Journal

Wild Mountain Yoga....and carrying on the Quest....

Daniel — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:38:10 +0000

In a little while I will pack my gear and head out to Nevada City from Sacramento, where I am staying with my friend, Ken. It is an evening I am looking forward to, even though for the first time in a year and a half on the road I am recovering from what seems like Montezuma's Revenge, and I will leave it to your imagination as to what all that entails, with the emphasis being on "tail". I don't know why this has come over me, but you know , sometimes a good old-fashioned clean-out is what the body is ordering, even if perhaps the doctor is not. I am laying low, re-grouping, getting ready for the performance tonight. I have been spending a good deal of time thinking about "home" and whether and how I will have one soon, as well as "community" - same thing there. If you think about it, it is not easy to feel, if you are doing what I am doing, that there is much more than a virtual one of either of these in my life. And that is getting very wearisome. I think it will gave to change soon, and I am not quite sure how. But it may involve actually re-establishing a true home, somewhere - a place, that I can come back to, even though people I love are in many different places around the country. I am going to go with this...

On a Day of Coming Back From the Dead

in a land where you go slow,

waiting for the body to make sense of it's changes,

the word "home" keeps ringing in my ear.

Is it possible there is a little cave I could come back to,

like that little opening in the side of my head, near where

all the trouble started?

And where are my people, I wish they would gather on my arms

and on my legs, and tell me what they wish for, because we are

wishing all the time, aren't we? Then,

the village would be familiar, the hair and the skin would feel finally

visited, and the way to my heart would be much better known.

Can you come to this place with me, and could you stay there,

or will I have to find you all over, trailing your Milky Way of stars behind you,

weaving the soul-road that we all want to walk on, together.

Inside this question is one more, and another, and the one I am answering today is,

"How far into the middle of home can I be, can I burrow in, and see the windows all around, and love the way you sweep this floor, this floor that is asking to be as wide as any blue sky has ever been?"

As I arrive in Ft. Collins, CO

Daniel — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:38:38 +0000

It is not lost on me that my entire life depends on the kindness of friends. Here is the doorway of the home of my friend June. When I first started traveling East from Ashland in fall, 2010, she was the first one to say yes to a concert in her home. I've been back through twice, back in the fall for a good long stay - 10 days is an eternity on the Irrational Quest - and when I arrived back here yesterday, I felt like I was arriving in a very, very fine place. Different places have different energy, of course. In Boulder, I was fortunate to stay over three nights at my friend Sheila's, whose dog's name is Rumi. We went to see Michael Meade, an amazing storyteller and mythopoetic teacher. In so many ways, as in these last two landings, I feel blessed beyond words. There is some peace, some wisdom gathering, some meeting that is worth so much more than other ways I might choose to lay my head down from evening to evening. Only once in awhile does it occur to me how much my life is a gift. When it lands it is astounding....

The contraption gets more elaborate....

Daniel — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:18:56 +0000

Now we discover that my "plosives" are excessive. "The poem ( explosion on the 'p') is not the world. It isn't even the first page ( explosion on the 'p') of the world". So Tim sets up this sieve and two other pop filters to filter out those sounds. Marvelous! Did I mention I am having a good time recording?

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Daniel — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:02:47 +0000

Yes, if you think you are seeing a tea strainer on the microphone you are right! Recording with Tim is an ancient art involving physics and the poetry of everyday life. I am attempting, with Tim's help, to get a little more work done on the album of poetry before I leave for Taos, NM, probably on Thursday. It is so satisfying to finally get some of these poems on tape! After lunch I will be working on Rumi's Zero Circle and Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye - both with cello, used in different ways....eager to hear how it comes out, "glad to be lost, learning how real it is here on earth again and again...." ( William Stafford, from Cutting Loose )

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Daniel — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:05:15 +0000

IIt may seem mundane, in a way, to day after day end up in the same place where people are hanging out in what seems like sort of a random way, although there is some sense of connection, but disconnection at the same time, because I am actually just passing through, and I am actually working, trying to get some things done, and not here to hang out or socialize, but I want to be connected, that is why I am writing this, that is why I will put it up on Facebook, and so many things are going on at once it is hard to express them all. Shortly, I will head back to "home" where I have been staying at Tim's to see if I can make a breakthrough with this piece for a man who spent his life as a military policeman, and is very disciplined but he likes to dance and there is more, but it is really almost too tender to say. I am going to learn two new poems, a Rumi and a Naomi Shihab Nye, and maybe do them this weekend. Mostly I feel confident and anxious at once, strong and like I am falling apart at once, alone and mixed up with everything like a stew at once. At once this is what I am being....

If pancakes for lunch are wrong, I don't want to be right....

Daniel — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:07:41 +0000

I have taken to carrying my own bottle of maple syrup into restaurants, because it is not always the case that you can get that, and it does make a difference, I think....maybe life is a series of very small choices that make it better, or sweeter, as the case may be....

A Kentucky evening...

Daniel — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:57:46 +0000

So tonight was what the trip is all about. A beautiful setting, outside of Louisville. Eric and Kim Esteran have a very charming farm with some Arabian horses and a Tennessee Walker, and some happy farm dogs. Probably about 25 people gathered, outside by a fire. I am in front of a very large oak tree. Yes. there was a train that passed by during part of the performance, but for most evening, we just heard crickets and Rumi, and some cello, and it was quite satisfying. I think there will be other concerts from this one, and the people were just so warm and down to earth...it was a pleasure to play, all the way through to the request for a repeat of Summertime as an encore....I want to come back to Kentucky!

On my way to Louisville....

Daniel — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:41:06 +0000

A great fortune I have had is to stay with my friend, Tim Britton, a musical compadre, and reknowned Irish piper, who has kindly hosted me as I have spent time in Fairfield, IA, to record and give a few performances. I have another concert tomorrow night, in Louisville, KY and I am getting a late start, will get to Champaign, IL tonight, and then make the rest of the trip tomorrow. My whole life has a way forward because of folks like Tim, who so graciously make space for me in their lives for shorter or longer times. Tim is pretty hilarious to be around, has a very goofy sense of humor, and his living room is filled with musical instruments, making it sort of a playground for someone like me. He is also a significant producer of other people's music, with an ear like a a tic hound ( no, wait a minute, it is their noses that are so keen, right? ) but you know what I mean, and a musical sensibility that is very creative and magical. I am looking forward to the trip ahead, although today has been a hard day, feeling alone in the world, but, as Rilke says " I am too alone in the world and not alone enough to make every minute holy", so that is where I am headed in a few minutes.....

What to reveal...and lunch with Gabe...

Daniel — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:11:00 +0000

One of the reasons why it has been hard to document this journey is because, believe it or not, it is hard. The journey is hard. It is painful. People I love I am always seeing and then not seeing. I come and then I go. Even someone in their twenties might not prefer this way of life and I am not in my twenties ( this may come as a surprise to you?) ( Nope...)...so I have wondered, a lot, what it is that I really want to share. What is superficial and what is deep? How much does it mean, to anyone?

Right now, I am having a good time just keeping this simple. Today, my good fortune was to share a crepe at Crepe Escape in Fairfield with my son, Gabe. He told me he is learning the fingerpicking version of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right". Really, if nothing else good happens in my life, I will be fine, just with that....makes me very happy. And I don't know if he will actually learn it or not, either, but he is trying....

Planning and dining at Second Street....

Daniel — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:57:46 +0000

For now, this is one of my hangouts, working on the October and November tour dates, setting up online destinations on Reverbnations, a new Facebook Page, and a new mobile app so you can follow the tour. Learning, having fun, eating well ;)....