Moving quickly to the end Kuàzi in Chinese. Hashi in Japanese. We say chopsticks. I love following the words, characters and meanings. Somewhere in this 4,000 year eating utensil history, the characters suggested “quick” and “bamboo”. No Zhongwen scholar, I’ll leave that to others. I like to eat slowly, but I still call my kuàzi … [read more]
Narrative
Tilt
Happy 23.5 degree Axial Tilt Day! Up here we refer to this as “summer solstice”. My friends in the south call this “winter solstice”. In Ecuador, Singapore or Nairobi, I suppose it is Tuesday. In Colorado and elsewhere, we are as tilted toward the Sun as we get. Then we start to slingshot back the … [read more]
Father’s Day
I learned to drive a manual transmission at twelve or thirteen years old, maybe fourteen, out in the Washington desert with my old man, in a car exactly like this. Usually as the sun set over the channeled scablands of the Columbia Basin. Usually Dad had a tall vodka with ice, neat between his knees. … [read more]
Covid Dharma
Covid Dharma 23 January, 2021 I do my best to toe the line in these covid days. So I rarely start the car, rarely drive the twelve minutes down the 1,700 feet and six miles to people, conversation, culture, comida Mexicana, and gas stations. But I went for a haircut today, fantasized showing up in … [read more]
Avian Mishegoss
Avian Mishegoss Before dawn, sitting in the dark, all the zendo windows are open and the air moves gently, a perfect temperature for me in a Golden State Warriors t-shirt, breezes dry and savory with the smells of crisping wildflowers and high mountain grasses. As if on cue, a hundred crows, jays, woodpeckers … [read more]
Sun Ra on a hot summer day
Sun Ra on a Hot Summer Day It’s a languid, Sun Ra sort of afternoon, memories peek out from the shadows, thoughts soft and ill-formed. “Really, is that true?” I am left with, “I don’t believe I know.” We have thirty air conditioners for these hot days and they all open. Proper interior temperature management … [read more]
