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DREAMING IN BLACK AND
WHITE
From the gray, foggy
recesses of my mind, heart and soul...
Little Boxes...home
in the 50s.
LITTLE BOXES
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes
Little boxes
Little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
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Charles Dickens wrote: "It was the
best of times, it was the worst of times." That probably sums up
everyone's childhood. For the most part, this is the house where
I grew up. Fifties and Early Sixties in America--prosperity was
just around the corner and there was a communist wanting to hide under
every bed. One car was parked out back and there was often a
chicken in the pot. The TV had three snowy black and white
channels that featured a dullness we found intriguing.
Then one
night I discovered the sound of far away radio
stations...the sound of an outward bound train could not have been so
exciting. A journey has to start somewhere and for good or ill it
started here for me.
THIS OLD
HOUSE
"This ole
house
once knew my children
This ole
house
once knew my wife
This ole
house was
home and comfort
as we
fought the storms of life
This ole
house
once rang with laughter
This ole
house
heard many shouts
Now she
trembles
in the darkness
When the
lightnin'
walks about..." |
This Old
House was sung by Stuart Hamblin
(Yeah, I know he was talking about more than a
house)
Pete
Seeger made Little Boxes a hit.
(He was inspired by post war housing
projects like Levitown. He was also commenting on the
depressing sameness and lockstep conformity of society.)
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The woods where I grew up...man and
child, I've loved the woods. There is a mystery about the
woods—especially about being alone in the woods. Maybe it is just
some left over conditioning from a past life.
Maybe it is a sense of
danger. Traveling and sleeping alone in
the wilderness is a powerful thing. It's dangerous for sure, but
it has the mind clearing power of meditation and contemplation.
Today, the woods of my youth
contain condos and apartments. Some
people think it's progress.
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"But I would rather
be with you,
somewhere in San Francisco on a back porch in July..."
My lover stands at the Golden Gate...I love
three places on
Earth: Machu Pichu, San Francisco and anywhere she is.
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
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Jerry Garcia
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My spiritual
brother. I miss him dearly.
"It's been like this in Terrapin
since wild geese and tumbleweeds graced this way,
it'll be this way in Terrapin by nature and default,
it'll roll and rock like this
when the bet is placed to live one's choice.
First thoughts are ever truth’s sublime vintage—
to rise, to fall,
to always know we were always there.
Thunder drives and lightning slashes,
the sky opens as winds rip and drive,
Terrapin...
through it all and still further through it all,
Terrapin...
choose the world in which to live,
choose the ends and beginnings.
Such are Terrapin's voices
and Terrapin's stories,
Such are Terrapin's choices
and Terrapin's glories." |
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JESUS AND
JOSEPH'S JOURNEY
Caught
between The Wallowa and Canada,
so many
byways and highways,
so long a
path of sanguine thought laden flight,
Karmic
doubt against steppe and plain,
lunging in
fear,
headlong
toward peaks and canyons,
heart sick
and heart strong--
here it is
and surely there it goes,
this is
pawned for that
and to the
victors belong the rules.
Caught and
trapped,
waylaid,
on the road
and off the road,
somewhere
'tween here and God's holy smile,
a place
staked out just this side of insanity,
mountains
in the view enough to be outta reach,
mountains
now the laugh of despots.
Caught now
in mid-dream,
trudging
amid practiced schemes,
trapped
now,
in holy
rolling tumbling streams,
lost and
limping
in the
rushing path of high country early rains.
Caught
between spirits and reality,
so many
ways and troubled means,
here it was
and there it faded,
most is
lost in hopeless flight,
all is gone
in the path of night. |
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THUNDER
ROLLING DOWN
FROM
THE MOUNTAIN
"Hin
Ma Toy Ya Lot Ket"
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
1840-1904
Cheated and tricked out of his home, Joseph
led his people toward
Canada in the pursuit
of peace. They were chased and finally
captured within a short distance of what they
thought would be a
haven. |
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My main web page is located at http://www.billstockland.com
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