Maui Folk

Nighttime reflection.  I wrote this at the end of March 2010.

Will I return to the island chain of Hawai'i?

I wish I could answer with certainty.

I wish I could speak through my teeth.

Are there enough stars for all the animal's wishes?

If we all ate a homemade pie a day - at least an hour of the twenty-four would satisfy.

I was skirting the question because I was scared and focusing on other matters.  Now that I'm back, I can take deep breaths, and enjoy this moment and be grateful for it.  Just as saying grace before a meal and acknowledging where your food comes from to retrieve greater nutritional value and flavor from it, I'm going to write about Maui folk to hopefully never take for granted how fortunate I am to have returned to the island.

--

Maui folk talk about intention and manifestation.  Stemming from a deep awareness and a conscious connection to the people and land.  Breathing the same air under the same sky, realizing a simple truth that the rest of the world hasn't fully grasped.  No longer using plastic bags, picking up people who are in need of a ride and  sharing a shaka with a complete stranger just cause the sun is shining on a warm winter day.

Maui folk spend time in the garden, each house grows a portion of their own food.  Swimming in clean water and knowing not to litter our land.  Experiencing instant karma so generally leaning towards doing good.  Seeing a sun set between two floating islands and knowing we are blessed.  Joining hands in small communities and sharing notions of sustainability.  

Maui folk sing songs of Haleakala and of the present, of the wind in the trees and the flowers near the sea.  Singing of places where trouble melts like lemon drop and fresh fruit grows on trees and flowers blooming like the most colorful page of a Dr. Seuss book.

Maui folk listen to the sound of a playful liloquoi releasing itself from vine to dry leaves, listening to crashing waves engaged in endless tug-of-war with the shore, to the ne'ne and the humpbacks, the chickens and the  ducks, the hula skirts and the wind.  Maui folk listen well, selflessly and harmoniously with all the others listening too.

--

I'm too happy to shut my heavy eyelids just yet. Contribute this mood to the incredible past week I've had in Hana and Kula, the super satiated belly filled with yum-tum fresh meals (opaka, mahi, ahi, pesto/mozzarella/lentils/tomatoes crepes, fruit smoothies, garden salads), and the nighttime which allows for tender and lucid reflection.   Especially grateful for all the people I've met and shared great memories with.  I hope we've crossed paths at the right times and now find ourselves heading in unforeseeable and exciting adventures.  I hope I've effected you in some way, because I know every single one of you has effected me.  

--

mana

the sun falls

then rises

the moon wanes

then waxes

the stars blink

then you blink

one moment passes

and then another

this time

you feel the blood

pump

from brain to spine

to the edge of your toes

mana

pumps through you

evoking and evolving

like a half spun web

of a drunken spider

spinning her silk

connecting the stars

--

of the moment:

book.  sometimes a great notion (kesey).  lamb (moore).

movie. brothers bloom. leaves of grass.

short film.  night and day (pixar).  i'm here (jonze).

short story. a clean and well lighted place (hemingway). us and them (sedaris)

theory.  occam's razor.

stimulation.  permaculture.

quote.  "receive with simplicity everything that happens to you"