Branching
When a branch falls in the forest, these days, we wonder about the ill will that stirred the wind.
“All hands on deck,” “we need everyone to help.” “The trees are old, my mother is old, my tired worn-out lament is old.”
Big branches down in the front yard after the storm.
Remember in our early times, when someone thought the luxurious thought: Do you make a noise if no one is listening to you?
Quickly, we tumble into an autistic fumble…
. what do we need to hear these days? What is our beautiful earth telling us? How do we go forth from here?
there is a small gathering__ our neighbours survey the situation.
bev, angie, marilyn, richard, joie and me.
“it is a large branch. I think james could use the chainsaw to chop it up. joie, go see if he will do that.”
“The town services might do it, too,” a voice chimes in.
“Third time lucky,” commiseration about the sports car being missed, and other near misses that have recently happened. “The earth is pissed off. These storms....
What are we now living through? Is there any safety? Can we hold hands and die together? How do we go sideways into the originality of it all?”
These are thoughts that swirl around like dry leaves in the fall.
The thoughts live inside of us and outside of us.
I don’t know who owns them anymore.
People fly and gather
Budapest Austin Acton Minnesota Street…..
There are collections:
birds of a feather
length before strength.
sorting and waiting….
My mother opens and closes her mouth
like the newly born blue birds in the nest.
She sits in the liminal staying hydrated and helpless.
I watch the birds the eggs the hatchlings. There is a camera so an intimate view is possible. The eggs hatch, the baby birds open and close mouths, the man-bird brings the tick or spider--the bug. The mother-bird relays it to the babies. Life goes forth.
The exquisite monotony of this life, makes the branch a reason to gather around, to introduce each other. Maybe we will be able to help each other if we need to do so, in a nearby day. The chainsaw works. A partial clean up winds up and down. More to be done.