A Vision of Ganesha in Green Not Always Just Virginia

I don’t want to be a man anymore

I want to be a silvery freak

A grayish freak, a bluish freak

A dancing freak made of silvery stuff

Not quite a man, not quite a man

But an elephant man with prehensile nose

And long, long loopy flopping arms

And jigging legs that enlace the air

And a nose that taps the dappled air

And eyes that unpeel the tender air

And skin that swings through the mighty air

And toes that graze the grassy air.

From a sordid bus, I saw such a man.

On a dew-intense hillside, he did his turn.

Upside down and right side up,

He swung his skin through the shadow and light

And his thick toes grazed the airy grass

And he swung his skin through the mighty air.

Loosely, elegantly, he sang in my head:

“The poor aren’t good

The poor aren’t bad

The poor aren’t smart

The poor aren’t dumb

The poor aren’t dirt

The poor aren’t god

The poor aren’t wrong

The poor aren’t right--

They’re just the poor,

Like you and me

They’re just the poor

Like you and me.”

© Stephen Margulies, 2013

Art by Stephen Margulies

The Weaver

Filaments of red and black

pulled by small, quick fingers -

this is the way my mother did it,

building a pattern

piece by woven piece.

A blanket for the back

of a tired horse,

or a tired child -

on a long Winter walk to Santa Fe -

is now an area rug

in a coffee shop

in Carson City.

© Scott Stark, 2013

19th century Navajo blanket
downloaded from "Indian Blankets and Their Makers"
by George Wharton James (1914)
from Wikimedia Images

Technology

    The gadget in my hand is a dear friend.

With it I can text and call anyone at almost anytime anywhere.
I can take and send pictures in a flash. I can check emails or
surf the web. I can listen to music or watch a movie or read a
book. I can buy and sell things. I can poke anyone.

    The gadget in my hand is a dread foe.

With it on my ear, my brain imbues the waves and mutates. In
my hand as I drive, I take a difficult and challenging task and
double the complexity, turning the vehicle into a menace. I can
ignore my wife, my parents, my kids, my friends by hunting and
pecking all the day long.

Screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens!

     The gadget in my hand is a sticky magnet.

With it, I can be followed as I wander my meandering path through
the city. As I troll the web, lingering on this or that, I can be
recorded. As I buy things, they take careful note of everything.

     The gadget in my hand is a high-story elevator.

With it, the public schools replete with tablets and smart-boards
launch classrooms into the twenty-first century. The tech gap
crushed and equal education for all. Maybe,  perhaps, I hope.

     The gadget in my hand is an open window.

With it, I can be scrutinized, analyzed, defined, invaded, dissected,
cored, correlated, and vivisected. With it, I am the body on the
slab in the cop show, carefully rendered to give answers.

Screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens!

     The gadget in my hand is a gas pump with a lighter.

With it, I can flare the greatest explosion and bonfire ever seen.
With this program and that, my creativity can know no bounds.
The knowledge at my fingertips is quite literally endless.

     The gadget in my hand is a soaked blanket.

With it, I can stare at episode after episode of old reruns. I can
play 'Doom' until dawn, shooting and maiming thousands of digital
people. I can watch bodies of all types writhe and contort.

Screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens!

The gadget in my hand is no yoyo, it’s not a rubber ball, and
                               ain’t no thimble.

The gadget in my hand is a boomerang,
                                                          whirling through the air,
                                   three centuries of engineering behind it.

You should be ready to duck…

© Byron Harris, 2013

Texting While at the Wheel
Photo by Oregon Dept. of Transportation
from Wikimedia Commons

Because

I ask myself why do I smile? …

Because I can

Because I have teeth

Because I have straight teeth

Because I want to

Because it feels good

Because people smile back

Because people need to see light in this world

Because I have love to share and compassion in my heart

Because I have a family and friends

I smile because people need to know it still exists

Because of every beginning and every end

Because I have food and clean water

Because of laughter and wonder

Because I haven’t been scarred enough not to

Because I can go to college

Because I can speak my opinion

Because I know sadness and pain just like everyone else—no one is truly alone

Because I’m not afraid to

Because I’m still here

Because I can walk

I smile because blue and yellow make green

Because I can speak without words

Because it encourages positive energy

Because I have two cats that love me

Because I have warm blankets to hold me

Because I have a mother and sister who are still here with me

Because I have hope for this world

Because there still is hope for this world

Because I have seen kindness from strangers

Because strangers become friends

Because I can read

I smile because I love myself—even my faults

Because my short comings turn into learning experiences

Because I can express myself

Because I have good eyesight

Because I can listen to music

Because I love Mother Nature and the beauty of her creations

Because humans are capable of loving and crying, of happiness and sadness

Because I have a bed to sleep in

Because I have a house to shelter me and a home to care for

Because I have clothes and shoes to keep me dry when it rains and warm when it snows

Because I have enough money to live

I smile because of mourning doves and morning dew on morning glories

Because it’s sunny outside

Because it’s raining like cats and dogs

Because I love to smile

Because of the comfort a hug brings

Because of friendship’s warm embrace

Because of wooden ships on salty seas

Because of laughter in a child’s eyes

Because hardships can be blessings in disguise

Because of the simple beauty of a snowflake

Because my life is mine to make

Because I can dance to the drum of my beating heart

Because of the yellow dandelions and meadow larks

Because I am here for a reason

Because I have heard love’s encouraging song

Because two rights might make a wrong

I smile because I am a Leader of Light, a Believer in Love, a Follower of Change, and a Dreamer of Peace

Because of the delicate dance of butterflies

Because of red stars, rainbows, and bow ties

Because there is truth in silence and in serving others

Because there is healing in sharing and understanding

Because of the pain that comes with learning life’s lessons

Because every season change and every sunny rain are one of the same

Because tears bring raindrops of forgiveness

Because without darkness there is no light

Because with knowledge comes understanding and change

Because I hope you will smile too

© Flora Lark Baily, 2013

Dancing butterflies
Photo by Tony Russell

Seasonal Haiku

1

Hurricane season---

waves rear up like wild horses,

the wind goes crazy.

2

Summer is ending.

The first few leaves turn yellow---

at night the air cools. 

3

The days grow shorter...

at night the stars seem brighter...

morning mist lingers.

4

Halloween tonight...

children hiding behind masks,

Ancient Ones watching.

5

Pumpkins with faces

carved to keep away evil,

fire in their eyes.

6

Early November...

sun sleeps on the forest floor

blanketed in leaves.

© Jean Sampson, 2013

Ancient Ones Watching
Photo by Tony Russell