11.22.2010

taiwan

yes yes here i am in taiwan now with my relatives
and if you want to hear updates let me know, and i can add you to my email list... (give me your email, obviously)
i don't think i'll be posting much on the blog... not updates, at least. poetry and photos, perhaps. i'll be emailing verbal-updates instead
 
love!
jiling

11.18.2010

taiwan: embark!

it begins today
the airplane flies from 1:45 pm cali time today
until 8:30 pm taiwan time friday
mmm

11.17.2010

2006 to 2010: four years of usa travel: The Map

color key
2006- red line (mostly on the west)
2007- green line
2008- blue line
2009- turquoise line
2010- red line again (mostly on the east)
 
this map was one of my first travel maps. i would write in where i'd been, people i met, and their suggestions for where to go next... after a while, the map got too full. i met more people than the map could handle, and ditto to all the places i went to and wanted to go to next... but i kept the map in my journal bucket. and now, four years later, i have drawn lines all over it once again.
 
cheers to post-collegiate usa adventures! i now award myself an M.A. (Masters of Adventures) in USA. and now, off to taiwan and etc to get my Ph.D in ____! :)

final autumn 2010 cali photos

ciau, bella! meegwetch!
gigawabbamin (until the circle comes together again) california and usa and etc...

here's photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2829402&id=2514403&l=d81cca47cf

11.14.2010

one love

yes
i do love this country
with all it's hills and mountains
and the small towns and
not quite so much the cities
but i can appreciate even them too
(from a distance please)
but yes
i do love this country
i have walked it's hills
scaled it's cliffs
swam in its waters
and looked into the eyes of its people
and smiled
appreciating the great
beauty and diversity
of all the different spaces
and different people borne of different spaces and places
different circumstances, different peoples
welcome to homeland
and now,
off to another homeland
one that i haven't explored yet
but one that my parents grew up in
one that i originated from within deep my gut, blood, and bones
ancient memories that i don't even yet see
let alone understand!
welcome to homeland ancient and not yet understood
waiting to be seen and heard
i am walking into you again
with my arms and eyes open
this basket here is empty
i have other baskets with other goods
but this basket here is empty
i will call it my ancient asian ancestry basket perhaps
whatever it is
it's ready to be filled
now!
welcome back to homeland ancient
unknown cliffs, hills, waters, stones...
i remember
waking up on stones to sunlight glinting thru my eyelids
a smile on my face, laughter in my heart
sage gazing down at me with benevolence
and a joshua tree standing nearby, laughing also
i remember
waking up in the middle of a rushing river
on another stone, final rays of sun reddening sky once blue
cold evening winds beginning to kiss and caress
i remember
kneeling next to a stream
admiring sunlight glinting rainbows thru the first icicles of winter
reflecting into the rushing waters of the stream
i remember
looking into your eyes and seeing my own eyes reflected
and imagined your eyes reflected in my eyes in yours again
and on and on
these rivers uniting these skies and cliffs and stones
all as one
as i bid this land that i love farewell
i remember
this earth is round
it's all connected together
one sky
one earth
one people
one love
always hello again, hello wow hello!
never goodbye
and oh
i love you so much
thank we

frida

death leading to birth leading to death again
recycling
this sky so blue leading to cliffs that tower
edges to be pushed
gravity free float it down
your freckles like sunspots staring too long into the light
deathbed lying, face peaceful
this last poetry to be read over and over
artwork questioned
what remains?

11.12.2010

mi familia

lovelovelove

11.10.2010

train back across the country from vt to gila, nm to ca

photos from autumn 2010 train ride back from vermont to gila, nm to california again!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2826701&id=2514403&l=58d3a01987

mojave national preserve

photos from weekend shared with mojave desert, big sky, adrian, and sierra
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2826796&id=2514403&l=b8abe05dac

11.09.2010

mmm

after sun went to sleep
i watched the moon
and realized
that when she is full again
i will be on the other side of this earth
still saying good night sun and hello moon
and wondering still and again
what am i doing
here
?

woosh

pulled north south east west in equal portions
for firm balance of center yes
the stillness of this momentous presence is so
stillingly alive with
emptyful

poem for a sunrise we

(from a Mojave sunrise)

i see you everywhere---
you are in the movement of Wind
as she rises from Valley
up thru Canyon
down into another Canyon
you are the cold kiss of morning dew
wet on my sleeping bag
a reminder of last night's thunderstorm
over the mountains
you are all the birds shaking and waking
you are their song as they
greet Sun's pink glow
rising over tanned and blushing cliffs
you are the transition from night to day
with owls hooting to an end
and children's laughter and morning yawns
you are the birth of a baby goat arising
coming steaming into the reality of day
blinking into being
sticky with Creator's juices
you are the tingle in my fingers
when i lay them over my food
and give thanks for their
nourishment and abundance
you are the joy and pain that is one
in my Heart
you are the light that shines
from the farthest Star
to warm my cold nights
you are the very pen and my very fingers
you are so very momentous i and we
that
welcome to this Moment
as we breathe and heartbeat,
intertwined into
we are
that which is unspeakable
but so very touchable
here
now let's kiss

