Second Chance Dance: May 2021

Monday, May 31, 2021

In Troibo ad altare Dei: The Continuing Bloomsday Ballad Pt 49

"We can do no great things; only small things with great love"

- Mother Teresa

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In Troibo ad altare Dei: The Continuing Bloomsday Ballad Pt 49

"Stately, plump ..." , so it began

No purpose or map in mind

That mystical GPS guiding gently

As loosed random thoughts and plans meandered

A rudderless boat trusted the sacred wind.

First mates usually know more than they let on.

The sails set and they were off.

June 16 , the day in infamy that changed everything-

Watergate and James' Bloomsday always top of mind, right?

Not being noble the Pilgrim had some perspective

As to the truth about a hill of beans

And the significance of the problems of pilgrims

As the crazy world was crumbling around them.

Regardless, they proclaimed "I do ."

Friends, family and themselves

Remain surprised they actually did

And continue to do so.

Hibbing's homely hobo troubadour reminds those who listen,

" You don't need a weatherman to know

Which way the winds blow."

Navigators and mystics alike ponder

"How did we come up with the idea

To blame poor and sick people

and those of different color or religions

For all the world's problems ?

How many wars , how many acts of violence,

How many pandemics , and how many natural disasters

Before we return to the essence of love, compassion,

Kindness, selflessness, hope, peace and mercy?"

And yet we sail on...

The white collared companion of Jesus pronounced how decisions

Confirm the psychotherapeutic observation how decisions

Are born from emotions and then justified by the rational.

"Real sacraments are a mystery.

Who knows where this road will take you?

Trust in each other and that great divine essence.

Take a deep grateful centering breath and

Top it all off with a glass or two of wine."

His voice raised up in song as it should

On holy occasions -

"To everything there is a season,

Turn! Turn! Turn! A time for every

purpose under heaven"

- JF Sobecki

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June 16,1972

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A Bloomsday Epilogue

https://youtu.be/zspro2od5zY

Until I Gain Control Again- JF Sobecki (R. Crowell)

https://youtu.be/4sui9f3ahzw

Stolen Moments - John Hiatt

https://youtu.be/16EcHP4mpWc

No Hard Feelings - The Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/Agc1gc6jqVE

This is Us - Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler

https://youtu.be/3DLR7dviLVE

Farther On - Jackson Browne

https://youtu.be/JwN_FbwWpjM

Family - Joe Walsh

https://youtu.be/XbQLhjOrfmE

Turn!Turn! Turn! - The Byrds

https://youtu.be/W4ga_M5Zdn4

Amdg

Saturday, May 1, 2021

May Day! Walk to the Daylight!

Picture - Javier Robles

"A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying. It "consents," so to speak, to creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree."

- Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

The Big Bang

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May Day! Walk to the Daylight!

On the first morning of May the wondering continued -

Someone said a Big Bang started it all.

What caused that bang or made those millions of parts

Blown to pieces scattering across the heavens ro give birth

To planets, stars, and on and on?

Imagine the universe a blank canvas with Jackson Pollock

As the divine creative force splattering colors

And leaving the result to interpretation?

Imagine believing that rolling multiple dice at once

Would lead to some mysterious unpredictable magical jackpot

Of magnificent complex creations interconnecting

With other accidental conceptions beyond simple imaginations.

Calling Mother Nature - "Can we start all over again?"

Who dared to make rivers and mountains borderlines?

Did the origins of species determine who and what would own how much?

Isn't there a truth woven in-between the lines of the great poems or songs?

Take a look at all the wasted things we thought we've known.

And how little humanity has grown.

Walk into the daylight , appreciate spring flowers,

Stopping the counting of minutes and hours.

Sometimes the real existence is being mindful

To how all is sacred

Leading us to where we need to be.

The oldest living human on earth

Said her longevity is a direct result

Of giving up worrying years ago while paying attention

To those broken and serving those in need.

Sometimes when hopelessness seems to be winning

Walk to the daylight... It is a choice.

