution that upholds our right to equal protection, one Constitution that guarantees us due process under the law, one Constitution which says that there is no religious test for elected office in America" said Keith Ellison when he became the first Muslim elected to the US Congress and made it clear that he would take his oath of office on a Koran rather than a Bible. In the years since he made that oath (on Jefferson's own Koran, no less) he has worked to protect the rights of Americans (staunchly pro-choice, active in credit reform legislation, support of American Muslims and environmental issues) and of people all over the world. He is one of the first congressmen to visit Gaza, has spoken openly against the war in Iraq and was arrested for publicly speaking out against the Sudanese government's actions in Darfur. Keith Ellison is an American Muslim hero who loves his country, works hard on progressive issues and believes in the values of tolerance and diversity.

Mr Ellison converted to Islam in college. "I can't claim that I was the most observant Catholic at the time [of my conversion]. I had begun to really look around and ask myself about the social circumstances of the country, issues of justice, issues of change. When I looked at my spiritual life, and I looked at what might inform social change, justice in society... I found Islam."

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"Anti-Semitism is only the lightning rod used to draw the people’s attention away from their real problems." wrote Dervis Korkut, the Muslim Bosniak curator of books at the Sarajevo library in 1941. He was writing a position paper to the Nazi puppet government set up after the invasion of Yugoslavia that year insisting that the native Muslim population had always embraced pluralism. During the ensuing occupation and fighting, Korkut lived this belief by risking his and his family's safety to protect Jewish treasures; the Sarajevo Haggadah and a woman named Mira Papo. Mira had escaped the round up of the Jews of Sarajevo spent months disguised as a Muslim servant in the Korkut household. The Haggadah, a book used in Passover services that originated in Spain in the 14th century, was demanded out of the museum by a Nazi officer and Korkut used wit and deception to smuggle it to safety in the mountains. Legend says it spent much of the rest of the war hidden under the floor boards of a small mosque. Korkuk spent six years in prison after the war on false charges of participating in a Muslim Fascist militia but testimony by his Jewish friends saved him from a death sentence. Standing up for the values of diversity and human dignity is one of the most heroic things I can think of a person doing.

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It might be said that almost all violence is caused by a lack of love. Ameena Matthews saw this when she made her own reputation as a young gang member in Chicago, driven there by poverty and violence in her own family, and she sees it now as a Violence Interrupter working with Ceasefire, a non profit in those same Chicago neighborhoods. Every day she steps into violent conflicts, “I get in and I stop the transmission of violence from one person to another. May it be through conversation, may it be through taking that person out of the conflict, maybe off the block, going to get them something to eat, and then talk about the conflict. And how to address it in a different manner so it won’t result in a homicide, so it won’t result into some jail time, so it won’t result into an innocent mother, baby sister being shot or killed." In other words, she loves them. Matthews' faith is a cornerstone of her life, giving her the strength to go out on the streets and love the young people so in need, to love her own children and family and to love herself enough to do this painful and difficult work. Her love isn't a gooey, saccharine kind, but a tough, demanding, expecting kind of love and she is a hero of mine. And she totally told off Stephen Colbert... how heroic!

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Some Hafiz for your Saturday: 
Out of a great need, 
we are holding hands and climbing. 
Not loving is letting go. 
Listen, 
the terrain around here 
is far too dangerous 
for that.

Hafiz is a 14th century Persian poet out of the Sufi tradition. His poems continue to be well known, memorized and recited throughout the world. Go, read more here.

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"I have decided that I am free, independent, self-reliant, and that no one can have control over my life and what I do. I am not going to allow anyone to bring me down or simply tell me that "I can't", because I can and I will, Just watch me! " says 23 year old Alaa Al-Eryani, a Yemeni who studied film and television in Malaysia before coming back to her home country to work with Save the Children. She is a staunch feminist who writes and works tirelessly to free herself and other women from societal norms that "teach us to not get harassed instead of teaching men not to harass us." She shines light on the plight of child brides, of women oppressed by their own expectations and the societal tragedy of failing to educate half the population. What makes Alaa a hero of mine is her positive spin on feminism and radical self determination. She insists that she will do what she wants, not that others should stop doing what they are doing. "I'm going to walk down the street and no matter how many men throw awful words at me, I won't care. I'm going to make my own decisions and choices without the permission of a man.... I am free, and I will fight for women's freedom until we are equal to men."