11.08.2010

joshua tree and mojave national preserve

(this stream-of-consciousness written with so much love and gratitude to aaron for sharing my jtree adventure, and adrian/sierra for sharing my mojave adventure)

we see the most incredible sunrises and sunsets in the desert
eyes open wide, body tightly plastered to rock, breath so deep
that it booms against the very cliffs and canyons
and then evaporates so quickly into the air
that it manifests
as the reddest loudest yet most silent
magnificent
sunsets and sunrises we have ever seen in our lives
coyotes howling nightly to a descending moon
until moon is so dense that we can't see her anymore
only her posse of wild outlaw stars singing loudly
the international anthem of the universe
giving directions on how to walk the beauty way
in such a way
indescribable
joshua tree for a week with aaron, yes indescribable
fullness, presence, breadth, reality...
pure being
so much laughter and sinking down, rising up with earth and winds
moment to moment presence
i can't word this yet
but i can say
wow
i am so grateful for my brothers and sisters in this world
and i am so grateful for the mountains and deserts and wild places
grateful for plant and animal friends and teachers
(we all teachers and students. the best students are best teachers and etcetera)
grateful for conversations so rich that they last all night
and we are surprised that the sun is rising already
grateful for the invisibly visible and present art gift of improvisation
vocal cords jamming and intertwining with each other, heartstrings, and rocks
grateful for warning rattles on rattlesnakes that hide in caves that i stand in front of
grateful for ancient natives who used to do ceremony in front of these caves
and infused them with grace, power, and unspeakable energy
grateful for young and old people who still remember old old stories
and grateful for the gift to weave new new stories with old old rhythms
grateful for old rhythms, woven in new ways
grateful for eyes that see, and hands that know
and a feeling of comfortableness borne of eons of knowing each other
grateful to see you again, and reconnect
grateful for SHE (Sacred Healing Elixirs) of all sorts
grateful for spirits that rise into my cheeks and make them blossom for days
grateful for plant medicines that turn our skins brown, not burnt red
grateful for shamanic journeys that take us farther than roads ever could
purely grateful
and filled with lovelovelove
(we even made a "son"!)
and then weekend with adrian and sierra at mojave national preserve
driving for what felt like days and days
are we there yet?
yes we are here
no we are not
we are here. welcome to the present moment. :)
jaz!
okay...
well here we are standing so close to the peak
i know that the wind is blowing so hard
but this is a once in a lifetime kinda thing
it's now or never
never!
well... let's put it this way
we are very close to the top
it won't hurt (that much)
and you can tell your baby sister about this and then share it with her one day
plus the wind is not so bad up there
and you can touch the sky!
okay
yes! wow what a view what a sky what a landscape
these mountains that roll all over
once upon a time we named it all "god poop"
and now i realize it's really yes god's compost heap
all these boulders and stones scattered thru the landscape...
once upon a time, all this was ocean
and then tectonic plates moving and shifting until
once upon a time, underwater mountains
and mountains rising and rising until
landscapes
limestone
fossils and artifacts and caves deep down under
let's dance down this hill and sprint until we make the most beautiful sand art
let's leave drawings of hearts and suns in the sand, next to the small green plants
they appreciate it
did you just feel that fairy kiss?
you see all those holes in the rocks?
a fairy spirit lives in each hole
jesse james used to live in a hole in the wall here too
there's a deep feeling of sacredness and
wow
can you feel the sacred silence?
did you feel that tingle?
we are being watched
and we are being blessed
sending out the intention now then for only the good spirits...
and back up to sky again
down in the cave it was so dark and dank and magical
fire by night for the most incredible meals i know how to make
roasting it directly over the fire sweet flame thank you
looking up at all the shooting stars
waking up in the middle of the night to look at each other, smile, and share dreams
until sun rises and we exclaim hooray for another day of being alive!
and wow our dreams are so similar!
i wonder if there's a magical cord that extends from my head to yours at night
whilst we sleep
and dream?
then back to the silent aloneness of just me and desert sky
after all the cars have rolled away and even the mouse is asleep
it's just me and you again
just like old days
i feel a richness that comes from being with people though
there is a richness to both being with others and just being with myself
initially, after both sets of cars left, i felt huge loneliness
and then gradually gradually
sky descended
song entered
and i could feel my heart beating with the trembling mountains and twinkling stars
closing my eyes i can see the elder with glowing hands placing flames into my belly and heart
i can feel the heat rising, balanced with water
(and more on that story, just ask me and i will tell you when it's time)
(when it's time, all these mountains will grind back into pure white sand
and we will bathe with them in pure white light)