In Clover

In Clover

Verdant green grass dotted with swathes of clover

Blossoms of white

Some purple tinges at the edges

Bees a-buzzing dipping in the nectar found within the flower petal folds

An intoxicating aroma

Air perfumed by the scent wafting up from dozens upon dozens of blossoms

No French perfumer could compete with this

No mere man

No mere woman

Nature's evocative allurement

Drawing us in as the scent reaches our nostrils

A simple walk through the grass

What is that scent?

Nature's perfume

Bees' addiction

Can't keep away as a lover needs to feel their beloved

Hold them close

Kiss them

Touch their bodies in all ways

So the bees can't fight it

So seductive this clover

Dotted through the grass in waves of white

Intoxicating, beguiling seduction

Clover

We're all in Clover

Do you smell it?

Do you know it?

Do you feel it?

In Clover

Lay in the grass and let the perfume encompass you

Lover touches you

Kisses shared, taken

In Clover

Scent reaching into brain stem

Primal sense

Reckoning all of our shared past

The smells of our forebears

The knowledge deep in the hind brain

Smell It!

And the bees taste it, knowing to sip is to live

Sip it up

Drink in

All senses touched as a lover

To taste

To smell

To feel

To hear

To see

See the white dotted grass

Know it

In Clover

Words...

Are you ever so moved by someone's words that you feel swept away by a tide? But, it's not scary at all. It's powerful and energizing. It can be peaceful and calm as you float on it, in it. And their words reverberate. They echo through your days and you recall them, or they come unbidden into your head and seem to push out all other thought, all other words, crowding out noise and chatter and filling you with something substantive and clear. And it makes you feel alive and attuned to everything else in the universe. And it feels warm and loving and real. And they are just words... Only words... Simply words... Do you ever feel this? Do the ideas you come across ever reach into you and caress your soul? Do they massage the wrinkles and folds of your mind and then reach into the chambers of your heart and gently touch and brush the edges of you and hold you firmly, and own you? No? Then you should do what you can to find those moments in this life, because that is magic, and it is necessary. Try to find it...

Roller Coaster

You know what? I hate roller coasters. HATE them. My kids love them. At a certain point, during a very small window of my childhood, I liked them too. Just like I liked the smell of gasoline, and can no longer stand it. I also liked spinning, twirling round and round, faster and faster, and can no longer stand that. Even a short time on a swing makes me feel a little uneven, a little unbalanced now.

That all said, you know what I do like? That life is a roller coaster. I am white knuckling it sometimes and it is scary, but so exhilarating. In the midst of it, it seems terrifying, and then I swoop down the long hill, screaming, grabbing on, clinging on for dear life, and I level out at the bottom, and I'm OK. It's OK. We got through that. And we're stronger now.

I don't seek out drama in my life. I'm not an adrenaline junky. I don't thrive on chaos. I just see that that's all a part of life and I might as well try and enjoy the ride. Even if it's at times scary. Even if it feels threatening. Even if it seems insurmountable.

The roller coaster approaches. I climb in. I just try to find comfort in the seat, buckle in, and hold on.

On the Dark Arts of Political Pandering

You know, I don't have a problem when people change their minds about things. When they realize that they were wrong and maybe there's a better way. In fact, I think that's a sign of a nimble mind, one which is open and can let in new bits of information, can ponder, can contemplate, can see things from a totally new perspective. It's because of that kind of thinking that they can come to better places. I think that's good. I don't think that makes someone inconsistent, necessarily. I don't think that means they are unsubstantial. It's a testament to the ability to evolve. And who doesn't love that? Do we want to remain in the dark ages?

What I do find troublesome is when it seems that their change in thinking is disingenuous. When they switched their line of thinking to only be in line with what seems more expedient to their own ends. When it panders. When it is full of pretty words to sway another's opinion. When it is to gain an increase in their esteem, but it's acquired through a veil of lies. Lies, because that new thinking does not represent their true convictions. When it is just so much bullshit.

We're seeing a lot of that in this campaign, aren't we? On many sides.

I think this is how Hillary operates.

I am not a complete naif. I know politics is a rough and tumble sport. Things get said in ways to convince, and that may sometimes mean candidates push the edges. That might mean they heavily shade the truth, but hopefully it's still there, to gain traction in an argument. They carefully (or don't: TRUMP!!) choose their words to the greatest effect. There's a theatricality about it all, and must be to catch the eyes of an increasingly distracted electorate.

However, in this time of great metaphorical starvation, when people's lives are difficult and we're all facing such dire problems, there needs to be a lot of bread with those circuses. It can't just be so much gussied up pretty looks with nothing true under the surface. How can there be any trust there, if that's the case? How can we measure the possible behavior of the future, if there's no there there right now? It's transient. It's wispy. It's a circus side show with carnival barkers calling out full of bluster. It's not real.

Which brings us back to Hillary. She is pandering hard. Bernie is gaining momentum and people are hearing his words, which are pretty, I will give him that, but they're backed up by years of consistency. He is not saying anything new now, nothing that he hasn't said all along, but now people are listening, and listening in ever greater numbers. He is speaking to real needs in people's lives in real ways. He is substantial. Hillary is jumping on.

Her beginning to parrot Bernie's language and highlighting his lifelong issues, is nothing short of cynical political posturing. She's posing, all gussied up to catch our eyes.

I don't think it's working well, and I think people are seeing through it. Thank God for the internet and the long memory of the digital repository. It's all there for the taking. It's all there for us to see.

Ar