MJS Creative Landing

The little blue umbrella was cheap. It was not inexpensive. One can get a quality inexpensive umbrella, but a cheap umbrella is a cheap umbrella. The work was hard. It was not difficult. One can be challenged with difficult tasks and make his or her way through it, but hard labor is simply hard. The burden was heavy. It was not weighty. It was heavy. One can carry something weighty and manage about knowing the object can be sat down, but a heavy burden is just heavy. Where do you put it. The student was stupid. The student was not ignorant. A student can be ignorant and open to learning. The student is just without the gift of proper knowledge, but to be willful and unreasonable is just stupid.

It is raining and I am loving it. Thank you, rain. Thank you for every drop. We have been in a drought here and I am grateful for the rain. Every drop. In fact I am of the opinion that it should rain for the next forty days. It should rain like the rain is suppose to be here forever and ever.  It should rain as if the ground were dying of thirst. I am dying from thirst. It should rain all day and all night. I would like that. I remember one Summer in the early 2000's (2007) where it rained almost the entire Summer.  I stayed on a 10 hour alert to find a break in the rain just to get out and mow the lawn. That was a good year for an introvert. It should rain so that no one can say that it never rains here. It should rain to shut the mouths of those who think that rain is a waste of time. It should rain to make them think twice about having the name rain in they mouth. It should rain so I can be inspired to put on rain boots and stomp around. It should rain so I can collect a barrel

mold and shape me for productiveness and assure me that all is well in this I can be glad though grieved by trials I am glad bring on the day yielded and waiting go on by for control is not in the effort but follows the faith it is not mine bring on the light of the day I can stand I can wait There is nothing to this vapor of life otherwise it is joy unspeakable to search out what is to be found attentive to the sight and sound bound until loosed to fly instructed and guided am I

 Just because you can does not mean you should!

All around me lives effect not always knowing what the cause all the around me is the cause not always knowing what the effect So glad that there are those settled enough in spirit and in themselves to push the envelop I worry much and quicksand seems to bind my feet, and voice and life Am I that sensitive seems to be the case far be it for me to say my weakness is my strength Like gases light and hardly undetected but yet here I fear to poison slowing my own livingness must sabotage always call for favors from unwitting partnerships who is to say that this is not the tapestry of fate meandering words, sidewinding thoughts, lazy as calm rivers carving out spaces still unrelenting will forward, forward needlessly professing it is just as obvious that backward's trick is this it is yet forward nonetheless call those to stand and be not moveable not pushed off the mark of righteousness the ground is firm and true the ground is firm and true

In the silence of the the day in the silence of the room, cars can be heard zooming by trying not to miss the light. A woman is whistling a jazz tune to herself and bopping through the room. She grabs a fruit snack bag and opens it up. She sits the bag down on the counter and resumes her whistling. She grabs the bag from the trash bag that is full to the brim from the kitchen island. Some paper towels spill from the bag as she lifts it out of the trash bin. She places the bag on the floor and leans over to pick up the two paper towels. Still whistling, she ties the tall kitchen bag close. She picks her right nostril and turns to exit the house. She opens the door and the door and exits, but before she exits she feels that the door nob is in the locked position so she reaches around by twisting her wrist to unlock the door to prevent herself from locking herself out of the house. Still whistling but no longer dancing, she shuts the door and moves toward the trash bin. She lifts the bin

He asked that his wages be 6 Miller High Life 40oz bottles a day until the job was complete. I wanted him to demo the sheetrock in the bedroom I had spent my childhood growing up in. His name was Joe Silva. He was a felon and an alcoholic. Momma liked him, though. He said he would only charge 200.00 dollars to do the 12x14 room and ceiling. I had gone to visit my mother and looked around what was my childhood room. I had punched many holes in the walls from my youth. The holes were covered with various pictures and posters over my teen years. I had kicked a hole through the bathroom 30in door by age 11. I had a rage-aholic relationship with my own space. But anyway, I had a reached a point of wanting to reconcile this relationship of punishment, so I hired Joe. He was in his 50's and had just been released. I was in the middle of leaving Tim. I was 32 and momma was 57. Momma and I purchased all the materials. We strapped the sheetrock down atop my Toyota Corolla. The pace of the jo

