My Friend Joshua

You create. The life around you.
And people notice.
They wonder at the things you make.
The beautiful way. the nonsense way.
You sing. and speak. and walk.
I think the world needs you.
Your curiousness and your bewilderment.
my friend.
You are the gold in a sunset,
you are the tears in a laugh,
I don't know anyone who dreams as much as you.
I don't know anyone who believes in dreams as much as you.
You make good things better.
You keep joy in your pocket and bring it to parties.
My friend.
Sometimes I hate you and love you all at once.
Sometimes there is nothing to do but listen to one of your songs.
And smile.

I'm not sure if can feel my energy tonight,.
but I'm sure giving a lot to you.
Good vibes. Good vibes.
It hurts to know you hurt.. I think it would be easier if it was me.
There is a lonliness in a friend's pain.. that makes you want to sit down.
And close your eyes. And somehow change everything back.
I just wanted to get that out..
My friend.
You're irreplaceable.
You've carved a nook in my heart, and it is just your size.. nothing else fits.
So I hope you rest well tonight and feel better in the morning.




Your Friend,

All the human birds

Despite my own truth that our "self" is not truly human, we are left with our presence in our human bodies. i feel as thought there are two options for those of us who come to this realization, we can defy our physical being in favor of the conscious / thought that we understand ourselves to be, or we can accept the truth and embrace our humanity / our presence on the earth.
There is a difference here, because I don't think that embracing our human experience, and being willed by our human experience are the same thing. In my mind, as we see ourselves as separate from the physical world, it shouldn't take away from the experience of humanity. It is an opportunity for us to freely explore the physical, emotional and irrational side of WHAT we are. Our human bodies are our windows to the world, we are connected by our physical self; it is not WHO we are, but it is how we perceive the physical experience. Almost an alternate reality in a way.
Surprisingly, I am finding that as we accept, learn and enjoy the human side of ourselves, we begin to enjoy the human side of people - other people. What we love and see in ourselves as a human, can be felt, observed and reflected back to us by other humans. Its as if we are the mirror through which our experience of humanity can be seen. We start to see that humans are bound together by our common physical presence - we are a consciousness that is living out the same physical story!

How do we enjoy our human experience without being attached to our human self?
I would suggest that we view our human-ness in its truest light - that we are a consciousness fulfilling a physical form. Just as you can imagine a consciousness filling the physical body of a bird, or of a tree. The bird soars and glides on the wind, accepting and embracing its "bird" condition. A tree grows tall and powerful, spreading its beautiful branches, displaying its leaves - accepting and living its physical capacity. It is consciousness contained in another form.. just like us.

As we explore our human condition, we see our senses, our emotions, our creativity, we acknowledge our ability to cry and laugh and scream, and die, and run, and hurt, and feel pleasure. We divide ourselves from "self", from the consciousness that we are, and allow our human sides the privilege of being human. It whatever capacity that may be. It is a beautiful thing to be human I believe.




Andrew Tipton

Our skins and stubborn bones

There is nothing. Like it.
Starts low, feels low inside deep
between the fibers and the muscles.
An urge. Desire. Crawls up in slow chords
like an onyx dragon.
Whispering close to your throat.
Each exhale is a gift and is terrifying.
Nowhere to hide from the thought.
That you were born to rule.
This moment. Is your tree house.
Is your dark chocolate.
Is your
summer dance.
As you play with the idea,
color grows wild through your intentions.
The horizon line, blown out background.
Hope.
Comes in colors. Feels like colors. It remains when you close your wings,
still there when you open them.
Its on the inside out.
The part of your stomach that loves rain
and photographs of wild horses.
Because sometimes,
you also imagine that you are a horse.
That your life is about running.
The pleasure. And the weight of it.
The stumble. And the sex of it.
You feel it inside. Breaking your seams.
You were born for. Being here.
Here. This place.
The knowing.
That there is no lack of beauty.
Only how we touch it.
We live on the words of strangers, and
The rough licks of our memories,
tucked away in our shirt pockets.


