*rAndOm piCks*

[spirited_0wl]

Once upon a time, in an old Inuit legend, the hunter Kiviuq met a beautiful woman who in reality was a goose. He married her anyway and as time passed, the goose-woman decided she wanted to eat her own foods instead of the caribou and seal meat that her husband liked. Kiviuq insisted that she eat human food, so the goose-woman gathered her children and flew with them far away, to the south. When he returned, his family was gone. He searched for them everywhere. One day he met a man who created fish from wood. He made Kiviuq a large fish to carry him to sea to search for his family. He found them and decided that he didn't care what they ate. They returned north, together, and each let the other live as he or she wised.

'Metaphor for Inuit existence.'

[spirited_0wl]

"Ellos ven muy mucho de lejos y determinan lo que ven mas que otros.
Parece que con la vista penetran los corazones de los hombres.
Y tienen comunmente los ojos hermosos. Oyen tambien muy mucho,
huelen cualquiera cosa de muy lejos, aunque sea entre los montes.
Lo mismo es del gusto. El sentido del tacto tienenlo en gran igualdad."
Fray Bartolome De Las Casas

[thesoftertouch]

"Just so, you might say to them: "The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming, that he laughed, and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists." And what good would it do to tell them that? They would shrug their shoulders, and treat you like a child. But if you said to them: "The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612," then they would be convinced, and leave you in peace from their questions." (The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupéry)

[spirited_0wl]

wild flowers she chose
the lyrics that transported
untamed swamp lands
clan of ravens
spurs of light in the woods
entwined slumber
dreams of fallen beads
the wandering warrior
I didn't believe
but now I see.

[thesoftertouch]

"What to do, then, with the figure referred to, in various times and circumstances, as the "mannish lesbian," the "true invert," the "bull dagger," or the "butch"? You see her in old photographs or paintings with legs solidly planted, wearing a top hat and a man's jacket, staring defiantly out of the frame, her hair slicked back or clipped over her ears; or you meet her on the street in T-shirt and boots, squiring a brassily elegant woman on one tattooed arm. She is an embarrassment indeed to a political movement that swears it is the enemy of traditional gender categories and yet validates lesbianism as the ultimate form of femaleness." (The Mythic Mannish Lesbian)

[spirited_0wl]

"If everyone could only grasp the simple fact that they alone are their own keeper. Only they have total control over their own destiny. Nothing should interfere with their spirit's promptings. In the end, each spirit must account for its failure, whether that failure-of-purpose be caused from family, material goods, social or business." -m.s.r

[Gypsyboi]

Look in Surprising Places

*I made connection with a pair of eyes, and thought. 'This is incredible; these eyes are penetrating me.' I went through the whole performance just relating to those eyes, giving the whole thing to those eyes. When curtain call finally came, I looked in the direction of those eyes, and it was a seeing-eye dog... I couldn't get over it-the compassion and intensity and understanding in those eyes., and it was a dog.*
~Al Pacino, about a theatrical performance

The Practice of Kindness

[spirited_0wl]

If you're free you'll never see the walls

If your head is clear you'll never free fall

If you're right you'll never fear the wrong

If your head is high you'll never fear at all.

-Exploder

[spirited_0wl]

"The woman who starts the race is not the same woman who finishes the race."

[spirited_0wl]

"As you sit or stand there reading these words from me, you are spinning around on the earth at a speed of 24,000 mph. And this entire solar system is moving across this galaxy at blinding speeds. Star child, we are barely held together by magical forces which prevents us from being pulled apart by cosmic dynamics beyond our control. And that is just our physical existence....when we travel spiritually we move thru time and space in ways beyond imagination."

-One Bear

[spirited_0wl]

There's definitely something to be said for being idealistic, even for more practical types, like you. You can be just as romantic as the next person, however, just as long as you know you stand a chance of having that dream become an actual reality. In that case, your earthy nature will lead you toward a relentless pursuit of that dream -- which just might be the exact thing you're experiencing now.

7.13.05
Capricorn

[spirited_0wl]

Love him or loathe him, he nailed this one right on the head.

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.
If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.

Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.

Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.
We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?
However, our own U.S. Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.
If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harm's way receives a pension of $15,000 per month.
I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting .

By Rush Limbaugh

[spirited_0wl]

"You'll never leave. You're going to stay planted in the middle of the neighborhood like a tree. It's not that your roots are holding you back, it's that people like you aren't capable of venturing farther than you can see. They fantasize about distant lands, endless highways, and incredible adventures because they'll never be able to make them real."

