Random notes to kick things off

Welcome everyone to the new TMC blog.
I'm going to start off with a few random notes to get things started and hopefully there will be something you would like to comment on.

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts at work lately. One that I keep coming back to is the Bill Moyers "Journal" podcast of August 31, 2007 when Robert Bly was a guest. Bill asked Bly to read this poem:

Think in ways you have never thought before.
If a phone rings think of it as carrying a message
larger than anything you have ever heard
vaster than a hundred lines of Yates
Think that someone may bring a bear to your door
maybe wounded or deranged.
And think that a moose has risen out of the lake
and he is carrying on his antlers a child of your own
whom you have never seen.
When someone knocks on the door
think that he is about to give you something large
tell you, you are forgiven.
Or that it is not necessary to work all the time.
Or that it has been decided that if you lie down no one will die.

The image of being forgiven by a stranger for things he may no nothing about touches a tender part of me. As a father of a 6 and 4 year old, I beat myself up at times regarding my behavior with the kids. The men in my support group play the role of that man at the door - ready to forgive me.

John Lee, of Flying Boy fame, has recently released a recording of his poetry accompanied by pianist Gary Powell. It is titled Thunderstorm in Mentone. I listened, via iTunes, to samples of a number of tracks. It is very accessible. 'Conversational' seems like an appropriate description. There is something about John's gravely voice that is very soothing for me. Here is a snippet of "Holding On":

what holds on to me in winter
a poker perhaps to poke
to stir the fire
a pen that turns empty white paper
into a prayer for some company
every morning I sit down by the fire
I see the poker by my hand
the pen on the table
and outside, ...

and "Letters":

your eyes spoke your desire
and your scent said what my whole life longed for
as we lay there in half darkness
I understood prayer in a way I never had before

Speaking of John Lee, he will be celebrating the 15th annual Menton Men's Gathering this year on November 7 - 9 in Mentone Alabama. I went to this event in 2006. It was unforgettable. This year it will be Robert Bly, Malidoma Somé, PhD, River Guergerian and Vijay Director. The cost is $325. That is steep for most (I know it is for me), but the memories I have of it are motivating me to start saving. It fills up quick so you would want to register by around September. Here is a picture from 2006 of John Lee, Bly and Robert Moore.



That's it for now. See you all in cyberspace. Be well.
Ethan