Kindness doesn’t need to deceive anyone

Kindness doesn’t need to deceive anyone, and deception isn’t kind. Move through this day with your heart and your eyes open. Move through the light with the blessings of the light. There is no other day, no other moment.

James

10 Oct 2019

19 Jan 2020

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My wife and her high school girlfriends, class of 1967

My wife and her high school girlfriends, class of 1967, frequently gather as they all turn 70. Their love for each other is a warm wind across the sand, a sunny morning. Yesterday I told them, “You all get lovelier every year,” and I could tell they thought I was being silly or flirtatious.  I wasn’t. Truly, each of them is beautiful. Golden. A warm breeze across the sand. A sunny morning. Time is merely the jewelry that adorns them.

-for The Elites

James

19 Jan 2020

oktu

They said that the wind would come today, son.

They said that the wind would come today, son. It didn’t, but that’s alright. I have my grief and your ghost to keep me company. Who needs the wind?

James
09 Oct 2019
19 Jan 2020

That I might I always remember to be grateful

That I might I always remember to be grateful, and to show my gratitude.

That I might I always remember to seek out the good when bad things happen, and to be grateful for those things.

That I might always remember to seek out the good that I can do myself.

James
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Another foggy morning. See the wisps

Another foggy morning. See the wisps float over the cold and empty field.

James
18 Jan 2019
oktu

A thick fog lays across the farmlands of the valley

A thick fog lays across the farmlands of the valley, heavy and low to the ground. It might last all day long. Sometimes the only sunshine you have is there in your heart. You just have to let it shine. 

James

17 Jan 2020
oktu

Now it is here, a time of balance.

Now it is here, a time of balance.
My life and my spirit.
What I believe and what I do.
How I live as a man.
There is a balance now
That was missing for so long.
I am warmed by the sun
And the sun is loved by me.
Growing old isn’t bad at all.

James
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A bird sings. A lion hunts.

A bird sings. A lion hunts. The earth, the solar system, the universe - they're all in constant motion. If you are looking for your path in life, you begin by walking.

James
07 Oct 2019
17 Jan 2020
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When I die, let me sleep in the rain that falls on the trees

When I die, let me sleep in the rain that falls on the trees, in the rain that falls on the ocean. Let me sleep easy in the wetness that brings life.

James
16 Jan 2020

oktu

The moon is just over half-fat, and waning.

The moon is just over half-fat, and waning. Not yet sunrise. The air tells me that a storm is on the way.

See my wife limp? Her ankle troubles her. And I also limp; my knees are shot. Time is catching up with us.

But still, life is beautiful, the earth is beautiful. See the dark streaks of color in the pre-dawn sky. See my wife’s sly smile.

James
16 Jan 2020
oktu

A body holds a heart.

A body holds a heart.
Growl now. Or bark.
Climb now, back into your animal, into its hide, its soul.
Feel your claws, your fangs.
Blood of an animal to drink to your future,
To pour on the bones of your angriest past,
The pleasure of your dated sins.
Free yourself now. Climb.
Rows and rows of beasts, companies and battalions,
Animals in formation like soldiers, an army of your devils,
Each one ready to gnaw, bite, claw, and fight.
They can kill you, yes, or else you must climb
Inside of the animal wearing your name.
We are creatures holding light the way a body holds a heart.
Growl now. Or bark.
You live in this terrible age that holds man prisoner.
Climb now, back into your animal, into its hide, its soul.
Don’t even turn to see what is behind you.

James
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It's this way. Listen.

It's this way. Listen.

I love. I don't have a reason for it, I just do.

The usual things, of course, my wife,

Our family, our friends. But that's not

All. I love yesterday, for both its joys

And its sorrows, both things have led me

To today. And I love letting yesterday go.

Why not? I don't need it anymore.

And I love today, and the breast of living.

Life rests on the sling of the moment, defined

By the love we invest in it, one second

At a time. I'll probably love tomorrow, too,

But why worry about that now? And other

Things—the noises birds make. Dogs

When they run for no reason, and the smell

Of fresh coffee right when it is brewed.

I love sunlight from behind a tall tree

And a saxophone playing sad and low,

Indeed, I love sad sounds very much.

I could go on, but I won't. A song

Just came on the radio and I... you know.

James
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We have slept on the colored stones

We have slept on the colored stones at the green

River’s edge since time itself first slept with those dreams

Of clouds and flying and the song of angels

Whose fingers are long and tanned from years

Under the golden light of the sun, so far away and true.

We have slept on the colored stones at the green

River’s edge and our own dreams are rich and painted

In bright colors of orange and green, dreams that have music

From another world where the plumage of peacocks and the footprints

Of woolly mammoths address our courage with favor.

We are a tribal people, masked, moving silently through the trees,

Our skin smeared with clay, and when we sleep

It is on the colored stones at the green river's edge,

And any one of us can go an entire lifetime

And never once reveal our name.

The colored stones at edge of the green river.

The colored stones at edge of the green river.

Birds that stop and listen as we pass by.

Creatures that pass us by as we sleep.

We have slept on the colored stones at the green

River’s edge.


James
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At day’s end we are blessed with darkness

At day’s end we are blessed with darkness,
At night’s end we are blessed with light.
All throughout this life we are blessed
With the truth of change.
Bless’d change.

James
04 Oct 2019
15 Jan 2020
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Why is a California Scrub Jay so far inland?

Why is a California Scrub Jay so far inland?
Sitting alone on a bare winter branch,
Singing out for a friend.

James
14 Jan 2020
oktu

We are tattooing dollar signs on the foreheads of the infants

We are tattooing dollar signs on the foreheads of the infants, and dicing up the elderly and the homeless to use as chum when we fish for more bankers and loan officers. 

On the crucifix that we use for only decoration we have replaced Jesus with paper money. 

These things happens daily.

Night will come, then dawn, right on time; we cannot prove it will happen, but it always does. 

Reward the wealthy for being wealthy and punish the poor for being poor. 

It's blood. Drink it. It's greed. Worship it. Aren't we tired of this yet? 

War for profit. Jails for profit. Has it come to this - living and dying for someone's profit? 

Friend, it's only a goddamn brass ring; why even try to grab it? Pass it by, pass it by. It is nothing.

James

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