My Own Private Idaho

The white clouds drape themselves
over the green hills of Idaho
Like the fluffy quilt of my youth
Creating a softness that welcomes us to the volcano fields
We have landed on The Craters of The Moon
Where paths lead us to unknown masses of rock and hardened lava
caves and stairs and bats and boiling cauldrons
In the Land that Time Forgot
Yet here we are
A family of nine
The number of completion
Striking out into the desert heated paths
Finding our way
Julian says the caves are talking to him
"Come inside," they say "Explore our bellies"
Ancient secrets lay buried here
Waiting for us to discover

 

The Yin and the Yang of it

Today, I find myself in Orem, Utah at a dance class at the local recreation center. There are all kinds of people here, but of course the majority is of the conservative Mormon persuasion.

I am proudly wearing my pink Obama/Dalai Lama t-shirt, and during a break in the class, an older woman peers at it curiously and asks who is on my shirt. I tell her, and she recoils a bit with a horrified look and asks "do you actually support them?"

"Yes," I say. "didn't you hear? They're running on the same ticket."

Needless to say, that was the end of our short conversation.
And the music played on......