Take off the coat of guesses and defenses

It all may surprise you . Remember how -

Augustine asked from that lonely outpost

"Is anyone out there?"

That ever-present mysterious holy voice responds whispering,

"Yes"

- JF Sobecki

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Jackson Pollock

For What Binds us - Jane Hirschfield

https://youtu.be/MQb5g5CISn4

Life is a Walking

https://youtu.be/ZQYPlEoU9ko

and some music....

Some Bridges - Jackson Browne

https://youtu.be/Z6GEXPYrb8U

Morning Glory - Subdudes

https://youtu.be/fHRiH6mlBMQ

California Stars - Wilco

https://youtu.be/Mi9l10pzMeI

Morning - Beck

https://youtu.be/unZkASVfF74

Something to smile

The Meaning of Life - Everyone Loves Raymond

https://youtu.be/FZb4jBE0Gr0

amdg

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New Blog - Rain and Rivers Revisited: A Journey of a Lost Weekend

Well you may recall I have been working on a piece of fiction for a while now. It is still a work in progress. However, I decided

to release drafts of the first few episodes ( chapters.) Much of the work is completed but I am always cutting and editing.

http://rainandriversrevisited.blogspot.com/

It is difficult to release just pieces at a time as they are created as independent episodes they are also all parts of a larger piece (and picture .) I could share more but I am curious to read or hear your feedback.

I want to thank those friends and supporters who have already provided feedback ...and of course all the folks who have been following my Second Chance Dance Blog ( by the way that will continue.)

The material in the Blog is all copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form. Though, I welcome you to share the link and this blog with others .So please when you have a few minutes take a read and let me know what you think. I expect to be posting a series of subsequent episodes shortly.

Thanks....

News of Death

(This is for Coach)

Last night they came with news of death
not knowing what I would say.
I wanted to say,"The green wind is running through the fields making the grass lie flat."
I wanted to say,"The apple blossom flakes like ash covering the orchard wall."
I wanted to say,"the fish float belly up in the slow stream,stepping stones to the dead."

They asked if I would sleep that night,
I said I did not know.
For this loss I could not speak,the tongue lay idle in a great darkness,the heart was strangely open,the moon had gone,and it was then when I said, "He is no longer here"
that the night put its arms around me
and all the white stars turned bitter with grief.
- David Whyte

What Work is

We stand in the rain in a long line

waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.

You know what work is--if you're

old enough to read this you know what

work is, although you may not do it.

Forget you. This is about waiting,

shifting from one foot to another.

Feeling the light rain falling like mist

into your hair, blurring your vision

until you think you see your own brother

ahead of you, maybe ten places.

You rub your glasses with your fingers,

and of course it's someone else's brother,

narrower across the shoulders than

yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin

that does not hide the stubbornness,

the sad refusal to give in to

rain, to the hours wasted waiting,

to the knowledge that somewhere ahead

a man is waiting who will say, "No,

we're not hiring today," for any

reason he wants. You love your brother,

now suddenly you can hardly stand

the love flooding you for your brother,

who's not beside you or behind or

ahead because he's home trying to

sleep off a miserable night shift

at Cadillac so he can get up

before noon to study his German.

Works eight hours a night so he can sing

Wagner, the opera you hate most,

the worst music ever invented.

How long has it been since you told him

you loved him, held his wide shoulders,

opened your eyes wide and said those words,

and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never

done something so simple, so obvious,

not because you're too young or too dumb,

not because you're jealous or even mean

or incapable of crying in

the presence of another man, no,

just because you don't know what work is.

Philip Levine

On Marriage - Kahil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love:Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loafSing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.And stand together yet not too near together:For the pillars of the temple stand apart,And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

A favorite "Journey" poem from a favorite poet

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-- Mary Oliver

Send or post one of your favorites! They can be lyrics to a song!

Playing For Change

Please see the current music video from "Playing for Change" at the bottom of this page. It is a movement. Enjoy!

"Playing for Change" is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world

Fall in Love

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.” --- Pedro Arrupe SJ