Zebra Teeth

Unexpected. Like a chill breeze across your bare shoulders in the afternoon heat of July.
Welcomed. Purely.
Without notice a beautiful thing sweeps into your path.. you do not question where it came from, you don't ask where it is headed, or for how long it will be with you..
you respond only with a tiger embrace, a smile, and let it dance along your skin for the remarkable moments that it lasts.
Unexpected. Without expectations.
These experiences cannot be contained or explained away. They are completely ours - and at the same time they will never belong to us.
Open hands & open doorways. Our souls treasure that freedom.
I am grateful for the teeth of Zebras that travel thousands of miles across oceans and forests.. to find me, unexpectedly - they bring life to the inside of my words.
I will enjoy you until motion parts our ways.




Andrew Tipton

take yourself away

"Take yourself away, there is nothing to love; there is nothing to hate."
- T.



Stand still for a moment, let your thoughts slow to a distant murmur, let your hands and heart unclench.. let schedules and expectations drift from your mind, and listen to what existence is asking from you.
What are the trees asking from you?
What is the night air asking from you?
What does the sun ask from you?
What do the rivers and the stone streets ask from you?
What do dolphins ask from you.. or the seasons?
What about the grass in your lawn, or the hoot owl in the park?
What does this world desire from you? What does this world want you to be?
If you're still enough, you will hear complete silence - this is the sound of the world without the chatter of our own thoughts. The sound of a world that asks nothing from us; stillness opens our ears and our eyes to an existence that solicits no pressure, no agenda, no need, and no requests.

So much of our time is spent living under the blurry conviction of purpose. Most of us assume it comes from an outside source; we assume that we were just born into a world that has demands which must be met, goals which must be accomplished - we never question the pressures of life, neither do we question the assumptions that keep us in perpetual frustration. Often, we find ourselves attempting to live up to an ambiguous standard without ever truly identifying the source..
Most of the time we don't realize that we are the ones giving ourselves purpose. Everything we think we should become, or achieve, or possess in this world, the pressure is all created in our own minds.

If we take ourselves away... the self that echos the mantra of "I must be _______.".. we see life as being neither pressure nor futility; our lives become an powerfully empty page, where anything can be written.





(Andrew Tipton)

senses

Copper rings on our fingers,
green circles so we remember,
Remember these,
the color of colors - vivid, livid, always at our window.
the slopes of Camden speckled blue in August,
wild splendors held in your flashing eyes.
Remember scent also,
the majesty of anticipation,
seduction of the breezes, never fully introduced,
yet adored - goddess of a mother's kitchen.
And touch,
to behold a face in the darkest shadows,
to gently caress the texture of canyon walls,
fingertips, lips, our shoulders beneath the surface of wave,
how sensuous, how tremendous.
Remember avocado, smooth to the edges of a tongue,
this writhing lover - sensation,
my dearest gifts and my most sincere offerings,
linger here gently, slow these flavors, drift aimlessly into my mind.
Remember our voice,
whispers trembling deep - down into our pleasure,
a thought breathed into existence,
the playfulness and the motion of music,
having its way with our souls - exposing tears, kindling rage,
first language, poetry of only vibrations.
Miraculous.
Remember these senses, these all together,
leave me senseless.



Andrew Tipton

Be Where You Are

I dream of adventure.

Even while I am on adventures, I am dreaming of more adventures.. the thrill, the challenge, the pursuit of the unknown, the sensuous, the vibrant! Nothing in this world satiates me more than embarking on an expedition to some unknown destination, or flirting with the edge of danger.
On the days when I feel farthest from mountains, or surf, or danger.. sometimes it drives me near mad. I lose myself occasionally to the daydreams of turbulent waves... or to the make believe stories between myself and a beautiful Brazilian salsa dancer.. I even spend late evenings fantasizing about exotic experiences, while staring blankly at the pornography of Google Maps. Adventure is my weakness.

