RUNNING INTO YOUR YOUNGER SELF AS A STRANGER

July 16, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

As I revisit the abandoned plans for two early novels, what I encounter feels strange and wondrous – and sometimes sophomoric. Yes, I wrote what appears here, but these days the words could be by a stranger – a youngster I wouldn’t mind meeting. In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential campaign, what had seemed outrageous in my “political science fiction” draft four decades earlier now has an air of prophecy. The other work, a detective novel, revives memories of a potential collaborator no longer among the living. Put together with a little bit more, they create a new book of fiction, one that runs Along the Parallel Tracks of Yin and Yang. As we might say in Zen, these works are what they are. Or what you, too, bring to the story. Enjoy the ride.

~*~

For these stories and more, visit Thistle/Flinch editions.

AS TRULY

July 14, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

the reality of who we are
becomes too unbearable
to sustain

the animal, adorned
over shame

crawl away, then

in whose image
of Creation
are we naked?

O Holy One
casting light within
the diverse exhaustion
yet exposes
and heals

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set, click here.

AS I WROTE TO ISAIAH’S MOTHER

July 14, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

That summer, I read his namesake book again, this time in the New Jerusalem Version, a fresh, scholarly translation that sticks very close to the text—in the process losing poetry while gaining directness. I’ve joked that this version sounds more like a batch of reports from a Quaker meeting’s Peace & Social Concerns Committee than a section from the Bible. Been surprised, too, how early in the text the hopeful, Messianic thread appears to weave through the warnings of doom and gloom; all along, I had thought the first half of the book was dominated by dark jeremiads, with the lightness taking the lead in the second half. Not so!

~*~

For more Seasons of the Spirit, click here.

A BIT OF SWEAT, EVEN IN THE SHADE

July 13, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The mind dances here and there, rarely in a linear fashion. So what’s on my mind these days? How about counting on these fingers?

~*~

Picking peas and raspberries. Then mow the lawn.
The Hour of Visitation: that moment you have to decide. Accept Jesus. Agree to marry. Call the sale. Or it typically slips away. The door closes, sometimes ever so silently. Reopening it may be far more difficult.
On the street, a fat porcupine pondering his shadow.
How many strange events transpire unseen? A sense lingers after a chance observation, a moment of revelation suggesting a much vaster possibility of reality at hand.
My goal is no longer to collect but to cull. I’ve been decollecting as much as I can, one sweep at a time. Recordings, books, notes, clothing … amazing to revisit so much that’s already here! Trail markers from a long journey to now.
She’s often thought I’d be more at home in an earlier era. Well, maybe if I had some wealth and privilege. There, I’ve said it. That edge that’s too often been lacking.
Watching bridge construction in tidal waters, I’ve wondered what keeps the cranes from swaying in the daily rise and fall of the current. Spud Legs, I’m informed, are sunk into the river bottom for stability. What a funny term! As in potato? Naw, more like spud bar. However the name ever originated.
Sometimes life’s a whirlwind. Just what do we do with the calm?
Teaching or translating as their source of income. The world is bigger than that. And so should the literary horizons.
Looking back on your life, can you point to any work you’re truly proud of? Or does even the best somehow fall short?

~*~

So typical of New England, these overlapping neighborhoods. This one's just over the river from us, in South Berwick, Maine. — So typical of New England, these overlapping neighborhoods. This one’s just over the river from us, in South Berwick, Maine.

EXPECTING A CENTER-POINT

July 13, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

their house and yard
lined a three-block street
that wasn’t straight but
bent, twice, away from due north
or an east-west axis

the squirrels there knew nothing of the next
state or globe their world of endless
branching comprehends no sphere

each time he leaped, he’d forget who I am
all the same, gravity fashions
a turn toward chaos or quietude
expecting a center-point
it’s a pattern, yes,
the interlocking repetition
say of old wallpaper
shaping a marriage

of course they like flowers
rolls and glue, page after page,
all through the years
yellowing into decades

whatever turns
you on
makes you sorry
rubs nerves
pulling stuff
like that
live and learn
sweet revenge
isn’t you anyway

flaying those arms in Beulah Land

* * *

of course it was us versus them

* * *

he could hear masons warning new roofing shingles
were needed, pronto, and even he knew what damage a leak
could inflict all before their Great Plumber Shortage
he switched off This Old House episodes where workmen
arrive in time to preclude disaster     his was now nothing
or all kinds of superstition     so his reserves dwindled
even approaching the sump pump     what music, then?
ring around, pocket full of worry
they had a cache of cash

* * *

a true adversary
you soon come to resemble

of course he was furious
returning

to the newly replaced crown molding
they’d gnawed through in an hour

while they nested in the wall
his library reeked

* * *

“Calm? When are you ever calm?”

Poem copyright 2015 by Jnana Hodson
To read the full set of squirrelly poems, click here.

GRAY SEAL PARADISE

July 12, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

They seem to enjoy the backstroke. So do I.

The deck of the Chatham Fish Pier is ideal for viewing gray seals in motion.

The town at the elbow of Cape Cod also includes Monomoy Island, an 8-mile-long sand spit that is home to thousands of the seals, as well as great white sharks feeding on them in recent years.

Seeing four at once is common here. Another had just dived where the gulls now flock.

HANA

July 12, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

with empty matchbooks all about
the apartment stank, as it had
since the 17-year-old sister encamped

at the door, a 50-year-old tattooed
sallow visitor with a front tooth missing
inquired if she was home yet

said he’ll be back tomorrow

To continue, click here.
Copyright 2015

AS FOR WOLF

July 11, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

A wolf is powerful because it eats powerful food, Kokopelli warns me.

As for the girl-chasing man who’s always hungry, it’s “hair-pie,” he grins.

Although I’ve never hunted, I see points at which ancient traditions lurk within modern religious practices. Meditation, high among them, has roots in hunting and gathering. Then, too, there’s the role organized sportsmen have performed in restoring populations of wildlife, and you can learn much from hunters eminently adept at reading animals’ ways in the field. Keep an eye open.

Natures change slowly. The hunt on land and the water has barely begun.

There’s great game beyond food. Much of it, Kokopelli sings, runs through your brain.

For more insights from the American Far West and Kokopelli, click here.

FOXTROT

July 10, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

a rabbit in a bow-tie and party hat
laughs at a departing alligator

people holding umbrellas float over the stage

drowning the kittens as an adult act of mercy

people in yellow raincoats
floating under pink umbrellas
set against clouds

the woodcut sheep now resemble Georgia
a plain chair topped by a salmon-fish rung

a flock of sheep already dyed
twenty-two pigs come singing on the bare ground

“Simple Gifts” in operatic voice

a woodcut of a full stream laughing through a birch forest

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set of Partitas, click here.

WHERE’S THE POWER IN POLITICAL FICTION?

July 9, 2017June 5, 2017 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The limited success of politically-based fiction continues to surprise me. Shakespeare, opera, and Greek tragedy all have their fill of court intrigue and power pl0ys, but modern democracies just don’t seem to stir the same passions. The success of the West Wing television series and a few movies stands as an anomaly. And then there are the lawyers who have built on their own experiences. Still!

Years ago, as science fiction was gaining respectability, I thought I might fuse the two by creating political science fiction, which led to a draft of my Cowboy from Mars. In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential campaign, it’s not as far out as I’d thought. Take a look for yourself. It’s included in Along the Parallel Tracks of Yin and Yang, my new collection of fiction.

~*~

For these stories and more, visit Thistle/Flinch editions.