Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," where we celebrate the One True Religion -- thousands of them! From the modest celebrant with a shrine to a secret deity in the backyard to the mighty ranks of the Buddha, we salute you all! Just don't stain our furniture.
There's a fellow in this area who is known simply as The Monkey Man because he often wears a jester hat, clown pants, and totes a toy monkey with him as he cruises around on his bicycle. How my daughters and I came to know him is a long story. I won't bore you with it here.
The Monkey Man is a poet, as befits someone who resides in Camden, New Jersey, blocks from the former home of Walt Whitman. In fact, The Monkey Man knows huge blocks of Whitman by heart and does re-enactments. But his own poetry is good too. Very good, in fact.
The Monkey Man gave a reading here in the borough last Friday night. To preface one of his poems, he said the following:
"In America at the end of a long day, you might ask someone, 'What did you do today?'
"In Africa, they ask, 'What did you dance today?"
He then launched into a poem about how Americans dance through their days, and it was superb. It left a lasting impression on me.
Now, instead of waking up in the morning and thinking, "What will I do today?" I'm asking myself, "What will I dance today?" And my reward for this change in worldview is seeing the preparation of a chicken casserole as a form of ballet, and the opening of a mailbox as a gesture of grace.
What did you dance today? What will you dance tomorrow? Give praises to the Goddess Yasigi, sacred to the people of Mali -- she inspires us to dance!
FROM ANNE
THE MERLIN OF BERKELEY SPRINGS
6 comments:
I danced the dance today! I was late so I left early to make up for it!
Is that eye egg penguin drawing something from the mind and hand of Anne?
The eyeball guy is from the pen of an artist named Cy. I'm lucky to know two great artists -- Cy and Seitou. But Cy's eyeball is the official greeting picture for "The Gods Are Bored."
I can't draw a card from a deck.
Anne,,, thanks for reminding me again of what is important,,, I am off to dance in the shower before going off to dance at work......
This should become a movement across the nation,,,
and I love the pic too,,, aren't artists the coolest people,, I love knowing the many friends I have in the Arts, and benifit tremendously from their worldviews and beauty......
Off to Rock the World today,,, thanks again to the Bored Gods/Goddess's,, and you my dear friend.... A BIG DANCING HUG TO YOU TODAY!!
Wouldn't it be ... interesting ... if we discovered eventually that the Dogon all along knew hundreds of times more than we do about ... anything and everything?
After all, human beings originated in Africa. The rest of us outside of Africa are all descended from the same people who left Africa several millenia ago. (Actually, I've always thought we were probably kicked out as rejects, or thieves, or felons.)
Here's a saying that my friend's daughter brought back from Mali (she was in the Peace Corps): "The bird builds its nest little by little."
I always remember this saying whenever a project of mine goes awry or is taking too long, and I want to stomp it into the dust....
My favourite dance is that of the Whirling Dervishes (see http://www.lesartsturcs.org/whirling_dervishes/jgreene.html ). It is great for entering into a trance state.
I forgot I could do this!
Just click on the link
dervishers
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