poem today...

altar of ensemble-ness


it’s in the wind tonight,
a voice about the stage
& how playing together

is a serious art form
looks so simple
when really done well

but simple is not easy
& good ensemble casts
have to figure out what family is

before trying to come onstage
together in a show:
a show of – comedy?

a show of unity?
first we need to show one another
how each of us knows our lines,

is well-prepared in our role
to play the character we’ve been assigned
& then we need to forget

ourselves completely.
the only job now is to interpret,
to enjoy, & to make the other actors

look better than they possibly can.
onstage during a performance,
everyone is a star.

how much we help others shine
while forgetting our own beaming glory –
that is the real act, the true role, of light.








(c) Alx Uttermann, 2009

change has finally come

like a breath of fresh air.....

I spent all day yesterday, January 20th, watching the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama with speechless joy and stupefaction. I got up at 6:00 a.m., no fun being on the Left Coast of the US at these kinds of moments! (esp considering I went to bed at 3:00 a.m. the night, excuse me, the morning, before -- too excited to sleep, really.)

all day -- literally all day -- I was glued to the coverage, watching the whole thing from start to finish... thrilling every time a commentator said, "President Obama" -- like needing to pinch myself to see if I was really awake and experiencing this, or asleep and dreaming.

wow.

I think Wordsworth phrased these kinds of ecstatic moments best when he wrote to his good friend, Coleridge, in a huge long poem called "The Prelude" --

my dear friend
need I say
that to the brim
my heart was full...

I made no vows
but vows were then
made for me.

beyond that, it's late, again, I'm tired, and -- well, I have no more words except yes.... we........... did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gaza, Israel, and peace above all...

my mood today is this:
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I did a little bit of graphic work for this organization, Neve Shalom Wahat Al-Salam, in my early 20s, in Los Angeles.

meeting one of the amazing Israeli women who organized this experimental community in Israel where Jewish and Arab families raise their children together, speaking both Hebrew and Arabic, learning the history and cultures of both peoples, and standing for peace and understanding above all else -- well, it had a huge impact on me, in my formative youth. that woman's extreme courage, and dedication, and bravery in the face of a social order where chaos, fear, violence, paranoia and prejudice are more the norm was astonishing to me.


anyway, this excerpt from another woman, an American Jewish lady living at Neve Shalom and standing for peace and understanding, moved my heart today beyond words.