Number thirty-four

Today the corresponding Tao Te Ching reading is #34:
The Great Tao flows everywhere, both to the left and to the right.
The ten thousand things depend upon it, it holds nothing back.
It fulfills its purpose silently and makes no claim.
It nourishes the ten thousand things,
And yet is not their lord.
It has no aim; it is very [...]

Do Not Ask Me - Pablo Neruda

 Oh how I love this poem. I very much identity with what he is talking about.
Do Not Ask Me
Some people ask me that human affairs
with names, surnames and laments
not be dealt with in the pages of my books,
not to give them space in my verses:
they say poetry died here,
some say I should not do it:
the [...]

Art is our weapon, our medicine, our voice, vision

Alixa and Naima are Climbing Poe Tree, incredible art activists. Check out their inspiring video.

They are the keynote at the upcoming Empowering Women of Color Conference at UC Berkeley on March 8.

Dropping keys

In yoga today Courtney shared this poem during shivasna.
the small man
builds cages for everyone
he knows.
While the sage,
who has to duck her head
when the moon is low,
keeps dropping keys all night long
for the beautiful rowdy prisoners.
- Hafiz
I really love this poem. To me it is about lifting up your fellow human to be the best they [...]

pieces of what you were thinking

a long and narrow fishing net to catch dreams of what may have been but got away,
strips of cloth from Tibetan Buddhist robes, blood red and sacred,
a bright white egg with a painted scene by an unknown artist,
words from a gray book on the poetics of space,
petals of roses, marigolds, lavender from gardens along the [...]