Crunch Crunch Crunch went the bear in the snow the bear in the snow the bear in the snow Crunch Crunch Crunch went the bear in the snow All around the woods Splash Splash Splash went the guppie in the pond the guppie in the pond the guppie in the pond Splash Splash Splash went the guppie in the pond Throughout the afternoon Flit Flit Flit went the hummingbird at play the hummingbird at play the hummingbird at play Flit Flit Flit went the hummingbird at play To every flower's bloom Boom Boom Boom went the whale in the sea the whale in the sea the whale in the sea Boom Boom Boom went the whale in the sea crashing to down the deep Vroom Vroom Vroom goes the comet in the sky the comet in the sky the comet in the sky Vroom Vroom Vroom goes the comet in the sky here and gone too soon

The quality of being coherent and intelligible or better yet, the quality of transparency or purity. To exist in a sustained bubble of purity or transparency would be grand. But little children and some adults can't help but want to burst bubbles. It would be grand to take a stand and live in purity and transparency. I think I will practice this today. Beginning now. This is the day that the Lord has made. I shall rejoice and be glad in it.

Blinded by the Light was a good song. I love how it drives on and on. I don't know what the heck he says after that hook, though. I do know that we all are blinded by something at any given time in our lives. Blinded by the light. Blinded by ambition. Blinded by jealousy. Blinded by love. Blinded by our own sin. Out of sight out of mind. Some speak of a second sight. A third eye. A knowing. Some without sight do awesome things. Some others without sight may not do much to gain acclaim but still manage to function in this world and make their way. We may not all be without sight for lack of eye power, but many are without sight for lack of knowledge and willful ignorance. This was true in the beginning. This will be true forever more until the end is the end. Those whom the master frees and gives sight to are free indeed but yet still as susceptible to pitfalls and blind spots. Helps us and reminds us to be strong and of good courage this day.

  Adversary or Advocate Neutrality is a slick and conspicuous complicity That says "I'm with you, not in public or with policy, but only in my head in privacy." And though you think it's privacy, it’s clear to me that performative with ignorance is a bad recipe See, no say! Say, no Do! Do, but don't! Don't ignore the obvious Are you with us? Don't you see us? Can't you feel us? Jump in, buckle up And come run long side of us But if you are compelled Know this journey won't be easy. It's not a battle...it's war. It's a marathon, not a race. So get those shoes, get 'em laced. But know folks, like family who you love, might find you a disgrace, like you've lost taste... in what's good and pure. But their idea of what's pure is what got us in this effed place. Listen to what I have to say and how I say it Not watered down, palatable or pureed. Those ways will only perpetuate and strive to placate. Is you for us or is you aga

Earth tumbled through the firmament and landed in the deep. The waters overtook the earth. At once the earth continued its decent breaking through to dry ground gently coming to a rest. We were in a subway station. It was night time. The waters has receded. People began to emerge from where they had sheltered. A man approached a store that was walled off with thick see-thru plastic. He seemed to want to break through and gather what he wanted. Suddenly a woman, the owner walks in from the rear area and makes eye contact with the man. She could feel his heart. It was palpable. He had his heart and mind set on wickedness. She knew the man. He had purchased items from there before, but the sudden arrest of the earth and its downward spiral brought about a change in minds and hearts. She saw something different in his eyes and upon his face. He turned away from the storefront and placed his hands in his pockets and walked forward. He himself could sense that something was amiss with his di

My mother had a strange gift of coming up with things to keep her four children distracted. When we got too rowdy or too much kid-like, she had a way to get us corralled and cooperative. She had tricks to suck us in. She was a pied-piper of wizardry. As a child I remember the front screen door to our house always opening and closing with a loud whoop! The Summers especially were the times when we children would be in and out, in and out, in and out. Momma would hate that we let the flies in. She kept a fly swatter or a rolled newspaper close at all times. We children were not as annoyed by the flies, but as my mother grew more annoyed, the flies became out focus as well. We didn't think to make the screen door our focus and just stop all the in and out and back and forth. We became fly hunters. It didn't help that we watched Kung Fu and also attempted to catch the flies with two sticks or our hands as an impossible distraction from the task of ridding ourselves of the flies. Fl

