Visions in the Backyard

Week 12

Visions in the Backyard

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1.   Empathy, they say, soothes the hurts.

2.   Have you thought the life of a blade of grass? O, the rose
…it gets lots or attention.

3.   What of the lawnmower blade that cuts the blade?

4.   Were it to breathe, it would merely sigh at the question.

5.   How do you feel when you’re seen for who you are?

6.   Never mind that we’re visible; are we seen?

7.   And yes, we must ask, are we seeable?

Blade

I’m leaning sunward slightly,

just doing my job, one of a

million billion blades of grass,

maybe more, in the backyard

of this family. I’m not standing

tall as I was yesterday because the

dad mowed the lawn, as he put it,

and lopped off my top. This afternoon,

though, the young boy in the house is

stretched out on his stomach on us,

looking at our numbers intently. He’s

gliding his palm softly over our chopped

tops. Oh, now he’s pushed back a clump

of us and seems to be taking a special

interest in me. He grabs me between his

thumb and forefinger and yanks me out from my

            root. He places my white base into his mouth,

            sucks on it, rolls it around his tongue; tastes

            something sweet about me. He rolls over

            on his back, closes his eyes,

basks in the warm sun, and keeps my company.

            Then his mother calls him in. He stands,

            lifts me out of his mouth, flips me to the

            ground, and then goes in. In a couple of

days I’ll be dried and withered and

go my way. No matter. I’ve done my job. I ask, not idly,

            would you like to know my supreme joy, having

            reached my full stature, and stood proudly in

            many suns?   Merely this: Having been seen—

            really seen—by this sweet boy.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Eyes Have It Now

Week 11

The Eyes Have It Now

Tweets

1.   A pure moving look of any kind is a treasure. It means you’ve been touched somehow.

2.   A glimpse, a glance, a peering, a probe, even a looking away sends the instant message.

3.   The initiator makes the moving.

4.   The receiver moves the making.

5.   What is required then, after you receive the look?

6.   A pleading, a sadness, hurt, delight, fury, fear, confusion?

7.   This is the WHAT of the being spoken right now. It means more than anything else.

Moment

A pure moving

look

appears as wonder

on the face

of a dog.

Still for a moment,

she looks at you

not knowing

what you will do

next,

waiting to make

her next move.

She has desire

to please.

She has her hopes.

There’s no ball

in your hand

so that’s out,

but what else, then?

Wonder,

a look of love

yours, now,

to give.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Find a Way to Disappear

Week 10

Find a Way to Disappear

Tweets

1.   One could argue that the best thing you can say about someone is that she’s self-less.

2.   Of course, not all agree, and some believe that the selfless person won’t accomplish much.

3.   The servant-leader concept that sprang up at AT&T a half-century ago seems an attempt to blend accomplishment with humility.

4.   The resolution of these poles seems to lie in detachment—a cling-less bearing.

5.   In this case detachment doesn’t mean lack of care, but distancing relinquishing vested interest in favor of the appropriate.

6.   It’s not too much of a stretch to understand appropriateness as flow.

7.   Flow—when the factors all come together like magic--is as close to nothingness as anything I’ve ever experienced.

Blissless

Non-being

is as far

as human language

can go to describe

nothingness.

There have been

only a few times

in my life

when I felt

I wasn’t there

when I was.

No lack

No presence

No thing

Hardly there

Really there

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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When You’re astride the Compass

Week 9

When You’re astride the Compass

Tweets

1.   Rich, indeed, is the person who has a friend whose insights lay him back against the wall.

2.   Who do you know and trust who asks of you what you won’t ask yourself?

3.   If you have such a friend linkage, then you are giving, too, or else he would not find your company suitable.

4.   When the question or statement comes in that trust linkage, it cannot be ignored.

5.   So what does it mean when you leave some situation or somebody? It’s not a slight matter.

6.   Owning the meanings that don’t meet the eye help you grow up. Start early. It will pay you back increasingly as you grow older.

7.   You may not ever know just why you made some move, but it will strengthen you to revisit and perhaps revise.

Exit

One friend

told another,

You can forget

yesterday more

easily than anyone

I’ve met.

Was it a compliment?

Yes, one has to move on.

Was it a criticism?

Yes, one has to mourn,

to know regret, sadness.

Failure can be learning

and in our Janus-faced

dilemmas of time

we can gain even

from loss of all—

a freedom and exhilaration.

When nothing is left

all is available.

But the original comment

friend-to-friend

in true love

had to do with election,

when one does the leaving,

choosing, not chosen.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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