“Don’t kill
the future…”
~Grandfather
Spending a community work party “Minga” with
Marlow Elementary School
your humble
scribe begins this week
within the
center, in-between
a minga work
day with Marlow students
is no less a
learning experience
invoking
mindful gratitude
for the
education we’re exposed to
each of us
is paired with two
to keep them
posted on what we do
and in the
end we’ll visit them
to show our
slides, shared wisdom again
Never
growing in garden air
you struggle
to accept the care
for soup is
full of vegetables
they are your friends my little ones.
Then
Grandfather Ray arrives
From the North
to broaden eyes
And deeper
sight in simple things
Like slowly
paced down river streams
For silence
and restraint is strength
Not for
lifting rocks of pain
Native
knowledge in his palms
Need only
speak to sing a song.
Dinner made
by sewing teachers
After minga,
fire-keeper
Accompanied
with beans and rice
Followed by
apple crisp with cream of ice
Circle of
reflection in direction of the backpacks that we made
As the moon
illuminates the sun begins to fade.
Then a man
called Gerry comes
His WFA
class providing fun
Wilderness
first aid infusion
Solution to
pollution: dilution
Now we’re
certified to save the day
We’ll do
role-play and cover everyone with make-up blood and guts
Schools and
classes visiting and wondering what exactly the problem is or are semester kids
just nuts?
And here we
are departing souls
Like
celebrating marigolds
With petals
colored brighter than the sun
We feast
with chocolate mousse on tongues
And singing
while our voices become one
Tears drip
onto the hair of loved ones
While
laughter transforms dissonance to farewells
For rocks
are heavier than pebbles and pebbles turn to sand in voyage
and sand
will blow away with time like oceans melt to seas of rhyme
alas these
days are purely true
creating
family like glue
for everyone
has pushed their boundaries to share themselves freely
and
strengthening community while rabbits hop from tree to tree
and now
semester rabbits hop
the longest
hop a rabbit’s got
because South
calls through the earth’s core,
we are
needed there,
and breath
will carry us,
roughly from
past to future.
Ecuador
semester 2015
May be what
we’re called indeed
But perhaps
a better fitting title
Are “Guinea
Pigs” (for experimental journeys)
For the places
we are going, the people we will meet
Are places
we have never gone, strangers to our face and feet.
Heading South
for if we’re lucky
We look South
to see erupting Cotopaxi
Traveling in
boats never traveled in
Passing
through terrain with untouched skin
Processing
chocolate, sugar, and coffee
Nights are awaiting
us being frosty
This info we
gain on the top of Pitcher Mountain
Followed by
cider donuts, and a sunset fountain
The night is
glowing from the moon
Until the
lunar eclipse takes room
Bloodying
her soft white rays
With
laughter, tear, and starving haze.
Misha and
Lynn have sent us out well
With soup in
our tummies and farm vegetables
A parting of
yet another family
Farewell
Kroka, your presence in me.
The future
is now these days it seems
For we wake
at 4:30 AM out of dreams
Arriving at
Logan accepting the stares
That we get
from the wonder of men knitting there
Singing and
playing guitar for we’re free
We actually
make it through security
Considering
the bags and the weight that we carry
You might
understand how it could be scary
We land in
sweltering humid Miami
Ready our
minds for leaving the country
Flying over
Colombia and Jamaica
Hidden under
clouds for the elevation makes a
Blurry in
our awe as we land in Quito
Excitement
takes hold to harness our people
shocked by
the rhythm and the odor of the air
straining on
our eyeballs through the dark like a flare.
Palugo is a
land of smell
That brings
you to your knees and well
The fruit
that melts upon your tongue
Is sweeter
than any cinnamon bun.
The
mountains that cried louder than roosters at dawn
Are wailing
their ode of welcoming bonds
Feeling home
like fire takes glow…
“Don’t marry
your story…”
~Grandfather
Dear sun
Here where I
be
I step along
the path where your rays once tread
Without even
wondering
Your spirit
resides here
And drifts
along with me
I rest where
you rested;
I laugh
where you sang;`
I gaze with
fantastic wonder
At the
mountains
Long ago you
kissed.
Adopt my
calm, these darker days
As I feel
your grace
And step
towards the certain forever
Held within
the layla of your arms
~Mayah
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| Dan and his father, Nate, making music on Parent Weekend |
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| Ondy and Jacob teaching a song she wrote |
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| Mayah and her grandparents, Janet and Jay, share a song |
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| Heather, Zander's mom, shares a poem |
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| One of Kroka's first frosts of the season on Parent Weekend |
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| Skeydrit and daughter Mercedes hand out handmade apple cider to minga workers. |
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| Summit of Pitcher Mountain the evening before departure |
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| The Atlantic Ocean prior to leaving for Ecuador |
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| Lydia and Emily prepare breakfast on the East Coast |
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| The Ecuador Semester team welcomed their new member, Lily, in Ecuador |
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| Welcome to Palugo! |
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| Mathias Dammer teaching about the pigs at Palugo |
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