-The Swallows of Kabul

[spirited_0wl]

blended coloring
bumpy textures
shiny surfaces
earth tones
paramids
vibrant
rattlles
stripes
sleek
spots

-beauty in snake skin

[spirited_0wl]

'Now I understand what your dear Toby meant when he said he tells the ghosts, "Nothing stops." It keeps flowing, and we ultimately become what we truely are, some sooner than others. So, please pass along to him that I'm finally having my cake and eating it, too, for once I realized that I want to love and be loved as strongly as I want to be free, I was able to figure out how to do it. Please tell him that I am now living what I wanted to be.

-Judith

Divining Women

[spirited_0wl]

Joseph's analogy on life.

Life is like an ice-cube tray

If you try to rush it by filling it to quickly, the water splashes out

and takes too long, of course filling it too slowly has the same

results

If left in the freezing cold too long, the ice becomes rancid, making

it unusable.

If left in the heat too long it dissappears. {connection} It's those

who are always rusing, and those who are always waiting that lose out.

The fortunate few that can obtain a happy medium, are the ones that

can

sit and relax in the warm sun, and enjoy a cold drink with plenty of

ice.

-Joseph Lawstoski

[ALICESHOUSE]

Curiosity

''I'm like a cat,you know,like Curiosity Killed the Cat.I'm like a cat that knows know NO!..you know what i mean,what i mean is its like a cat that knows no boundaries,you know,knows no fence or gate in the way,not knowing there's a big ass dog,big as night,on the other side..waiting to grab me,and shake me and leave me laying there,on the ground,bleeding,with my guts hanging out.You know,dying..But does that scare me!?..NO!!''-Over head conversation between two women,one talking about life in general.

[poohbear]

"There's this wonderful quote from (Paul Bowles' 1949 novel) The Sheltering Sky (paraphrasing): "Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, and yet everything happens only a certain number of times . How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood that is so deeply a part of your being you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps, twenty. And yet it all seems limitless." ~ Brandon Lee

[spirited_0wl]

she wants to die she says..
to think...hurts..
trust no one with my heart
hurts
she says.

will you save me if you were
to see me fall....leave a comment
she asks.
i dont want to be saved, stranger..
but will you be so cruel to save
me..?

i pull anymore than be willing
to let you push I say.
dont condem me because i wonder
about you.

you remind me of someone
i knew you.
I cross roads...i come and go
do you still want to come


....or go.

-suicidal girl

[thesoftertouch]

"The room we took at the Hotel Tonic was on the top floor. It had three beds with candlewick counterpanes and a view over the rooftops of the street. Opposite us, cut into the frame of the window, was a boy dancing alone to a Tina Turner record. We leaned out against the metal safety bars, watching him, watching the cars pull away. You put your hand on the small of my back under my shirt." (The Powerbook)

[thesoftertouch]

"Dear Joan,

If I were to die before I got to tell you this in person (hopefully later today), I couldn't rest for a long time.

There is a much longer version but I'll cut to the chase: Any moron with enough time and enough lubrication could make me come rubbing my clit. Only Joan can get met this aroused and this contented by rubbing my feet.

This is the real thing.

See you soon.

Love,

M.E."

from: "Beween Us - A legacy of lesbian love letters edited by Kay Turner".

About the letter writers: "LEE to JOAN: This is one of a series of letters which documents a relationship built on difference. We used the metaphors of geography and climate to speak of our passion and fear of drifting apart. Lee wrote from the "Arctic" and Joan from the "Amazon" even though both of us were actually in New York. Lee Hudson is a jock butch academic government-activist who established the first office for the lesbian and gay community in the Mayor's Office of New York. Joan Nestle, author/editor of six books including A Restricted Country, is a fifty six year-old femme New Yorker who co-founded the Lesbian History Archives."

[spirited_0wl]

In a time of war, truth is the first casualty.
In a time of warming, it begins with the ice.
That is followed in short order by plants, animals, fish, birds, and entire ecosystems that are right now migrating toward the poles all over the world in the futile pursuit of stable temperatures.
The next set of casualties is people.
Only the bugs love warming.

-Boiling Point

[spirited_0wl]

winds change.

clarity comes.

with realization

who has you in.

merry-go-round stops turnning.

phases of you unload.

dream once said,

dont believe in everything.

but you must believe in something.

storm rips at seams.

but us in the eye-

all stops.

unwavering.

she believes.

i realize,

i see,

who always had me in.

