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<\/a>When Charlie H. said he was in remission, his surveillance pushed out to four months from the usual three, a sign of dramatic improvement, I felt an uncharitable son of a bitch why him and not me? I didn’t begrudge him at all the good news. No. Happy for him, but wondering why my cancer has proved so damned intractable.<\/p>\n
Especially wondering today because yesterday I had four vials of blood drawn, one of which goes for testosterone and PSA lab work.<\/p>\n
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Reminded in that conversation of Paul’s online session with poet Jane Hirschfield<\/a>. He reported two arresting sentences: Death is not a period, it’s a comma. And. Attention is your life.<\/p>\n A comma. “…a\u00a0punctuation<\/a><\/span> mark (,) indicating a pause between parts of a sentence.” Oxford Languages<\/a>. Interesting to wonder about that sentence, the one in which your life this time might be an object or a subject, a life acted upon or a life acting on its own. What is the verb in the sentence? Verbs? Was there an adjective for this life of yours? Strong, passionate, weakened, vulnerable, clever, unusual? What is the cosmic sentence which the universe, in its polyvalent, multivalent way, has written that is yours and yours alone? It may be the work of a hundred lifetimes, learning how to read your own sentence.<\/p>\n One more thought on the comma. Learning to read each other’s sentence would allow us to glimpse the narrative line running through your time. A series of short stories, linked by the main character of your Self which, when combined, would be a novel in many volumes. Can you imagine the shelves in that Library of Alexandria?<\/p>\n What does that work require? Attention. To your own melody. To the melody of the other. To the moment, yes, of course. But also to the century, the year, the day, the hour. The millennium.\u00a0Not different from the work of seeing. And hearing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?\u201d Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just a moment: Welcome to the Year of the Snake. Although the Chinese zodiac correlates the snake as “simultaneously associated with harvest, procreation, spirituality, and good fortune, as well as cunning, evil, threat, and terror”, I can only see the last four in the American year of the snake.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yule and the Quarter Century Moon Wednesday gratefuls: Jon Bailey. Detailing my car. Seoah is coming. Casa Bonita. Valentine’s Day. #78. Fitbit. Charlie H. Ruby clean inside. Avocado Toast. Lox and English Muffins. Ruth’s excitement about her new Astronomy class. Gabe. Coming up Saturday to interview Rabbi Jamie. Sue Bradshaw. Josh. Kai. Evergreen Family Medicine. … Continue reading A comma, not a period<\/span> <\/a>