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Having Been


Having been a seeker,
I danced with watercolors,
I traveled among leather-clad musicians,
who always fed me well.

Having been a thinker,
I slept upon waterfalls beneath
iron mountains, jumping below on occasion to
drink poetry in blue-black corners,

As  a politico,
I made choices from the heart,
stopping every few decades to pick
up the box of assumptions left hanging
in a distant wind.

As a laborer, I worked every hour
for the price of admission to the tent show
called "the system,"
I sat through each performance refusing to
show my appreciation for being allowed
to survive.

When I had been aged enough,
I came to believe in afterthought,
Early mornings are best to recover
all that has been lost.



Comments

Mike Rizzio said…
Having Been intrigued me enough to write a comment. We are in such different places that I sense there is good reason for this attempt. I’ve been to Portland and sat with a homeless vet. I was in California in the late 80’s and ‘felt’ the Watsonville tremor. I ‘was’ a Giant football fan. I fought a forest fire in the Siskiyou Forest, The Silver Complex blaze. I have been among other things and in no particular order: a hawk watcher, an Infantry soldier, a teacher, a fledgling poet, a frustrated song writer, a graphic artist, a storyteller, a gardener, an inventor, a might have been realtor. I have been around a dozen + fewer years than you.
I too am a seeker.
I am now a married Catholic husband and father of three.
Your writing is profound and your take reminds me of a good friend, film critic Henry Cabot Beck who is best friends with my sister Sue.
We do not see I to eye, heck we may be at opposite ends of the spectrum.
I found your site BECAUSE as an dark hour blogger, I go deep for material and a Google Search: Trifecta led me to http://bluesgreene.blogspot.com/2011/03/trifecta.html
Good to meet ya
November 29, 2017 at 3:32 AM
Blues Greene said…
Mike,
Many thanks for taking the time to send a thoughtful comment. Good to meet you too. Yes, we may be at different spots on the spectrum, but I suspect that your views, like mine, are a bit more complicated than labels allow.
As you may know from my bio, I'm a retired teacher and ex-Californian living in Oregon for more than a decade. While I still work with beginning teachers and on rare occasions teach a writing class for grad students in Education, I am trying to find more time to do my own writing and fly fish Oregon's many lakes and streams. It's a struggle, but I use the blog as exercise. I was once a working journalist, with deadlines and got into the habit of writing quickly and going with an idea, no matter how developed it was in my mind. The blog keeps me in shape as most of the posts reflect either something ruminating in my mind for days or emerge when I sit down to write and see what I think about something. Often I'll come back to a post a few days later and add, delete, or develop what's there a bit more.
I take it you are not in California anymore? Your list of have beens is most impressive and certainly explains why you can resonate with some of my thoughts and are the kind of person that values writing. Thanks again.
Best,
Bruce Greene
November 30, 2017 at 12:41 PM
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