Happy are the hands that find good work. Happy are the feet that trod good earth. Happy are the ears that hear good news. Happy are the eyes that see clear paths. Happy are the arms that are strong and mighty. Happy are the legs that hold up bodies. The crevices lay open to the waters. The mountains dart downward letting loose the melting snows. The trees keep gapped to filter airs. The grass carpets the earth to sooth the aching soles. Up and down the ministers of life go. Here and there the job is never done. Every step and every breath drawn forth in unuttered demand. To dig your heels in is fruitless, so why not stand. Mary don't you weep. Martha don't you moan. Lazarus will rise. Atonement will come. Space is being made. A table is being set before you in the presence of your enemies. We shall eat from the hand of our Maker. Let our maker be LORD.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the 3rd act of the trilogy. Peter Jackson and J.R.R. Tolkien both may have been masters of drawing things out. When watching the third film of TLOTR with my sister and my mother, I was super excited. As it drew on and on, I looked to my left to see my mother asleep. My sister was hanging on barely. I was reminded of this time during this cold Saturday. My sister has been having severe back pain. She insisted that we, meaning me, we go and get the concrete so we can set the fence posts today. I dropped by her house to let her knew it was too cold for me to work. Yet, off we went to Lowe's to get the concrete. Lowe's had 80lb bags on sale. We purchased 4 bags. She paid 17.00 and some change. This was a good deal. I still was not going to set these posts this day. She drives over to my house to get my wheel barrel. I load it into her SUV atop the bags of concrete. I still was not going to work on this fence today. She drives back ov

The thing I envy most is the ability to play the piano. Oh, that I could go back to my childhood and stubble upon some old willing teacher that would have sat me down and taught me the gift of piano playing, my life would have being one of even more isolation than it is now. I think about it and imagine that I would never leave these keys of black and white for too long. Just slide my food under the door will you. I'll get to it later. I would have been over weight or skinny as a rail for lack of attentiveness to my own health. My parents got me a guitar for Christmas when I was in the 3rd grade. I was 8. I was mostly influenced by the Partridge Family. I wanted to play, "Come On Get Happy." The very gray haired children's music teacher at the elementary school agreed to give me lessons. She started out with trying to teach me how to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." I was to play this one string at a time over three frets. Can I tell you this bored the he

Updating on the fence for my sister... She worked with me to help get the posts out of the ground. Her neighbor cut his metal fence posts and removed 18 feet of his 3 and 1/2 foot fence helping us to get our posts dug out. I opted to use a jack and force the metal posts of my sister's fence up a bit so we could begin to get them out. We had to remove four of them. One thing to note about things having been set in the ground for a long long time is that it might help to soften the ground. So, I first dug a bit around the post and then ran the water hose over to the area and soaked the ground. Then I jacked the post up as far as I could before the anchor bolts started to move. I ran more water into the hole and my sister and I began rocking the post back and forth allowing the water to get under the concrete setting. My sister's neighbor walked over to see what we were doing. He was surprised and commented that he thought we had a good idea to soften the earth with water. My take

My friend David Hill aka Dugan or Doobie... Dugan was about 2 years younger than I was when I was in grad school in Iowa City. I had just turned 22 and he was going on 20 when we met. He was from Ft. Madison, Iowa. He would tell me how his mother complained and scolded him if his hair grew near the top of his ears. He probably didn't need to be in college, but he surely didn't need to be the only son of this mother. He never spoke of his father. We would sit on the porch that divided his side of the duplex from my side. Two other white guys lived on his side with him, Chad and Tom. We talked about race, class and gender. He was skinny (svelte) is what I like to think of him because with all his unsophistication, I found him quite sophisticated in a lost soul charming way. He would toke on his bong all summer long. I would have my gin and orange juice in hand sipping while we solved the world's divided problems. I enjoyed our chats. Porch drinking was way better than bar dri