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No collection of Muslim Heroes would be complete without a nod to The 99, a group of comic book super heroes that are rooted in Islamic culture the way Superman and Batman are rooted in Western culture. The 99 gather their powers from ancient knowledge encapsulated in special noor stones and mirror the ninety nine attributes of Allah, including generosity, faithfulness, wisdom, and strength. The young people who find the stones are from all over the world and each learn to use their powers for good - the protection of others and promoting diversity and tolerance. The creator of the series, Naif Al-Mutawa, explicitly draws parallels between traditional superheroes fights against fascism in 20th century Europe and how The 99 preset role models for a fight against extremism in the 21st century. Check out the website, check out the preview video and see The 99 in action. They're pretty awesome.



Ramadan mubarak! 

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Read more! Read all my Father's Moon posts from late summers past, and check out all my writings on Ramadan, too.

Practicing Community

Mother's Moon

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This piece was written and presented as a "First Word" at my Quaker meeting. A First Word is a time to share with the community how god moves in your life so that we may more fully understand god's workings in the world. 

 

This is a topic I have been mulling over since at least last October (this post is what came out of those initial mullings) but between the time I agreed to give a First Word and the time I actually did get a chance to speak my life got turned pretty much on it's head. I contracted a serious bacterial infection in my ankle that landed me in the hospital for seven days, not walking for another week and still managing the physical and emotional recovery a month later. As I came through that trauma I realized I hadn't written out my thoughts and wondered if this was really what I wanted to speak about. I worried for a bit as I tried mightily to get thoughts to paper but then remembered - hey, I'm a Quaker. Words will come as words are meant to come. I got something down and trusted that the message that actually got shared would be the right message for the moment. 

What I present here is mostly "what I got down." I edited it lightly post ipso facto, but those of you who were in Meeting that morning will have to remember the sparkle as you saw it. 

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As much as we instant gratification, 21^st century technology natives hate to admit it, it turns out, you gotta practice to get good at something. I was on a kickball team last spring and we lost every game we played. We had fun, but no one got any better at kicking or catching because we never practiced. I failed calculus three times in college before I figured out that doing the homework was the way to go. It helped that that last teacher was easy on the eyes, but the real key to success was practicing the work every day. Anything we want to get better at requires practice, from Stephen King writing every morning to things like friendship and relationships. I watch kids practice relationship with every awkward embrace in a high school hallway and every timid “can I play?” at day camp. 

 

Edward Hick's Peaceable Kingdom

Here at West Hills we do a lot of practicing, too; practicing how to be a community. Living in community with other people is hard, way harder than kickball and so the practice is that much more intense. We practice living in community with each birthday song and potluck, every dinner group and play date. I see us practicing the harder work of being vulnerable with each sharing of genuine joy or deep scary concern and I see us practicing caring for each other with every word of support or note of condolence. As a Quaker community we have a whole special set of skills to practice, from listening inwardly and outwardly in Meetings for Worship to learning to see that of god in every person. We practice discernment together and practice waiting for ways to open to lead us to win-win-win solutions. These are important skills that, through developing and practicing here, we have the opportunity to share with other communities we belong to. 

 

All this practice has paid off in my life. In recent hard times I have felt both the comforting refuge of a caring community and applied skills practiced here to other communities I am a part of. When I was in those dark days of finishing a master’s in teaching program I felt the support coming from this community and wondered why my group of girlfriends wasn’t doing the same for me. When I realized that this community includes explicit times to share concerns and encourages each other explicitly to meet each other’s expressed needs I was able to help my friends know what I needed. They stepped up and we grew closer as a community.

 

Recent events have tested my ability to give and receive support from my community again. Being in the hospital was overwhelmingly difficult in many ways. I have gotten tangible, physical support from members of this community as well as a flood of prayers, well wishes and more cat videos than I can shake a stick at. More importantly, though, this community has been a place for me to practiced asking for and receiving and giving support of all kinds so that when I really needed it, I could figure out what to ask for and how to ask it.

 

West Hills Friends is a community of peacemakers

A trusting, genuine, loving community is a basic human need that is hard to come by in our time and place in history. Here at West Hills Friends we have a special jewel worth nurturing and learning from. We have done the practice, put in the work to develop a community that, through our trusting relationships with each other and with the Spirit, allows people to be vulnerable, ask for help, receive help and celebrate joys. We have fun with each other, we do hard work together and we take care of each other. It is a safe and caring refuge for each of us in a world that can be scary, painful or cold. But it is also a training field for us to learn and practice skills we can bring to our other communities, our families, our work places, our other groups of friends. Learning to listen, to wait, to explicitly ask for help and cheerfully give what help we can, to subvert the power hierarchies of the culture by valuing people and relationships. These skills that we practice here at West Hills can be applied in all aspects of our lives. 

