Weather

The Pineapple Express

Terri Windling has a beautiful blog post today on the way things change. The images of winter and the words that accompany them are particularly potent for me as I recover from recent exposure to chemicals that dis-assembled me. The journey of moving through this condition of sensitivity to chemicals and processes that are done without second-thought, is unique ... life is that way. I have become stronger and more able to step into these situations with more frequency, but then sometimes I am strong enough to stay but debilitated nonetheless.  Terri writes:

"Today's quotes go out to any of you who are walking through your own dark woods right now. May there be trees to befriend you, and foxes to guide you, and stories to light the way...

Each of the quotes Windling includes in her post are oitment for what ails you, but this touches me in just the right ways.

" We don't create a fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay. I believe we have always done this, used images to stand and understand what otherwise would be intolerable.”  -  Lynda Barry (via Gail Arlene de Vos)

I began writing fantasy and fiction that created that place Lynda Barry describes: 'to be able to stay.' My life as writer started with the solid world of words to nail-down procedures and policies ... the manual writer of corporate binders that no one would read except to point out a breach, a right-way to do the thing. Great it is to move from that sort of environment, that kind of weather, to free form essays that simply described the condition or the state of being at the time of deadline. Life as a columnist birthed a place for thoughts and observations from a woman on a journey: Makua O'o.

Now, I am a newly rooting Gypsy woman living and learning to make peace with the parts of life that has no cure. There is no permanent fix to the issues of being sensitive. Astrologically, I find clues and avenues of transformation. Culturally, my connection to an intuitive funnel of dreams and signs give me access to story and there is where the weather is commodious. I fabricate myth, include language that is both real and yet-to-be. Characters and situations sort life out aid is offered. Solace is found, solutions soothe. In short, as Barry has said, I can create a place to remain when all around me logic would say: I'M OUTTA HERE.

Nearly out of cups of energy for now I close with an appreciation, renewed in its breath, for the capacity to conjure fairy tales. The Safety Pin Cafe is being edited behind the scenes. And in a partnership with my son, the value of the conjuring is made multiple in the process. Almost by accident, I invited my son to read and edit with his journalistic talent coupled with his ear for the culture we share, thanks to his grandmother. The fairy tale will change and become I think, more precious because of my willingness to allow other gifts to touch the words.

In the making of fairy tales the medicine is in both the hands of the provider and the soul of the receiver. It, the medicine, is not on a schedule really. So many visitations ... the wind, the sight of fairy wings, a memory recalled, a touch at just the right, or wrong moment. I weather the storm of dark and painful influence and plant a handful of fertile soil over the seed of a good story and water it just right.