Monthly Archives: April 2013

Kind of Blue

Posted by fragmentedpoet on

It’s early evening and dappled mid-spring light finds its way through half-closed blinds and murky windows, dirtied from last winter.  It was chilly here this afternoon but now the sky has cleared and the late sun is warm and inviting. I’ve got the window open just slightly; it smells of spring rain – earthy and fertile, mixed with cherry blossoms and tulip magnolias.

I’ve just finished baked Atlantic salmon and whole wheat pasta for dinner…still a little buzzed on the ice cold vodka that I’ve allowed myself – oh-so-graciously.

I’m sitting here, writing for all of you, with possibly the best Jazz album ever recorded playing in the background. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. It whets my appetite for creativity just enough to linger here on this page and jot down a few thoughts.

I live in such a high density area right in the heart of the downtown core of Vancouver and all I can hear are robins, soft traffic swooshes and of course, Miles & Bill Evans with Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley soloing, as they make magic with Blue in Green .

Once upon a time when I was in college and in the Jazz program, I owned this LP. It was the first Jazz album I ever bought. Unfortunately it died a sad death in a flooded basement along with my youth.

If you’ve never heard Miles Davis, never listened to Kind of Blue in the dark with your eyes close…I highly recommend it.

It’s a little slice of heaven.

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Life as I Know it.

Posted by fragmentedpoet on

I wonder, sometimes, about the people that I once loved and cared for.

Everyone moves on. They find their love; make a home, then a family, a stable career and suddenly they are set for life. They seem happy, satisfied that they have achieved all of their goals – warm and cozy in their homes, raising children and planning family life.

Me? I flow with the current, a thing of the river and then on to the sea to be taken in and out with the tides.

They belong. To someone, somewhere and somehow they have taken root and flourished. All of them, gardens of colourful flowers and trees that reach to the sky so pristine and part of the earth. They are part of…

How have I missed this? Was I looking too hard for it that it passed by before my very eyes? How did it happen that I still lack a foundation? I build and I build but I am building sand castles. They wash away back into the waves and not a trace is left of me to find.

Maybe I am not meant to stay rooted in one spot but more like a petal that flies in the wind. There is always such constant change and the stability that I have always craved and wished for is never to be found. I am forever in flux, the cusp of a changing season but never the season, itself.

For me, life is not standing still; it’s the dance of rain in a storm. It’s the flight feathers of a bird. I don’t think I’ll ever be held in one spot for long. It is not my nature, and the more I want it the further away it is. I can see it but never grasp it.

I am water, even resting, I move up to the clouds to re-position myself elsewhere just when you may think I’m stagnant. I am air, a constant flow of moving particles. I am flame, spreading wild my cleanse; the path behind me still hot with ashes. I am sky, reaching out with all of me in every direction; part of everything at once.

Earth, I am not.  Perhaps my love is my earth, my constant and my touchstone.  I will wrap myself around him like the atmosphere while his gravity keeps me and binds me to him. This is where I lay my foundation as when the ocean claims it, he becomes the sand in which I re-build.

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Food and Human Evolution

Posted by fragmentedpoet on

Recently, I’ve been reading up on grains and if they are good for us or bad for us (to put it plainly). There are all sorts of arguments about eating a ‘paleo’ diet as our pre-historic ancestors did. There are several things wrong with this theory (in my opinion).

  1. We’ve evolved quite a lot since then (although I’ve a few ex-boyfriends who may prove that point wrong).
  2. There is evidence that humans have been gathering grains in some capacity for approx. 100,000 years. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/174441.php.
  3. Let’s apply simple logic there, boys and girls. Mentally, we were not evolved; it’s not like our cave ancestors had iPhones, were surfing the NET or had even invented the wheel. Simply put: they ate whatever the hell they could get their hands on and I suspect did a lot of experimenting. Mr. And Mrs. Caveman didn’t go to the local Cave Store and pick out what they wanted. Food was hard to come by – we had to go out and find it/dig it out of the ground/pick it from wild trees/hunt it/ kill it.

I’m not overweight or unhealthy. Neither do I live in a gym but I exercise as often as I can. I’m not a vegetarian or vegan. I eat everything in moderation including meat, grain, and alcohol. I don’t smoke. I’m 47 and look pretty young for my age. There is no magic diet out there and trying to eat like we did when we lived in caves is ridiculous. Firstly, all of our food is different. ALL OF IT. Nothing is without some sort of additive or has not been affected due to our pollutants we’ve added to our entire planet. Even organic this and that cannot truly be organic as our very soil – our air, is polluted in some way. Just walk down the street and smell the gas fumes or cigarettes – look up at the sky and see the con-trails by planes.

It’s everywhere.

That all being said, humans are the most adaptable creatures on this planet. We adapt to everything and we will always prevail in some capacity. The answer is to stop eating so much crap. Fast Food is the worst. Don’t drink yourself stupid, don’t smoke for God’s sake – you may as well be sucking up poison.

Moderation, moderation, moderation.