IT'S WINTER AND I'M NAKED-FACED

IT’S COLD, BUT NOT THAT COLD

In winter
white blankets comfort
hot coffee brings me new life
porridge is my morning friend
so faithful

And though sheets of
ice
sneak up under my feet
and take me down
crashing
I know that I can
be naked faced
and found
with friends

We muck about in
the snow
and breathe deep
sometimes
forget our worries
standing on a mountain
together
In wonder

WORDS/SOUNDS THAT GOT CAUGHT IN MY HAIR TODAY

“BOB-bi.” 1

The sun-warmed snow clunking its way down cedar trees while I snowshoed.

Silence.

“Only then did she realize that she had slept a long time without dying, sobbing in her sleep, and that while she slept, sobbing, she had thought more about Florentino Ariza than about her dead husband.”2

A picture of you holding a picture of me
In the pocket of my blue jeans3

I felt a suddenness
I felt a suddenness
The day fell completely still
The dream was a lot like this4

Old laughter made new with my dear friend Dara.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
1 my little neighbor, Molly.
2 from Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3 from the song “Jolene” by Ray Lamontagne
4 from the song “He Came to Meet Me” by Hem

ASTONISHMENT

I just discovered the repeat button on my Toyota factory stereo . . . TODAY!

This car has been driven by me for four years.

Me!

I am the one who loves to skip her favourite songs back again and again and again . . . and again and again and again. I think I hope that they’ll press into me so hard that they might become a part of my countenance. I know. It is a little bit freaky.

I can’t believe I didn’t even know about this button until TODAY!

Since this beautiful moment of revelation I have listened to the same glorious Over the Rhine song all through this downcast day.

Nothing delights me more.

A SIMPLE POEM I AM WRITING

I WALK AT NIGHT IN EAST VAN
by Bobbi

I walked and walked
to restore my sense of self
after losing bits of it all over the place
in meetings
in teeth cleanings
in my windowless office

I walked and walked
in the spitting rain
to the sanctuary of coffee
I watch the community
come and go
all alone or meeting friends
sipping loudly or just
sipping

I walked and walked
to the Main Plant store
though it wasn’t in my plan
I met a man who loves his plants
and sold me a Peace Lily to clean
the air of the toxins I pick up in the day
all day
and that hide deep in the furniture
and creep out late at night

I walk and walk
breathe deep
keep my mind on the words
I read
by Thomas Merton
one of my new book friends,
a contemplative:

“Every moment
and every event
of every man’s life on
earth plants something
in his soul.
For just as wind carries
thousands of winged seeds, so each moment
brings with it germs of spiritual
vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in
the minds and wills of men.
Most of them unnumbered seeds
perish and are
lost,
because men are not prepared to
receive them:
for such seeds as these cannot spring up
anywhere except in the good soil
of freedom,
spontaneity
and love.”

THE END OF AN ERA

This past weekend I hosted a party: Angie and Bobbi's Last Wingding. Angie has been my roommate for four years. She has been my BC family, a safe and true friend, and someone I am so glad to share lovely/goofy memories with. I don't think I even know how much I am going to miss her.

Here are some of the visual highlights from the party:


The nomads

Paul and Lou: some of our favourite East Van neighbors

Angie the jumping art student

My friends

More friends

Delta peeps

And here are some of my verbal highlights (some of these are visual, too):
++ Angie's fill-the-room-with-that-beautiful-blue shirt
++ Hospitality JOY
++ "Do you mind drinking wine from a mug?"
++ "I'm drinking wine from a mug!!"
++ Sharing sacred living space
++ Beautiful mix of people
++ Collision of worlds