What an amazing weekend at the 16th annual Mentone Mens’ Gathering.
We discussed many things. One issue that came up numerous times is elegant endings as this was the last Mentone conference.

John Lee did a great job helping us feel instead of just think during the weekend. John’s opinion is that movement creates emotion. We did a few different exercises to help us move and feel.

Doug Von Koss was amazing as usual leading us in song. Singing with a group, feeling the vibration is causes, hollering the words, has always been a great joy of mine. A simple chant of “we will remember” helped me to get out of my head and into my heart with my feelings about this change at Mentone and with Robert Bly.

Jeffery Duvall has a way of creating a safe container that is rare. My thanks to him for helping us to move in the direction we needed even if that was not comfortable.

Robert Bly is such a force in this world. He read many new pieces that were striking. Something seemed different about many of them. It is difficult to explain. There was a plainness, bluntness, a sense of strength. He was funny as usual. He made comments about tits, he was a smart ass with John, a couple times he said he didn’t believe something he had written.

Here is something I wrote inspired by the weekend.

Movement Creates Emotion

Squeeze my fingers and see if
the snaggle toothed demon will come out to play.
Or perhaps the time has arrived for your angel
to step from the shadow of shame
and bless you.
Stand up, take the arm of a man
you do not know and walk in the sunshine.
The piercing siren of fear will only
Grow quiet in the face of courage.
What passes between mens’ arms
could make it all the way to
the molten place at the core.
Then there will be no end to the tears.