One profound take away from my very young self was the degree of contempt that permeated the house in which I grew up. There were other better spirits and attributes, but as the difference is between a flame and a fire, contempt blazed and the other vices glowed. Contempt consumed and the virtues showed themselves in sheer-like fashion like the wardrobed Casper the friendly ghost. Virtues were there, but you had to know them to see them and the darkness had closed in pretty fast by the time I hit the age of accountability. There is so much pain and sorrow when I attempt to write about my childhood. I told my sister when we where in our early 20's that I wanted to write about our childhood, but I wouldn't do it until our parents were dead. This should have resonated with me deeper then, but it didn't. Why was I so reluctant? Maybe it was the early sowing in of Ephesians Chapter 6 Verse 1-3. Whenever we children would push my mother to a point of her wit's end, she would

It is planting season. My mother purchased some fruit trees about a month ago because she wanted to plant something on the property her parents owned where she now resides. She was raised by a man who loved to farm and garden. He was always tending his garden when he had time. He was also a plumber and an all-around handyman. Her mother loved to feed the chickens and help sow and bring in the harvest. She would shell pecans and shell peas. She would snap beans. She would shuck corn. She would pull tomatoes and pluck mustang grapes. She would sit the bowl in her lap and busy herself well and fancifully.  My grandfather was not a man of letters, but he was a man of ingenuity. He knew how to put things together, even a life that was filled with obstacles and adversity. His right hand man in planting and tending was often my mother when she was available. But more often than not, he was a solo endeavor kinda guy especially after my grandmother died. Momma is turning 77 this year. Her fathe

I was reflecting on eggs this morning. My thought ran to the process of being completed. There is this notion that a seed will become what it is intended to become. But not all seeds make it to maturity. Somethings go as far as they are called to go. Sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds can remain seed and be planted again. They can be eaten raw or toasted. The seed can be ground up to a fine powder. The seed can go bad. That brings me to the egg. This particular subject ran across my mind. There once was an embryo that swam in a goo that might have had hopes of becoming a chick. This chick might have had the dream of becoming a chicken or rooster. Even as a chicken or rooster the embryo may not have envisioned its end as having its neck rung or chopped off. Maybe it never thought, if it does the sort of heavy lifting thinking humans do, it never thought it would be food for a coyote or be pierced through with a stick and roosted over a fire. We all have a destination. None of us knows wh

Thursday the administration of the 2nd covid shot was executed upon my arm. I felt fine enough to come home and mow the yard. As the day went on I was good. I slept fine, I think. Friday I was groggy and my head was filled full of air and water. I couldn't move without my brain swimming about. That lasted all Friday. Later in the mid morning of Friday I took some over the counter Naproxen and got under the covers. I just lost lots of energy. I had upper body and arm chills. I stayed under the covers all day. I only got up to go potty or turn the outside lights on. I was fatigued. Today I am much better. No light headedness has persisted. The chills have waned. I wanted to get up. I showered. I am getting dressed here soon. I feel like things are getting back on track. However, a few weeks after the first shot I lost the use my left leg a bit. I could walk, but I could not fully engage the groin muscle. I had to lift my leg into bed and out of bed. I had to struggle to drive my stic

CashApp and Venmo have been established. My PayPal got set up yesterday. Aside from WorldRemit and a Fidelity Cash Management Account, I am close to finishing my financial toolkit for world travel. World Remit and Fidelity offer no fee accounts for international transactions. Now I have no idea when I will be leaving mind you, but if you dig a ditch, something is bound to land in it sooner or later. That is exciting news for me anyway. I look forward to these trips. I don't dream about them. I don't see them as I daydream. I don't have visions of far away places. I just look forward to getting on with it. I have no money mind you. I just have accounts set up. Present discoveries about my disposition are unearthing clear and evident needs to leave the city and go "elsewheres." My sister will ask, "Where do you want to go?" My respond in the past would be, "Away."Anywhere but where I was currently was the goal. I would also sometimes reply, "