My sister wrote in my journal a few weeks ago, I didn't read her entry until yesterday afternoon.. but when I did it struck me with honest potency.. her entry reads as follows:

"Contentment
with yourself as you are.
as you were
as you will change.
with others as they are
to rest
to listen
with the moment
to rest
to listen
to just love what is familiar
to enjoy diversity
within your soul
to rest
to listen
to know you are loved
by God.
Joy.
I love living. I love you.

I am fortunate to have such a wise younger sister. Wise words especially for a boy struck with wander-lust. This life is always stunning, even in the places that seem ordinary and predictable. "to rest" - to listen.... the earth cries out to you and I for our awareness, for our silence at times.. just simply to realize how extraordinary we are... we have been.. we will always be.







Andrew Tipton

candlelight mentality

"The light of modern consciousness is not gentle or reverent; it lacks graciousness in the presence of mystery; it wants to unriddle and control the unknown. ...too direct and clear to befriend the shadowed world of the soul. It is not hospitable to what is reserved and hidden.
(Candlelight) The ideal light to befriend the darkness, it gently opens up caverns in the darkness and prompts the imagination into activity. The candle allows darkness to keep its secrets.. Candlelight perception has the finesse and reverence appropriate to the mystery and autonomy of the soul."

- Anam Cara

The words of John O'Donohue are a sweet reminder of the subtle sensuousness of enigmas; the places and people that remain unmolested by my desperate desire to know. It seems like this world has started to revolve around "knowing", like we are infatuated with it - with explanations and conclusions. We want to know everything. The whys, the reasons... a never-ending pursuit to shed a white light in every dark and mysterious corner. It sounds admirable: to discover things, to understand and dissect and comprehend.. and yet, I have to wonder sometimes if our need to unveil is not an effect of fear, rather than curiosity? After all, if we do not have an answer for something, how can we ever control it? And when we cannot control something.. who knows what will happen?

I love mystery. I have secrets.
Truly, the most interesting people I know are entirely mysterious. The seduction of the unknown, is that I get to use my own delicious imagination. The thrill of ideas and thoughts, and these elaborate passages that twist and writhe deep into my mind.. there is nothing better to me than savoring the magic of the unanswered questions. This is sincerely true when it comes to relationships.
Most times, I think our gut reaction is to shine a light deeply into a person.. to expose every area of who and what they are. We are afraid that if we don't know everything about them, we can't understand them... we can't predict their actions... we can't control them. Not knowing, much of the time scares the shit out of us! We are terrified of what could be. But isn't that what intrigues us to begin with?
Isn't that the good part? The mystery?

What if we use a candle light mentality towards each other?
What if we were content with the mystery and the darkness of ourselves and others? To respect and honor the sacred part of our souls.. of our very being. It is beautiful that we can offer that courtesy to one another - to let ourselves exist freely without knowing. I do not wish fear to take away my pleasure.. mysteriousness, is a captivating delight.




Andrew Tipton

Music

"We do not create music; we only create the conditions so that she can appear."
- Sergiu Celibidache

a wild and unknown thing..

Friendship is a perplexing and delightful creature.
Limited only by my imagination, and often unquestioned in my thoughts, I have silently been telling myself "what" and "how" I shall be a Friend: it must be this, it cannot be that.. For years, friendship has remained humbly within the bounds of expectation - unable to spread its powerful wings.

These past few days have been spent surfing hurricane waves in the gulf.
From the moment I splashed into the water, and the first large swell washed over my surfboard, I have not stopped considering the beautiful possibilities of friendship.
The ocean speaks of fluidity and movement; it is a place that is neither safe nor predictable; it offers pleasure to those that know it, and yet always there is mystery, always intrigue - I love it for being this way. Perhaps the experience of friendship can exist in that same rhythm - a place between humans that is free to take whatever shape and motion we desire.
Surfing inside of these waves.. inside of their pleasure, and their terror.. I see that friendship can be open and completely evident.. it can be sensuous and filled with mystery.. friendship can be playful and hilarious.. it can be intense and quiet.. it can be the whispers across the lips of a lover, or the clasp of hands between brothers.. equal in their own right. A wild and unknown thing!
The possibilities of friendships are endlessly ours..
offering the courtesy of that thought to ourselves completely, and to our friends as well.





Andrew Tipton