Andrew Tipton

The Human Condition

"... I feel that I am a man. And I feel that man is a very important thing -- Maybe even more important than a star. This is not theology. I have no bent towards gods. But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe." - John Steinbeck


I think he saw what I have missed. The experience of being human.. the tremendous wonder of it.
I have spent years looking into the eyes and mind of our natural world.. the details, the stones, the trees, the sky.. but I feel like I have overlooked the sacredness of my own existence. In a way, avoiding the very condition that enables my perception.
I am human. And for the first time, I'm beginning to enjoy that humanity. Not just mine, but ours.




Andrew Tipton

Drops on the Branches

Andrew Tipton

If you want a revolution

If you want a revolution
return to your childhood
and kick out the bottom

don't mistake changing
headlines for change

if you want freedom
don't mistake circles
for revolutions

think in terms of living
and know
you are dying
and wonder why

if you want a revolution
learn to grow in spirals
always being able to return
to your childhood
and kick out the bottom

This is what I've been
trying to say - if you
attack the structure -
the system - the establishment
you attack yourself
KNOW THIS!
& attack if you must
challenge yourself externally

but if you want a revolution
return to your childhood
and kick our the bottom

be able to change
yr own internal chemistry

walk down the street
& flash lights in yr head
at children

this is not a game
your childhood
is the foundation
of the system

walk down the street
flash lights in yr head
at children but be way
of anyone old enough to kill

learn how to disappear

before they can find you

(that is, if you want to
stay alive)

if you want a revolution
do it "together"
but don't get trapped in
words or systems

people are people
no matter what politics
color or words they use
& they all have children
buried in their head

if you want a revolution
grow a new mind
& do it quietly
if you can

return to your childhood
and kick out the bottom
then become a being
not dependent on words
for seeing

whenever you get bored
change headlines
colors politics words
change women

but if you really want
a revolution
learn how to change
your internal chemistry
then go beyond that

walk down the streets
& flash light at
yourself




D.A LEVY

Climbing Trees In Rainstorms

This afternoon it rained... first time in over a month.
I almost forgot the scent of it.. the way it feels in September when it comes in sweet and cool.
I had to celebrate; I bought a bottle of wine for the occasion.
Stripped down to my shorts and took off into the storm.


You think to yourself half-way up a tree in a storm, that maybe you are crazy..
Maybe this climb, with a bottle of Merlot in one hand and a glass in the other is the opposite of a good idea.
One branch, two, three branches.. higher. Up up.
By branch four, you realize you are indeed crazy, and there is no sense in faking sanity. Even for the sake of appearances.
Sanity is an annoyance most of the time anyway. It always clings to my shoulders like a wet jacket.. one I wish I could take off and leave draped over a branch somewhere, and never come back for.
Right now, my arms clutching branches twenty feet up, I'm happy to leave sanity on the ground. (Let him stay down there for all I care)

Finally, I'm in the tree. Pressed against the trunk and a sturdy limb. Nine branches up.
The rain is coming down thick.. drowning out sound.. roaring as it splashes off the wide fat leaves. I feel like an orangutan in the rain forest. A obscenely wobbly orangutan with a bottle of wine.
I wrap my legs around the branch below me and pour myself a glass..
As I sip, I notice how the rain drops feel cool against my skin.. and how the wine feels warm, almost gentle. Sweet red goodness!
The tree sways gently. I can't see out very well.. I am surrounded by layers of thick green leaves.. and beyond the leaves are millions of raindrops. The rain saturates every pore of my body.. my eyes, my nose, my mouth.. it gets in my glass of wine. It is a wild feeling to be soaking wet.. and to be very high off the ground. I laugh at that thought.
Its probably the wine.. but I start to sing. I don't know why but it feels right. I sing about the tree. I sing about the rain.. to the rain, like its someone I know. I sing to my body. To my ears.
The rain is so loud I can barely hear myself.. but what does it matter.
this is a celebration after all!


When we leave a day behind.. I wonder what it thinks about us?
Is it glad to be finally done with us... or sad to see us go?
I wondered that as I was climbing down.




Andrew Tipton