Sushi Socks & Seeing Clearly

Byriehlifegrace November 30, 2007June 4, 2008

I propped up my feet wearing socks grabbed from a jumble bin in a thrift store. My socks and I relaxed and listened to the teachings coming in through the closed circuit TV from the ballroom. Afterwards, Bev came over and said, “Let me look at your sushi socks.”

Sure enough, there they were…little prints of shrimps, California rolls, and other delicacies…bright colors on the black canvas of my socks…complete with chopsticks to pick them up and put them into your mouth…although, of course, I always use my fingers.

And all this time, I’d thought these little pictures were flowers, not clever popular culture statements.

I’d never really seen them before. My socks are hipper than I am.

Triptych: Jeweled Bones, Central Panel: Bones in the Cellar

Byriehlifegrace May 11, 2007May 16, 2008

Mother shooed us into the cellar. I turned my pockets inside out and showed her my discoveries. While we waited for the storm to pass, my mother told us stories: saints’ bones preserved in crypts of faraway cathedrals; healers who told the future by throwing bones as if they were dice; and air-raid cellars in…

Moving Between Two Waters: Clear Lake in California and the Mississippi River in the Midwest

Byriehlifegrace June 24, 2007June 24, 2007

What carries me over the water, this vast water between two vast waters? Clear Lake like an inland sea, contained and container. The Mississippi a winding snake of river connecting northern and southern territories before spilling into the Gulf of Mexico and on to the ocean? What carries me? A swan, polka-dotted or striped, perhaps,…

Timing is all.

Byriehlifegrace July 1, 2008

Timing and destiny and yearning. What determines the timing of manifestation? All coordinates come together. Happening on god’s time, not ours.

Acres of Roses arriving on Valentine’s Day doorstep 2008 made me weak and knocked me off my feet

Byriehlifegrace February 14, 2008February 14, 2008

Twice I responded to the summoning of my doorbell. Twice a grinning and harried floral delivery man handed me a huge bouquet of roses…not red, not pink, but peachy…my favorite color. A dozen times 2 = 2 dozen roses for 2008 Valentine’s Day. I’m sure sometime in my life I’ve been sent flowers by delivery….

“Stepping Out,” a poem by Janet Grace Riehl on shoes, reconciliation, and finding your own path

Byriehlifegrace June 18, 2007May 16, 2008

She walks in beauty, like the night.—Lord Byron Walking the Beauty Way. –Navajo I stand in my Mother’s shoes—a few sizes too big for me. Mother is dead and gone. She has passed over. I stand in my sister’s shoes—a few sizes too big for me. Julia is dead and gone. She has passed over….

Artaud: Poetry layer beneath the poetry

Byriehlifegrace April 6, 2008May 16, 2008

“Beneath the poetry of the texts, there is the actual poetry, without form and without text.” –Antonin Artaud, poet, essayist, playwright, actor & director

3 Comments

Janet says:

December 1, 2007 at 10:01 am

I washed the socks and gave them to Bev yesterday…and this started a wonderful conversation in which I gathered a new term. “Peripheral Dweller.”
Janet says:

December 2, 2007 at 10:50 am

Bev showed up today in the lounge wiggling her toes…showing off the sushi socks…we told the story of the hidden secret revealed of the sushi socks…and then a maiden approached with Dragonfly socks.
Janet says:

December 4, 2007 at 11:18 am

Bev and Pam came to Chez Daniel’s last night for an impromptu pizza dinner. Bev told me that for a trip she counts out the number of pairs of socks she’ll need when she packs. She was one short! So, my gift of the sushi socks was auspicious.

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