January 21, 2003
Austin, Texas, USA

10:24pm. I'm at Hamilton's Pool with Seed and Paul, reading The Gift, Poems by Hafiz, The Great Sufi Master.

DROPPING KEYS

The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.

While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.

BECOMING HUMAN

Once a man came to me and spoke for hours about
"His great visions of God" he felt he was having.

He asked me for confirmation, saying,
"Are those wondrous dreams true?"

I replied, "How many goats do you have?"

He looked surprised and said,
"I am speaking of sublime visions
And you ask
about goats!"

And I spoke again saying,
"Yes, brother--how many do you have?"

"Well, Hafiz, I have sixty-two."

"And how many wives?"
Again he looked surprised, then said,
"Four."

"How many rose bushes in your garden,
How many children,
Are you parents still alive,
Do you feed the birds in winter?"

And to all he answered.

Then I said,
"You ask me if I thought your visions were true,
I would say that they were if they make you become
More human,

More kind to every creature and plant
That you know.

THE INTELLIGENT MAN

The intelligent man quickly realizes
The impotence of
Gold

FIND A BETTER JOB

Now
That
All your worry
Has proven such an
Unlucrative
Business
Why
Not
Find a better
Job.

Lousy at Math

Once a group of thieves stole a rare diamond
Larger than a goose egg

Its value could have easily bought
One thousand horses

And two thousand acres
Of the most fertile land in Shiraz

The thieves got drunk that night
to celebrate their haul

But during the course of the evening
The effects of the liquor
And their mistrust of each other grew to such
An extant

They decided to divide the stone into pieces.
Of course then the Priceless became lost.

Most everyone is lousy at math
And does that to God--

Dissects the Indivisible One,

By thinking, saying,
"This is my Beloved, he looks like this
And acts like that,

How could that moron over there
Really
Be
God."

I Have Learned so Much

I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
A buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me

Thta I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Soul.

Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ask
And freed
Me

Of every concept and image
My mind has ever known.

THE GREAT RELIGIONS

The
Great religions are the
Ships,

Poets the life
Boats

Every sane person I know has jumped
Overboard.

That is good for business
Isn't it

Hafiz?

This weekend I realized that my life will not get richer-- only my appreciation of it. The Ruta Maya show was a smash. Hamilton pool was amazing-- the 50ft waterfall, huge overhang and massive dripping stalactites, where Paul introduced me to Hafiz. At the full moon Drum circle jam under the freeway, Paul, Derrick, Jim and I juggled fire. I found inspiration and community at the Unitarian Service and later with Kat in her spectacular straw bail home-- the first in Austin. "The straw bail community is very volunteer oriented. That's how you learn to build straw bail --and that's how you build a community," Kat said of the strangers that volunteered to build her house. "They are not strangers anymore; they are family. We live with them daily--they are in our walls." I asked her "What attracts people to Austin?"

"Geographic frequency, like Sedona, but it is changing. People from California are coming and it is changing the frequency. Small towns have a different frequency. As growth changes, with traffic and everything-- it changes the frequency."

At the park we played beach volleyball, Frisbee and juggled, then at Paul's we watched a flick: Fellini's 8 1/2. Monday we march with thousands to celebrate MLK and remind ourselves of the struggle for human rights and that we must act fearlessly, peacefully. After blissful climbing on the greenbelt, we delighted in a fancy dinner party at Blair's mansion/art museum in honor of our wonderful friend Wayne on his birthday. It was elegant affair with a long table surrounded by brilliant people being served by beautiful woman in black dresses.

Today we made show posters at Garza, Austin's only alternative high school, where I'm doing a show tomorrow. Barbara Aviles, the facilitator who invited me there, said, "We help people become adults. Its so nice to be in a place where we celebrate what we can do."