Solomon & Buddha Discuss Meaning in Haiku with One Extra Word

Solomon’s lament
forever spins forever
blissfully Being

Prince Gautama’s joy
forever spins forever
painfully and Again

salt seeks not meaning,
even green leaves fall earthward
never wondering

absolute, unbound,
unfollowed, unsought, laughing;
as eyes close, all ends

BLOOMING! – WinterBunny

From Language to Identity

You begin your life with an identity that is inscribed upon you by the outside world, by the hospital you are born in, and by the rules of the state who oversees the issuance of your legal certification as a new being in the world. These labels of identity; gender assignment, race, nationality, age are external identity markers, they are made by other people, not by that brand new baby brain beneath your fontenelles. They continue throughout your life to be external identity markers. As you grow, developing your own personal identity, you envelope those external markers and their societal definitions within yourself.

A tree can envelope and absorb an object next to which it grows. But, like the tree, the external object remains always external, it is not a part of the tree, even though it may be inside the tree.

He Used Faggot Like Punctuation

The little man wanted the job; he needed the job, so he went to take the drug test. He walked into the office, a cramped, dark walled, tiny room with disheveled desk catawampus across the interior wall, papers in piles around an antiquated beige computer screen. Old hunting and fishing magazines cluttered a small, fake leather sofa and all was surrounded by towering book cases filled with detritus. In the muddle a gruff, gray-haired fat man in a fishing t-shirt and khaki pants looked shocked when the little man walked in the door. “I’m here to take a test for a job”

“Uh, go wait in the hall.”

From the hallway the little man watched the fat man staring at a Facebook wall which he continued to do for several long minutes. Finally the fat man walked out of the room with a form, and a plastic cup in a beefy, chapped left hand.

“Follow me.” He said as he walked around the corner into the office block’s common break room. Two small plastic chairs sat at opposite ends of a small folding table in the cramped little room. “Sit down,” the fat man said as he walked out of the room leaving the little man standing there looking at the form and cup.

In his own head, the little man kept telling himself how bad he wanted the job. He took the seat facing the door by habit. He began to read the form, reading a thing before he signed was also his habit.

The fat man re-entered the room, “Get up, sit there.” He said pointing to the other chair, on the other side of the tiny table, just 3 feet across the tiny room, just three feet to the other side of the fat man’s sweaty girth.

He got up and walked to the other side of the table as he was told, he sat down in the other seat with his back to the door as he was told.

“So what job are you trying to get?” asked the fat man.

“It’s a part-time job at the Library,” replied the little man.

“You don’t look like a librarian.”

“I’m not, it’s a part-time job. They only need one librarian.”

The fat man asked about the little man’s relatives, “Are you related to those Shield boys on Clayton road?”

“No my Shield’s are from St. Louis.”

The fat man said “that’s a long way away.” He asked other questions about the man’s family and then asked if the little man had gone to school to be a librarian.

“No, you don’t need to be a librarian for a part-time job at the library.”

“What other jobs have you had?”

“I’ve worked in surgical scheduling, and as an assistant at a dot-com, and a bunch of other stuff.”

“Where you from?”

The little man said he was from that very tiny town, born and raised, but had lived in New York for a while.

“So you’re from New York, huh?” the fat man breathed.

“No I’m from here.” repeated the little man.

“Sign this form” was the abrupt response.

“I can’t sign that form yet, it says right here…,’ he pointed at a line on the form ‘that I have witnessed the container being sealed. Since the container hasn’t been sealed I can’t sign the form yet, I must sign it afterward.”

At this the fat man’s face turned purple with a rage! “I’m not gonna let you take the test unless you sign this form right now.” He bellowed.

The little man explained again that as the form read, he was to sign afterward.

“ I’ve been a cop in this town for 15 years, don’t you tell me how to do my job!’ slipping ‘faggot” in, under his breath, like punctuation. Again the fat man threatened, “I’ll report your attitude to the Mayor, and I’ll make sure you never get that job! I know why you ain’t got no job now!” he said, through his spittle.

