Thursday, April 4, 2013

Salmonberries

Criss-crossing the edge of thoughts, the walk back to my cottage let the emotions seep making room for what was present. Maha's kindness, and friendship was good medicine. Max stood outside my front door, I exhaled and stood beside him."Walk with me," he said reaching for my hands his were warm and pulsating.

"I'm lost when it comes to letting go of old memories. It's an old habit that makes me crazy." Max listened silently but kept his eyes on me as I stretched to climb over the fallen cedar. The rain was constant but not so heavy that it stopped us from our walk. "Mostly I like to complain," admissions weren't easy for me but Max never let on that it mattered one way or the other.

"These blossoms are beautiful such a contrast to everything around them." Max was noticing the salmon berries. The first berries of spring, the flowers would drop their petals and the plump flesh that followed promised me the taste of guavas.

"Salmon berries," I said as I sloshed into a puddle hiding under the moldy compost of alder leaves. It wasn't necessary to talk with Max; thoughts played equally with words in his world. But saying, naming things so my eyes heard from the outside in was fun.

"How hospitable of them." Max was laughing as he lifted the face of a bright fushia salmon berry blossom. Combining his facility to hear my words and thoughts I enjoyed the forest walks and practiced.
......

The kahuna's unexpected visit stretched from one night of a shared bowl of succulent noodles in chicken-rich broth to a month. There were things I needed to know about giving birth to magic. Max had answers, but mostly Max had stories. "Your son will ride a wave of three complements. His speech will be radical, could it be anything but ... The son of magic with the genes of the 'Alala mixes with your own. 'Alala is extinct in the natural spaces, but humans are raising them by hand. You, Pale who is as vulnerable as any species threatened by extinction need not be afraid to teach your son about the craziness. As it happens, it is your experience with what happens when you are crazy that will give your son the edge he needs to fly in the face of adversity. Pardon the cliche. It just fits so perfectly. Your vulnerability is the necessary second complement. Being able, and willing ... that part, the willing to cross borders is the lesson of living that opens windows and landscapes." Max stopped and turned to me. That wool bowler hat as dry as if there were only blue skies empty of rain, sat easily over his broad forehead. "Never be afraid of your way Pale Wawae. Think of it as magic in the making. Your son will surely appreciate it that way ..."

Somewhere nearby the deep donkey voice of the Raven echoed above.


Continue reading here ... 

3 comments:

  1. a shape is appearing....out of the corner of my eyes...

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    Replies
    1. Noticing is the first step. Witnessing with respect, the kahuna makes room for the angst of the border witch, the generosity of the first berries of spring and the future. No planning, no imagining. That is big, endless magic. "Out of the corner of my eyes" sight is broad!

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    2. "naming things so my eyes heard from the outside in" is fun, Raven thinks so too, sharing magic with the future of the world.
      Pete Little

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