 

We have a lot to offer the world here, and the only way to get good enough to get noticed is to keep practicing. 

 

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Note: The topic of this post does not have much to do with the Mother's Moon. It's really much more a Journey Moon or a Father's Moon topic. But the fact of the matter is it got written and spoken during the Mother's Moon so that's where it falls in the blog. Things are getting a bit wacky around here. To understand the Mother's Moon energies, check out past posts, please.

Mother's Moon 2012: Nothing but Good Can Come of This 

Mother's Moon 2011: Freedom, July and Krishna and the Gopis

Mother's Moon 2010: You Are the Mother's Beloved Child and Motherlove and Caring for the Environment

Mother's Moon 2009: Gifts from the Mother

 

Hedonism and Big Juicy Good

New Journey Moon

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God
and I have become
like two giant fat people living
in a tiny
boat.

We
keep bumping into
each other
and laughing
-Hafiz

I joke that I gave up vegetarianism after college to become a hedonist. Little did I know how fruitful of a spiritual path hedonism could actually become. Over the last year or so I have allowed myself to indulge in all manner of earthly pleasures gastronomic, aesthetic, carnal and ecological. To my surprise and delight, I have found that these joys are not a diversion from spiritual pursuits but have been a yellow brick road leading directly to the Divine Wow.

Ascetic traditions ask followers to rise above the sea of emotion and physical sensation that are a leading cause of suffering. “Suffering rises from attachment to impermanent things,” the Buddha says. Monks and seekers from traditions Eastern and Western have been encouraged to abstain from certain foods, intoxicating beverages, the entanglements of romantic relationships and even the sensual pleasures of art and music for fear that they will dull or distract the soul from its journey towards God With a Capital G. In my experience, the unencumbered mind can soar to intellectual heights in this kind of pursuit. But there’s not much laughing there. Or ice cream. Or roasted duck, champagne cocktails and two hour make out sessions. And honestly, who wants to live in a world or go to a heaven without those thing? 

Indeed, those things have not stopped or distracted me from my connection with The Eternal Bliss. As my focus shifted a few chakras down over the last year the realizations are no less real or even less abundant, they are just of a different kind. Just the other night, while lounging contentedly, I said to the gentleman sharing my bed, “The Buddhists say Namaste – the divine in me greets the divine in you. Right now I wish there were a word for ‘the loving in me greets the lover in you.’” But there are no words for that kind of thing, just a squeeze, a kiss, a smile and knowing that this is All Good. My experience mirrors that of the Sufi understanding that all love, all pleasure, is a practice run for the love and pleasure we find with God. 

The renunciate’s ideal of detachment offers one path to the Kingdom of Heaven where we hurt no more. Radically deep connection is another way. In nature there is individual tragedy – the mouse must die for the owl to survive – but the web of connection keeps the mouse, the owl, the Fir tree, the fungus and everything else in Harmony. Rather than floating above the waves of emotions and physical sensation that are the root of hurt, this body and connection based search for That Which Is Wonder, invites me to dive into the ocean of life. There is pain and grief there; water up your nose and sand in your shorts. Feeling certainly causes a lot more tears than thinking, but that can’t get in the way of experiencing Big Juicy Good. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said to me once. “Well, there’s heartbreak at the end of this no matter what,” I replied, “’tis the human condition. Let’s not be afraid of that, ok?” The only way to feel ocean currents on your skin, to feel your heart ready to burst at the beauty of an azalea bush the size of your bedroom, or to experience the pleasure of a salumi plate and a crisp pinot gris on a warm spring evening is to dive in rather than float above. At least get in the boat with us  :)

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Yes, it has been a long time since I've posted. My life has been very full of doing and not so full of writing. But I try. And so here is a piece I wrote recently that shares a little of what my life is like these days. Hope you enjoy it, but more than that, I hope you are enjoying your own journey.   

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New Journey Moon 2011: Perseus and the Journey Moon

New Journey Moon 2010: Journey Moon is New

New Journey Moon 2009: Journey Moon