The little man could feel the drops of rage and hatred landing on his neck like little wet bombs as he left the tiny room. He could hear the voices reaching out from the schoolyard of his youth. He remembered the white-hot grass-fire of rage that swept over him in those days, but now that fire was a compact, dark sun whistling through the tall chimney of his will. That fire was a furnace now and he knew how to use it to fashion the tools of revolution.

The last thing he heard as he made it to the exit was “Fucking Queer…” a grumble drifting down the thin dark corridors of the little dark offices in the tiny town where the little man had come to change the world; the world he was now sure he could change.

Googlie-Eyed Heifer Wins America’s Top Model

Just a couple of pictures of a charming and curious heifer.

I didn’t notice how googlie-eyed she was until I looked at her picture. If there was a prize for most talented and beautiful heifer in Escambia County I would choose her.

Twin DIY Kiddie Pool Water Gardens

I did a quick water garden project this past week with some wonderful results. A client asked me if I could help her get ready for a garden club visit in a couple of weeks. She has a large water garden but her plants have outgrown it over the years so she’s taken to filling kiddie pools with the cuttings. When the local garden club asked her to tour the garden she wanted to get rid of the unsightly pools, but not the plants. I suggested we dig the pools in and use spare slate stones from the original pond with some pieces of driftwood from the creek for the finish. I think the expansion proved quite beautiful and it didn’t cost her a dime in new materials.

My apologies for the bad picture quality, but I only have my crappy cell phone camera to work with.

Aren’t They Just Like Sisters

I went to visit Udder Chaos Farm in Milton Florida on September 11th. A few night before I had seen an ad on Craigslist for a beautiful Nubian doe named Lil-Bit with similar markings and colorings to Phil & Lil. I knew when I saw her picture that she would be coming to live with me and after I spoke with her keep, Allison, I was even more sure, so I packed up the kennel carrier in my truck and headed off to Milton to pay a visit to the farm. Udder Chaos is a mixed breed goat ranch and a small batch dairy that sells goat milk soaps online. Allison also told me she would work with me to breed Lil this fall which would be awesome! We still have to hammer out the details though, but when we do I will let y’all know and we can experience honey-mooning, pregnancy, kidding, and milking together!

Phil & Lil took a little while to get used to Lil-Bit and there has been some butting heads and some pushing and shoving, especially at dinner time. Phil is much more aggressive than Lil, as Lil was already dominate over Phil I think he is competing with Lil-Bit for 2nd spot now. As Phil is 3 times as big as Lil-Bit I think he’s gonna be second goat on the totem pole for now, but Lil-Bit has a lot of growing to do.

Take a look at the eye markings on Lil and Lil-Bit, don’t they look like they could be sisters. The top is Lil, the bottom is Lil-Bit.

All Hail the Roselle!

I’m sure I thought about writing about this experimental plant back at the beginning of summer, maybe I did write about it, maybe it’s redundant, but I don’t care! I love this plant!

Oh my, behold the favorical, magickal, medicinal, deliciousal, herbacious, heat loving hibiscus known as Thai Roselle, Jamaica Sorrel or Hibiscus sabdariffa. I’ve watched this stuff grow in my garden all summer anxiously waiting to see what it would do. Well, it’s doing it NOW. I harvested some tops today to sample and squeeeeee!!!!! Muy Delicioso! I made an herbal iced tea with the flower calyces; steeped them for about an hour then added sugar to taste, it’s an extremely refreshing, light tea with a berry note with a very mild hint at a sassafrassiness. Then I prepared a simple green dish for lunch out of the leaves.

This plant is amazing people! It’s used all over the world for a variety of medicines, its woody stems are made into rope fiber, its flowers are made into herbal tea, and it’s greens are a deliciously sour, fruity, greeny tasting pile of YUM. I took about 2 cups of green leaves, 3 small cloves of garlic, 1 seeded cayenne chili pepper and about 1/2 a tablespoon of sugar and lightly tossed it all in olive oil on high heat for about 45 seconds. Sooooo Good! Next time I’m gonna try it with tiger prawns, fish sauce, galangal, and a handful of ground peanuts.

If you haven’t tried this stuff, go find some! YUM! Happy Sunday Dinning Y’all!