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This book is a combo of poetry, one long essay, and activism.
From backyards to boardrooms, instead of feeling powerless there is something you can do. After each poem are suggestions, ideas, and links in 6 categories. The essay, interwoven throughout, provides an informative, insightful, and, perhaps to some, startling look at the machinations of empire and society, along with ideas for how to connect with one’s original nature which is connected with both Mother Nature and Spirit Worlds.
As a follow up to the recent publication of "On Behalf Of Those Who Speak Different Languages", listen to the interview and discussion with authors Mankh and Ash Straw on Kory French's online radio show "Book Talk" at breakthruradio.com
After clicking on this link Book Talk click on the blue arrow in the circle to listen: "Kory French >"
Book INTRODUCTION
There are places where we, as human beings, intersect and communicate with all beings whether birds, trees, rocks, rain, and so on.
Some of those ‘places’ are: emotions, eye-contact, touch, telepathy, visions, dream-states, and meditations.
Because of language barriers -- whether with birds, trees, rocks, rain, and so on, or with Peoples of different cultures -- People (and that includes trees, etc.) speak different languages.
This book is human speaking to human, while calling attention to those who speak different languages.
The trees will not read this . . . but they provided the paper (recycled) upon which it is writ. The birds will not read this but they hang out with the trees so some of their energy rubs off onto trees from which the paper comes and into which the printing machine impresses the
letters, words and other oddities such as ellipses . . .
As the word itself suggests, “behalf” is only half the story or picture. It’s not an exact equation but this book is a half-truth, the other half being what the various those’€¯s say and do for themselves
Oh, but then there’s another half: what YOU say and do and think and feel . . . as you are affected by these words, this book.
Is the hourglass half-empty or one-and-a-half full?
Why do the math when you can simply connect with those who are a little different from you, help protect them, yourself, and ultimately the Mother Earth who provides for all.
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Builders Of Light
in the evening --
when the day has run
like a stream
trickling off into dry ground --
a candle gets lit
day time
like bees
we begin again
building honeycombs of light
such sweet, hard work
this making of ourselves
lit candles
alongside streams
that don’t ever run dry
OVERVIEW
Though each of us has a true purpose, a function or right-wise work to do (not ‘job,’ though that could be a vehicle for it), becoming a being of light is something each person can do in his/her own way.
self
Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.€¯ - Gautama Buddha
home & environs
Burning candles not only helps save on the electric bill and minimize the carbon footprint, it helps with relaxation, meditation, and the ability to really see more clearly.
technology
Find out about solar lighting and various other lighting fixture energy-saving devises.
community
Is your neighborhood or street properly lighted for purposes of efficiency, such as night driving, or for safety?
cosmic
It’s not called enlightenment for nothing.
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essay excerpt:
NOWADAYS, with technology, you can translate and learn many world languages in a flash. Yet . . . what about the Mother Earth, the Waters, the Air and Winds, the Fire, the Trees Plants Medicine Herbs and Flowers, the Rocks, the Fish, Birds, Four-Leggeds and Insects . . . one must look for other ways to interpret the behaviors and communications.
Guidance might come directly from any of the above mentioned, or from a dream, through symbols, visions, something someone says, divination, meditation . . .
Guidance might also come from the TV. I have received specific and clear messages (to something I had been pondering) from an actor’s lines or from symbolic images in a TV show. Street signs, billboards, license plates, roadway or mailbox numbers might provide an answer, as well. Spirit speaks through whatever form deemed necessary to get the message across....
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MAINSTREAM Capitalism has disrupted the holistic flow and divvied up the stuff. Yet, from a Buddhist perspective it is not simply the stuff that gets in the way, but the attachment to the stuff.
The psychology of greedy, fear-based, lottery-chance of success capitalism, along with the view that the material world IS God (instead of the holistic awareness that Spirit is also IN the material), has given many people an excuse for losing touch with WHERE we get items and WHO they are from. Many people call items, such as desks or coffee-makers, “things”€¯ but - as far as the definition “a material object without life or consciousness; an inanimate object” - this is amnesiatic...
