Sunday, October 27, 2013

The world curling and uncurling around us

We could gain much by observing the world. Although Thoreau managed to move to the edge of the world and do his observations from an idyllic Walden Pond, we don't have to do as much. We could, but we don't have to. A world of beauty wraps around us daily. Colors and shapes and forms and behaviors and scents and flavors are open to each of us.

Yesterday, I lit up a Turano Vault at a local cigar lounge. The poetry from this stick wandered all over creation, but it caught the corner of this idea of noticing what occurs around us. Not dissing theaters and the ubiquitous electronics which put us in touch with virtual people, our world, physical and available, sits right here.

For me, enjoying a stick means giving it the time to tell its story.

See if this works for you:


The Sight, The Story

by Christopher Robin Adams

 

The Vault is lit. Blend D-042.

Its flavor tickles my palate.

I hold it away from me.

Level.

From the foot,

                        pushed wild by 800 C  heat,

smoke moves upward,

                        then Clairol-curls and waves,

                        tumbling skyward

                                    in reverse gravity.

From the clipped end,

                        cool and clinging,

smoke slides out,

                        follows the stick around its nub ,

                        sticking close to the wrapper,

                                    then eases skyward.

Funny, I smile to myself.

The story unfolds within me:

            the smoke expects my lips,

            wants to please me,

            hangs around to visit,

                                                but, finally disappointed,

                                                                                                leaves.

...

Zen involves much, and I am not qualified to give lessons, but becoming the smoke and feeling its way around the filler to find you... Life doesn't get better. T. H. White in the Once and Future King delightfully has Arthur doing this in order to become a better ruler, in order to understand people and all of life. Persig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance also covers this well.

That's my call.


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