Awakening from a Slump or Back on Island Time

This blog post is drawing from past and present moods,  All converging into this stream-of-consciousness piece entitled- 'Awakening from a Slump or Back On Island Time' With various excerpts that I've written in different places splashed throughout the piece.  I feel like I'm introducing this 'experimental form of writing' as the off screen narrator of Fantasia did before each song.

"After the kiss from whom he will never know, the lieutenant, going home, touches a bush in which birds are singing." - Dean Young

Hitchhiked around the least visited south coastal highway of Maui from Kula to Hana, my present home to past, this last with week with Sarah Beth (new wwoofer through Pearland, Texas - Maui and her inhabitants are lucky to have you here!). Every second of the trip was special, from each memorable ride, to the nights under the stars and conversations with old hawaiians about alcoholic pigs and daredevil cyclists, the red sand beach with turquoise water, the hippies harvesting and dishing out fresh coconut water, and the lush life bursting out of every leaf and person along the Hana Highway.

If the destination is unknown

 time slows down

but if you know where you want to go to

you try to get there quicker

On Maui, you'll frequently overhear the expression that someone is functioning on Maui Time.  Even the roosters cross the street at a slower rate.  Time is more lethargic here without the presence of hurrying from one place to the next as a way to enjoy the present.  The idea is not to miss anything, and take life in at full value.  The wave to a stranger can turn into an hour long conversation, a night lying awake holding hands on a beach, or a spankin' new undetermined future.  If you're staring at your feet afraid to stick out your thumb, you can miss a world of opportunity, beauty, and good fortune.  When I'm on island time, I'm in my element.  I'm capable of working everything out at my own pace and frame my life with a positive light. I can appreciate the birdsong, the wet rustling grass beneath my bare feet in the morning, and I can sense the hum lingering deep within nature's silence.  A Dew Drop.  Tick Tock.

"Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

I wrote this song today to the tune of Norweigan Wood by the Beatles.

Permaculture (this Seed has Flown)

there once was a man, who found some land, now called maui

there he started a farm, isnt it good, permaculture

he asked us to stay and told us to plant a tree anywhere

met the other wwoofers - they've all got dirty island hair

I set up a hammock, between palm trees, great ocean view

sara walked to the garden, harvested fresh greens, yummy smoothie

trade marks of the kitchen are quinoa mamasakay and bare feet

homemade kale chips fried plantains and guacamole make a tasty treat 

next I met a cat, thought of a girl, doing yoga

she sat very still, comfortably, in a toga

the food and the plants and the animals all share the sun

everyone and everything growing from zone four to zone one

and when i awoke, i was happy, at the rancho relaxzo

so i planted a seed, isn't it good, permaculture

if life is an ongoing stream of knowledge, 

and your feet are sensory receptors, it'd be nurturing and favorable to get them wet, and once you get a taste of fresh water, You'll find yourself wanting to immerse yourself for a swim.  And then play. Say the lily pads and fish represent the land and aesthetic beauty. Say the other bodies swimming with you are all teachers.  Say the ebb and flow of the water is the miracle, the shared experience, the breath of life.

a lesson learned from ken kesey, captain swimmer

god is a scammer, an imposter, a 'rule maker' and mighty inhibiter

told us that the old wino screaming into an echoing cliff 

will receive the same answer back

as an old man who spent his life in black suit and 

inverted noose wrapped around his neck

doing the same thing everyday.  

the answer comes from the empty cyclical sun

it rises and it sets and you get a day older.

if you want more, go read Marquez.

if you want less, you are wise.

lucid cold breath in the windchilled night

having one of those nights

the one where the silence that engulfs you

beckons for a human touch

an emotion or impression that'll resist

the temptation to settle for color coordination

and simple cause and effect

cause nights like this transcend the moment

and leap fences and dig trenches into

ideas once ironclad in our memory systems

where matter howls at the moon

and mice floss their teeth with grass

and bedbugs sing

lying beneath a picnic blanket

the rifle scope points to the sky

aiming to blast empty space into oblivion

in hopes of implosion and the forming of nebuli

the creation of internal space

derived not from memory nor processed information

but from the will to live

to strive and survive

the circling of earth in chaotic form

in and out of arm's reach of grasping good and light

what a beautiful night

silent as a toad between breaths

draped with a floating red wind

the stars, crystals in an empty denim pocket

science is seeking the unknown variable

that reminds us we have to continue our

"course correction"

for our path is either destined to waver

or what's in store for us

ain't exactly what science concocted

it's instinct

of the moment

accomplishment:
thought about what makes kings and vagabonds leave the very best and got a Maui Cruiser

received food:
rum raisin vegan ice cream at Coconut Glen's in Upper Nahiku 

Veggie Pizza with Pesto Sauce, Goat Cheese, Roasted Peppers, Caramelized Onions, Arugula cooked on a Grill at Puleho's Pizza.

given food:
creamy avocado coconut dressing on green papaya salad.  

quinoa with mint, lemon, basil, green onion, curry, garlic.

pasta with bechamel sauce, steamed chard, pine nuts, garlic, chili peppers

book:
the passion (jeanette winterson) 

poem:
i am but a traveler in this land & know little of its ways (dean young)

creative outlet:
bamboo stick and banana leaf incense holder, maybe natural windchimes and a lean-to to come

song:
masterswarm (andrew bird)

movie:
le fableaux d'Ameline Poulaine (could you guess? ;-) )