Poet Reading-5: Sit At Your Desk

In the spring of 1998 my creativity had dried up for a while...and I was suffering
through the malaise that comes with that...the "not doing what you came here to do" thing. It finally came to me...what I should do about it. I set my desk up...by a front window...facing the mountains. On it I put a blank pad of paper...pen...and my tape recorder ...with my my guitar placed within hand reach. Every day...I went to that place I had prepared...and the first thing I did...was gaze at the mountains...getting in touch with their power and presence. This centred me...and my hope was it would all get me into a receptive frame of being. I had for a long time...known...that you can't expect "the wild bird of creativity"...to come at your beck and call...but that it was something that you respected...and gave thanks for...when it decided to come your way. What I was trying to do...with this "inertia and blankness breaking" exercise...was to be prepared and receptive as I could be. Over a period of weeks doing this...some of the time...songs and poems...full fledged...came to me. There were other times...when only a line or two came...or sometimes...my page remained blank. Even at those times...however...I knew that I was doing the right thing for me at that time...by starting off...with my tuning in to the mountains...that I was blessed to be able to see from my front windows. Today's poem..."Sit At Your Desk"...came out of that time...........Quester.

Different Strokes

There is a Guyana web site...that on two occasions so far...has posted my videos...
via YouTube...listing them as Guyanese videos. I've been away so long from my country
of origin...this was a surprise. The most recent of the videos...was one called
..."October Night Improvisation". The night when I recorded it...was actually a night...when I went before my camera...to improvise a talk...about some aspect of being an artist. I sat there...waiting for inspiration...then...I received the nudge...just to start in playing my guitar...and see what would happen. After...I felt the resulting improvisation...had sustained well enough...to put it online. There was a comment on it on the Guyana web site. The person who commented on it...was complimentary...but suggested...that next time I did a guitar improvisation...I should look down at my instrument more. It was then that I noticed that...throughout my playing...I had looked straight ahead...something I had trained myself to do...among other things...as a mark of being at ease with my instrument. I am seldom able to pull that off...during an improvisation...needing to peek at my fret board...to see where I'm going next. This time round...someone was suggesting that looking at my guitar...was what I should be striving for...instead of my looking straight ahead. Well...all I can say is...."different strokes"..................Quester.

Poet Reading-4: The Mouth To Ear To Heart Connection

There have been 3 previous videos on this blog...in the "Poet Reading" series...since
September 25th 2007.
I think that "being really heard"...is a central human need...and yet...in our world...
I suspect there may be millions suffering from the starvation of not being really heard...given the abundance of talkers...compared to those who really listen. I have...
for some time now...recognised..."really listening"...as being...a "gift of love"...we
can give to others...as we take a break...from our push to keep on talking. Today's
"Poet Reading-4"...touches on..."really listening".............Quester.

Poet Reading-3: On The Pariah Porch

This is the third video in the series "Poet Reading". "Poet Reading-1: "A Song For A
Vacuuming" was uploaded to this blog...on 25/9/07...and -2: "Sand Dollar"...on 3/10/07.
There many other poems in this series...likely to appear on this blog...at intervals...
up ahead.
.................Quester.

A Moving Target

Yes...it is autumn. Just returned from a damp...gloomy skied walk...with the prospect
of many more...before my beloved spring starts to manifest once again...in January...
out here on the west coast. And yet...I've trained myself over the years...in many
sectors of my life...to "work with what you've got"...and so I wrestle my mind away
from its spring thoughts...and bring it back to the Here and Now. One of the exercises that helps me when I falter...in the present...is a whiskered one...some variation of what I was told as a youngster...about the starving millions in India...substitute Darfur these days. Life is a relative thing. One of my exercises...when the greyness... outside...or inside of me...or both...loom...temporarily blotting out the good in my life...is I remind myself...that "bummed out" though I may be...it is infinitely preferable...to lying in hospital...immobilised...with all kinds of bits and pieces
attached to me. I think of the gift I've been given...so far...of being mobile...
something these days...I never take for granted. That is just one item...on a long
list of..."the good in my life"...that I invoke...at times...when needed.
This invocation...doesn't make the low clouds above me melt away...or even trigger
my "inner sun"...into shining. However that exercise...and finding something to work
on...usually "moves me onwards"...and what I have found over the years...is that a
moving target...is very difficult to shoot down..................Quester.

Poet Reading-2: Sand Dollar

[The first poem in this "Poet Reading" series..."A Song For A
Vacuuming"...was published on this blog 25/9/07]. The poem in today's
video...comes out of an early morning experience...camping at Long Beach...on the west coast of Vancouver Island...some years ago. It was first published...in my book "Between Songs".......................Quester.

My Favourite Neighbourhood Restaurant

Just finished having lunch at my favourite neighbourhood Chinese restaurant. I've been coming here ever since they opened a few years back. This is...indeed...a "family restaurant". The food here is fair and reasonably priced...but it is the inustry of this family that is so impressive. The mother and father owners...both in their forties...are the driving force behind this endeavour. Two high school aged offspring...chip in on the weekends...and take customers orders and answer questions...in flawless Canadian accents...but speak Chinese to rheir parents. Two older female relatives...are often seen sitting at the back. One of them...welcomes me joyfully...as if I were a long lost friend...when I come through the door...once again. Other helpers...some likely relatives...work here as waitresses...or help out in the kitchen. The owner couple...are both tiny people...the wife interacts charmingly with the customers...and the husband prepares meals for much longer than an eight hour day in the kitchen. From my artist's universe...where living in "slow time" is imperative...I look at their daily work load...delivered day after dasy...in wonder. They too...must look at me...wondering why I take so much time at my lunches there...reading the newspapers always provided...and after...scribbling away in my journal...as I am doing today. They have never done anything to move me "outward bound"...once my meal is finished...helping to make this place...one of my "homes away from home". I wish that this family effort...continues to prosper. It deserves to do so..........Quester.