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Reel Mower
went back to the future and bought a push mower
no gas no fumes no cacophony of vibrating noise
and suddenly a pause to talk with people
first time the neighbor waved hi while the mowing
was going on some teens walking by laughed
as if it was a toy and couldn’t do the job
but to see how the blades build up speed
from human push is discovering the whirling gears
that make the universe spin, spin
with its sharp curved blades trimming the grass
and feeding it to itself
a green serpent swallowing its tail
an emerald dragon in an endless Chinese parade
yet the warning that what you carelessly touch
can cut you -- how the world can eat you up
and spit you out how Kronos
after overthrowing his father then fearing the same
eats all but one of his children
and rules for a Golden Age but he too is overthrown --
how we all spin and spin
yet look for the way
to walk the razor’s edge
to shake the wheel of time
to break this pungent trance
Ā
ascend as light as dandelion fluff
lift up
the twilight sky
pull back the curtain
on this whole charade
and walk the fields
fine grass between the toes
with head that’s crowned among the stars
and heart that knows no difference
OVERVIEW
In the post WWII 1950s, Americans became brainwashed that chemical lawn care products producing perfectly green nazi grass (each blade at the exact same height) were the ticket to God’s little acre. Clover and dandelion, for examples, have positive uses.
self
When it comes to the lawn and yard, do you care more about your self-image or the well-being of Mother Earth and her other-than-two-legged relations?
home & environs
- 30% of water used on the East Coast goes to watering lawns; 60% on the West Coast. - 18% of municipal solid waste is composed of yard waste. - The average suburban lawn received 10 times as much chemical pesticide per acre as farmland. - Over 70 million tons of fertilizers and pesticides are applied to residential lawns and gardens annually. - Per hour of operation, a gas lawn mower emits 10-12 times as much hydrocarbon as a typical auto. A weedeater emits 21 times more and a leaf blower 34 times more. - Where pesticides are used, 60 - 90% of earthworms are killed. Earthworms are important for soil health.2
- US National Wildlife Federation
technology
While a leaf blower may help an elderly person get yard work done, consider the noise and air pollution from all the electric and gas-powered gadgets.
community
The use of pesticides and other chemicals to care for lawns has also lead to the death of nearly 7 million birds each year . . . Composting is one way to help nourish soil organically.
cosmic
Father Sky Mother Earth, As Above So Below. If you knew something was poisonous, would you feed it to your mother?
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essay excerpt:
There are perhaps two ways of being that the mainstream likes to dam(n). One is wildness and the other is stillness. While signs like “No loiterering - No stopping - No standing”€¯ serve a logistical purpose they also reflect a culture that does not want you to slow down and think, stop and meditate. Fenced-in land with “No trespassing - State property”¯ not only stole the Original Inhabitants land but also the tax-paying Settler’s (sort of). The Powers That Bank don’t want you to play in the wilderness, though sometimes they’ll let you pay to get in.
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The cover and text are made from 100% recycled papers.
The essay and poems were written by Mankh, and the six categories written by Mankh with assistance from Ash Straw.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is a writer, editor, small press publisher, and Turtle Islander. His poems and essays are published online and in print. He is an essayist and resident poet on www.axisoflogic.com. Mankh teaches haiku, brush calligraphy, and balancing Eastern-Western traditions. He hosts an audio show Between the Lines: listening to literature online€¯ which can be accessed at: www.allbook-books.com. He also enjoys nature, listening to music, learning about various spiritual traditions, and keeping up with world news and cultural trends. He avoids pontificating and is an avid punster.
Ash Straw is a certified yoga teacher, multi-disciplinary artist and lifelong student of Eastern philosophies. She is committed to the use of art as a vehicle for healing. Ash writes, paints, and performs. She advocates for non- participation in the traditionally dominant materialist paradigm, non-violent communication and Love. For more of her writing: http://limitlesslightworks.wordpress.com/
Website © 2017-2020 by Walter E. Harris III. All rights reserved.
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