As he felt the snow give way underneath his feet, time slowed or maybe his brain functions quickened, like a tape recording being played fast forward. In any case, the fall one hundred meters into the crevasse gave ample opportunity for random thoughts. He ricocheted from one glacier wall to the other, clawing at ice, leaving bits of skin from his fingers along the surface in homage. He had just resigned himself to the impossibility of slowing his descent, when he stopped sliding with a jolt, feet still hanging in the air. The space between the glacier walls had funnelled down to a width narrower than that of his torso and backpack combined, thus breaking his fall.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins, and taking stock of the situation, he was more than grateful to be conscious and still able to breathe. He tried throwing a sideways glance below him and saw what looked like a huge ice cavern, the ceiling of which was just a few dozen feet below. If he had not been wearing his backpack, he would have slipped straight through to certain death.

The good news was that he had rope. The bad news was that he had the rope, and not his climbing partner above, who hadn’t stopped hurling his cries after him as he plummeted. The worst news was that the rope was in the backpack that was currently bearing all his weight and was impossible to access wedged as he was. What a sardonic second chance he had been given.

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.

- John Lennon

Inside me, a place is reserved for emptiness,
that place where you were, outlined raw and jagged,

notched like a saw or the edge of a leaf,
biting me with its row of sharp teeth at every turn:

the chair where you sat, the half-eaten box of cereal,
each still there to remind me where you aren’t.

A serrated knife cuts clean through day-old bread
precisely because of the spaces in between,

and just maybe I can still slice through life
if I keep empty that place where you were

to remind me of what I don’t want.

When the deed is accomplished you retire;
Such is Heaven’s Way!

-Loa-tzu in Te-Tao Ching, Chapter 9

remedy against
every monster and nightmare:
sleep comes in mom’s bed

***

Greek mythology
beleives red poppies surround
an ebony bed.
Morpheus paints sweet dreams while
I am cradled in his arms.

***

eyelids wide open
8 anxious hours–the night of
an insomniac

***

sweet butterfly sleep
refreshed and emerging from
my cocoon covers

The website and newly published book entitled Not on Our Watch offers six strategies readers can implement to try to make a difference in the Darfur conflict:

1 Raise Awareness
2 Raise Funds
3 Write a Letter
4 Call for Divestment
5 Start an Organization
6 Lobby the Government

Each of these small actions can make a huge difference to those populations targeted for displacement or extinction in Darfur, Somalia, Congo, and northern Uganda.

Vistit the Not on Our Watch website for more information.

Your Inner Color is Blue

Your Personality: Your natural warmth and intuition nurtures those around you. You are accepting and always follow your heart. You in Love: Relationships are your top priority, and this includes love. You are most happy when you are serious with someone. Your Career: You need to help others in your job to feel satistifed. You would be a great nurse, psychologist, or counselor.

What’s Your Inner Color?

I could fight this current, battle relentlessly until exhaustion sets in.
I could try to deviate from its set path, methodically sidestep destiny
in hopes of escaping its grasp and being carried back to shore.
I could dive deep to see what cold-blooded thing lives underneath.
I could pray for a miracle and redemption at heaven’s gate.
Or I could just float out to sea and enjoy the ride while waving good-bye.

I recently received one of those Power Point presentations that’s flying around the Internet these days. It wasn’t a chain mail; it simply existed to try to bring about the realization that, despite all our moaning and groaning, we really do have it easy. In a nutshell, it presented the following scenario.

If you compare the world to a village of 100 inhabitants, there would be:

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans
• 14 Americans
• 8 Africans

• 52 women and 48 men
• 30 caucasians and 70 people of other ethnicities
• 70 non-Christians and 30 Christians
• 89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals
• 6 would have American nationality

• 80 would be homeless
• 70 would be illiterate
• 50 would be dependent on others for survival
• 1 would have a PC
• 1 would have a college degree
• 1 would be dying and 2 would be born
• 6 people would own 59% of the wealth

With regard to the world’s actual population:

• 500 million suffer from war, solitude or hunger
• 3 billion cannot practice their religion freely
• 75% of the world’s population does not have food, clothing or roofs over thier heads
• 2 billion cannot read
• 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water
• 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation facilities (read: no toilets)

I will think twice before the next time I complain.

“…’Reality’ is nothing but an expression of the prevailing ideology.”

- John-Louis Comolli & Jean Narboni in “Cinéma/idéologie/critique”

Cahiers du Cinéma, October 1969.

“‘Reality’ is the only word in the English language which should always appear in quotes.”

-Joe Germuska