Do Not Be Ashamed. - Wendell Berry.
You will be walking some night in the comfortable dark of your yard and suddenly a great light will shine round about you, and behind you will be a wall you never saw before.
It will be clear to you suddenly that you were about to escape, and that you are guilty:`You misread the complex instructions, you are not a member, you lost your card
or,
Never had one.
And you will know that they have been there all along,
their eyes on your letters and books, their hands in your pockets,
and ears wired to your bed [snoops on your computer @ Open Salon] .
Though you have done Nothing Shameful, they will want you to feel ashamed. They will want you to kneel and weep and say you are ashamed, reading the pages they hold out to you.
They will no longer need to pursue you.
You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.
They will not forgive you. There is no power against them.
It is only candor that is aloof from them, only a inward clarity,
unashamed,
they cannot reach.
Be ready
When their light has picked you out and their questions are asked,
say to them:`
"I am not ashamed."
A sure horizon will come around you.
The heron will begin the evening flight from the hilltop. - Wendell Berry.
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Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
creamy butter, blueberry
jam. a song in your heart
I made blueberry pancakes for dinner last night.
I am past being ashamed... I think I've sash-shayed over to indifference... I'm not sure which is worse.
You know you're doing well when they ask if you're gay.
And you say Why? Were you looking for a date?
Or call you a cocksucker.
And you reply Yup if you see someone who's got one let me know.
They always want to see your fear.
They need to see you fear.
Because they can't stand thinking
that they are the only ones with that demon inside.
My only shame is in not being able to say- YOU BET I AM- just a little sooner.
I wish we had more time. We could window shop and gaze.
We could wonder why mannequins have nipples in a window.
Thank you very much. If I could only window gaze more I would.
I,ve humans in the animated flesh best. W could be silent. admire.
I wish there was more time to be casual. Familiar. Social. Friends.
it was that way before? correct. reproof?
a disagreement was civil. We can learn?
ky4ensicgirl.
I agree? I am not a big fan of a- My favorite?
I spend less time @ Open Salon. I go to Feed?
I'll read the active Feed. I can't find more time?
I thing a Mule in the field can inspire a Thought?
`
Your comment has me thinking. None have the only truth and last word. I worked with a drinker carpenter for awhile. He could walk up a ladder with a beer in one hand and a pneumatic brad gun to nail boards on a house. The ladder was tilted, but the scaffolding makes me dizzy when I'm sober. I cling on to the iron bars. If on a home roof, I notice my knees wobbling. The point?
This skilled woodworker and carpenter amazed!
He say:`You know the folk who live in that mansion?
He's say:`Crooks. They get the non-profit stolen money.
(501 C- 3's?)
They are miserable. Not honest. Honest humans No live like that.
The hand rails are mahogany. The rails to upstairs cost more than your house. The plug falls out from the dryer and they have to call the electrician. They don't even know what a female socket is. They don't know where the electrical breaker box is located. They never smile with a sincere smile. They think all workers are planning to cheat them because the have robbed every other person they can.
on and on. He was a `Nam veteran who never asked the Veterans Administration to review a old DENIED VA claim for war trauma.
I listened to his childhood stories about a Father who would be on the road behind a 18- wheeler. On short trips, if his Father, who loved him dearly, stopped for a drink, they both would stay in a cheap motel to wash up for the ride home. The Rural carpenter knew how to drive a 18- wheel rig at 14- years old. On a few rare "emergency" occasions, he'd prop up a pillow and heehaw it home.
But, what a rural education this carpenter has! I learn wonderful Truths from him.
I can't out drink him.
He's happily married.
He married a neighbor.
Both are so entertaining.
O we talk, laughed, learn.
I learn so much from both.
Not everybody reads blogs.
Folks are very rural educated.
They No not know algebra books.
They know how to survive - if, if, if.
They are always there to help neighbors.
`
*
Mail Call. - Randall Jarrel
The letters always just evade the hand
One skates like a stone into a beam, falls like a bird.
Surely the past from from which the letters rise
Is waiting in the future, past the graves?
The soldiers are haunted by their lives.
`
Their claims upon their kind are paid in paper
That establishes a presence, like a smell.
In letters and dreams they see the world.
They are waiting and the years contract
To a empty hand, to one unuttered sound-
The soldier simply wishes for his name. 1969.
-
Please know I read and often give a gentle bow.
I really thing/know I love ... bow wow ... moo cow.
Oh Penrose.
Your breath ...
Did I get a whiff?
Pleasant. In dreams...
etc., Please know I do?
I fear I get silly mushy!