They’ve built the Sukkot sukkah to remember wandering for forty years in the desert. Vegetables and fruits cover the grass mat where they will eat supper.
The sky is quiet now, but the two year old refuses to come out from under her bed where she feels safe. It’s been this way for weeks, months. It’s worse when planes are flying. If Bubbie brings food to her, she can lure the toddler into the open.
The child comes, but will not eat, as if she could control the planes this way, by waiting for peace before she breaks her fast.
The day before the election results come in, I’m anxious. I shuffle and create a spread, laying Tarot cards on the counter. The High Priestess represents my question. This card symbolizes divine law. The future is hidden, but intuition can be a flashlight in the dark. Which way to go? Towards integrity or expedience? It is an uneasy choice.
The Tower and the Ace of Wands (reversed) suggest a past where change has been postponed. We struggle to transform an outmoded system. It will take longer than one election cycle to develop the collective awareness required to come to consensus. In the short term, established institutions will remain in place.
How does one cope? The Hanged Man suggests a pause, a rebirth, and a reassertion of the feminine principle. Integration comes from a process of sifting facts, feelings, and thoughts together. Can we do it? The Six of Pentacles (reversed) points to money selfishly misused, an environment that must change. The Emperor is the X-factor, the unexpected outcome. The card represents rule by force under patriarchal institutions. If this is the election’s outcome, I hope we unite to change direction and reach for a different future under the rainbow card.
Immigrants are the lifeblood of America. They bring hope, energy, and optimism. Different languages and cultures enrich this country. We’re better together.
It’s a story that’s been told before. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We all came in on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.” I heard it in a Malvina Reynolds song.
Most people don’t remember that song. The sentiment has drowned in a sea of anti-immigrant vitriol that’s threatening our most precious import. And here you thought it was silicon chips or fast fashion. Don’t be fooled. We need a path, not a wall.
Death disrupts life’s everydayness. Ends the companionship of eating together, Evening walks and midnight talks With friends and family.
Ends the companionship of eating together, Thoughts shared, words and deeds. These bring us close With friends and family, Confer death its sting through everyday loss.
Thoughts shared, words and deeds, these bring us close. Long before we die these precious threads loosen, Confer death its sting through everyday loss. Everyday loss creeps up, settles in softly
Long before we die these precious threads loosen, Evening walks and midnight talks. Everyday loss creeps up, settles in softly. Death disrupts life’s everydayness.
The donkey brayed a breathless alarm at a skateboard whizzing past its enclosure. The rider screeched with abandon, a bullet speeding down the hill. The sound itself was a warning. One after another, pedestrians on the path moved to give way. Old ladies in saris and young mothers with toddlers moved slowly, but move they did.
With a clear path around the pond, the skateboarder took the incline fast. He leaned, leaned too much and landed in the drink. He sputtered algae, happy the day was warm, undeterred by the sudden spill. Past the donkey he trudged to try again.
Word spread fast. One juggler tossed two primary colored clubs in the air. Four more brought sixteen hoops. 256 arrived with torches. 4096 watched. The park filled; the street was jammed with merrymakers.
The mayor juggled two, four, sixteen apples from his shopping bag in a continuous cascade of 256 rounds without dropping a single pomme. Someone took a picture that went viral.
The governor attended in a wheelchair. She motored over grassy ground, glad-handing as people made way for her under a sky filled with balloons. Above the crowded scene, an airplane drew Exponential Celebration so all could see.
Monica's Monday Morning Flash 