SMALL SQUARE BALES OF BLUESTEM

The best way to continue forward is to 'continue forward'. The weather is grand and the sun plays on the afternoon grass like a vibrant gentle brush stroke. September stalls these days in languid summery-display pushing back the oncoming Autumnal season. One wants to sit in the warm green grass like an ancient monk and appreciate all that is left of the pleasant moments of these days. I have returned from a small town south-east of my farm house to purchase and pick-up bales of hay. I carted my little, stout, green trailer (pulled by my Jeep Wrangler) from here to there and stacking a half-dozen or so square bales returned to the confines of this small farm. Now, I type at the laptop, looking every once in a while outdoors to where the picture of the day is showing its color and vivid beauty through the screen of the window before me. I have buried a favorite dog this week and 'doctored' the rest of my family of beloved pets. It has been stress piled on top of stress but I believe the storm (or canine plague) may be finally over. I can only move on with regret and hopeful promise for the future. It is what we all call life and learning. Sometimes it is f....cking hell. Life moves onward and we all carry different wounds and regrets and panaceas for the better knowing of it all. There is no sword but the sword of the saint as opposed to the sword of the criminal. But, just watch the news any night or day and try to imagine that there is a difference or any kind of justification in the knowledge of any of it. It is what John Lennon once called it, -"The spinning gem of life". It is also what Emerson wrote, - 'Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and as we pass through them they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world with their own hue, and each shows only what lies in its focus.' The way I see it is, - all that we can hope to do is cascade along with the current of the winds and the rivers and try to grab hold of what is hopefully 'true'. Truth, however, is a definition of the mind and the individual. The heart should lead and the mind should decide in unison with it. Of course, not everyone executes this kind of approach. The world is made up of many kinds. Each believes that their way of thinking is correct. The best thing to do sometimes is to stand back and take notice. Make notes! The notes will either enlighten you or confuse you and cause you frustration, but no matter, do not dispair; you can always file them away and use them later to write a 'great American novel' or an 'epic poem'. Meanwhile, I dance with the muse, put on a little Mozart in the barn for the animals, and read Jack Kerouac and Cape Cod poets. I lift square bales from my little green trailer as well. My horse and llamas appreciate this. Life on the farm.... yes, indeed...

-RSC {Elijah, Mo.}