Saturday, December 13, 2008

ln a cottonwood

Snow and ice on ladder steps is forcing me to the ground.  It's still not cold while sleeping thanks to Farmers sleeping bag.  

I met a man in New York who liked to sleep on construction site scaffolding, no one looked up, the cottonwood affords the same conspicuous hiding.

he had to get down before work crews arrived, I just like to avoid neighbors .

but what is better then getting above it all and sleeping.

1 comment:

lu said...

~In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line.~ Henry David Thoreau

Do you find this life is blessed and cursed; so highly charged and evocative.

Tell me where I go wrong:

Society falls in love with the likes of you; they want to follow, to gather on the strengths and skim bits of confidence and courage from you, they want pieces of you to buoy them. Much of what society gives in return is heavy and threatens to draw you down or anchor you.

Society admires your moxie.
Society fears your moxie.
Do you evoke Skepticism and fear that in rejecting the trappings you must be trying to undermine or destroy, the trappings.

Living in a cottonwood, above it all, with society underneath wondering why you feel you must rise above--intimidating. In a competitive world do competitors think you are casting judgment, taunting and testing?

People fall in love with you, with the romance, the abandon...at the same time they fear you, for you will surely reject them as you've rejected the trappings of a world rooted in safety. You are dangerous, and compelling and wild.
Your unpredictable nature is attractive and thrilling and it requires risking heartbreak to love you.

I think of the transcendentalists and I think of stories of those who live on the fringes. We talk about this in my classes often when we read Whitman, Thoreau, and Krakauer. The kid’s reactions are all of the above. Most teachers avoid teaching this because they feel intimidated or simply don’t get it....
As for my reaction, I find it inspiring, and intimidating and I want to know more of what happens inside of your head.