- for the penobscot raven

[spirited_0wl]

"Then if I were in your situation, I would go out and hang myself; if I had come to the condition that I could not control my own conduct I would put an end to my life".

-Alfred T. Lilly

[spirited_0wl]

a different drummer I heard.

against the current I went to find it

rock formation that erodated

by constant rush of rusted waters

she still sends letters

she cant accept the lines on the palm

i dont need a friend

all its mended, thanks.

just an endless degree of seperation

now that Gabriel attached my wing,

the dark shadow opened the iron gate.

and I...I became the sound the drummer

drummed.

-s.

[spirited_0wl]

Blend
nite's are long
days longer-
mute the sounds
days come,
nites shout
for light to stop
from coming into
my room..
have you slept..?
once feared the
cracks on the wall
when the spirits
would creep thru
begging to be
visible...
see me.
wait till you sleep
so i can wake you
while you're dreaming
dont you feel me?
i heard you,
im up..
so we sit in silence
keeping the spirits
company. waiting for
the nite to creep back
into the cracks we
sit ..
in silence..
them and I..
waiting.
draining my nites
abandoning my days.
sanity doesnt always
blossom in the flowers
we see, the scent
that lingers after the rain...
sometimes its in the
room you dont find sleep in
where the cracks on the wall
mark the opening to
your existence.
insanity is ...
not knowing the difference.
- S

[thesoftertouch]

"I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself."

(DH Lawrence)

[spirited_0wl]

Originally Posted by thesoftertouch

"I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself."

(DH Lawrence)

Now that's one hell of a quote!



My pick: (an old fortune cookie my friend gave me today)

"Some pursue happines; you create it."

[spirited_0wl]

when i shut my eyes..
i can see the raven.

if i die tonight
ive seen beauty.
-s

[spirited_0wl]

Dont you just love it when it rains unexpectedly?
A break from the sun, and the clouds roll in
as if someone just shut the lights out on you.
So comforting.

Middle of the day and its starts pouring. Having a smoke,
all the while the strong winds just cool you off.
Fuckin' love that.
-S

[TheFrozenNorth]

"Every human being should realize that the future of humanity is dependant on their PRESENT actions and thinking.

~H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama.

[spirited_0wl]

In honor of locking myself out of the apt twice in 2 weeks.

Locked Out

When we locked up the house at night,
We always locked the flowers outside
And cut them off from window light.
The time I dreamed the door was tried
And brushed with buttons upon sleeves,
The flowers were out there with the thieves.
Yet nobody molested them!
We did find one nasturtium
Upon the steps with bitten stem.
I may have been to blame for that:
I always thought it must have been
Some Hower I played with as I sat
At dusk to watch the moon down early.
-Rober Frost

[spirited_0wl]

steep hills

makes me think of
speed climbing up
and how good my
legs will look for
all the effort.
going down
makes me think
of getting
on a fast bike
just to go fly
down with.

[spirited_0wl]

I don't scratch my head unless it itches, and I don't dance unless I hear some music and I dont get intimidated. -Remember the Titans

[spirited_0wl]

If you want to learn to lie, I suppose leaving things out is as good a place to start as any.

[thesoftertouch]

CLIFF:
There was a Cabaret
and there was a Master of Ceremonies
and there was a city called Berlin
in a country called Germany.
It was the end of the world...
and I was dancing with Sally Bowles
and we were both fast asleep...

MASTER OF CEREMONIES:
Meine Damen und Herren... Mesdames et
Messieurs... Ladies and Gentlemen.
Where are your troubles now?
Forgotten? I told you so.
We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful...
the girls are beautiful... even the orchestra is
beautiful.

Auf wiedersehen!

A bientot!

[spirited_0wl]

Veined stones,
cracked bolders.

Millions of seconds
to cry over
the roads taken
willingly.

I did all I could.

the best I can
was the best I ever did.

-S

[spirited_0wl]

how fucking dissapointing.
incredibly fustrating.
physically, mentally draining.

got to find some humor in the
irony of it all.

i just might laugh next week.

[desiree]

A complicated life is a life well lived................

I say so. I have the bruises to prove it.

[spirited_0wl]

can't explain what can't be put into words
lost the condition but not the unconditional
what was thought to me to feel left me numb
bittersweet of the irony that leaves me dangling
on the picket fence.
se llevo mi corazon.
what lingers still jumps out at me,
sits and stares
passes by my feet
nothing can't replace what I have given away.
there's a leak in my dam, threatens to
break any minute.
forgive me, I selfishly did it for you.
-S