I don't know. I don't know! Words that are much treasured these days. I lean and depend on those words. Those words bring a peace that often "knowing" only stands near and envies. Knowing is here. It is done. It is over with. It is often understood and as often misunderstood.  But, "I Don't Know?" Let's see where this leads us. Let's see if we can find an answer. Let's find out how this feels or what this tastes like, or how cold it can get or if that particular stain will come out. I don't know. I don't know how much longer I have. I don't know you. I don't know how well I'll ever know you or if it even matters. I just don't know. I don't know as much as I thought I knew when I thought I knew more than I thought I know now. God love Stevie Wonder who wrote,  " We all know sometimes life's hates and troubles Can make you wish you were born in another time and space But you can bet you life times that and t

Today I spent the morning taking down 18 feet of my sister's damaged fence. The brush growth behind the fence and between her wooden fence and the neighbor's metal fence was offensive. Brush was intertwined in the metal fence and was pushing everything in odd directions. My sister's posts had moved at least 3-5 inches from their original placement. I ran home and got my oscillating saw because it is the only thing I had small enough to get between small tree trucks, the neighbor's fence and my sister's fence's 2x4s so as to get to the screws to remove the 2x4's from the posts. It did the job.  Thank goodness I had that tool. Also, thank goodness I had different size bits and bit extenders because it was all sorts of problems reaching screws. I also needed the oscillating saw to cut a 20 foot 2x4 down to 12 ft. Whoever put this fence up ran a 20 foot 2x4 across three sets of post hanging attachments. I was not going to take down 10 more feet of pickets for th

I sure wish there were a grocer within walking distance of my house. I'd want for it to be Trader Joe's or Central Market or even a Coop. It would be great. I'd be able to gather what I needed for a few days and live like I were in New York City. New York City?!!?! Single serve coffee and tea packets are usually what I choose to use for a hot beverages. Single serve other items are hard to keep in bulk unless it is processed or highly processed. I have stopped purchasing bulk items having to do with food. I still will purchase 120 rolls of toilet paper and 50 rolls of hand towels and 12 toothbrushes and 6 deodorants. But that is neither here nor there. I would like to enter a bodega and gather a bunch of grapes and an avocado off the store front rack and not pay an arm and a leg. Maybe I would grab one banana. Later that day I would get an 8th a pound of turkey sliced thin and the same of Swiss. I would get a sprig of romaine and an itty bit of fresh herbs. I'd smile as

For several weeks there have been complaining neighbors (usually about noise pollution of one sort or the other) on the Nextdoor site that probably has inundated all communities across the US. I read a bit from this site from time to time. One lady posts recipes everyday. Dogs and cats are always lost and recovered or found and taken to the vet. Updates are given on the state of the road demolitions and the role of the city regarding easements and mowing. Sob stories of stolen items lifted in broad daylight from open garage doors and questions about the best dentist in town recommendations pop up. Sightings of roaming dogs and strange lurkers checking car doors are posted with video from the ring app. Houses and clothes and other items for sale litter the feed.  These posts about loud noises lasting for many minutes or the booming of cars with bass speakers rattling windows intrigue me. The speculations are wild, but usually someone will repeat the oft correct source of the loud noise:

Angel: HE is not here. HE has been risen! Just as HE said. There are forces at work that man has nothing to do with and no control over. Force. F. O. R. C. E. Force.

11pm is when I went to bed. I woke up at 1am. This is common since I stopped taking a sleep aid. I get back to sleep and dream that a fat rat is running from my rear laundry area into my kitchen. I want to take a bow and arrow and pierce it in the gut. I don't have a bow and arrow, though. Of course dreams with fat rats are not common for me, so I am on the spiritual look out. Who wants to be bother with a rat. I know I don't. But in life there will be rats who enter. It is inconvenient. It is a headache. It is a pain in the rear. But it happens. At least I got a warning. Hopefully I am not back writing in a few days or a few weeks about the rat encounter in the physical realm. I am hopeful it was the turkey chili and cheese with corn chips I ate at 10:45pm that conjured this dream up.

Black Joy. Black Woman's Joy. What is it? I was discussing this with my cousin today. Ultimately we reduced it down to the universal substance of joy. Joy is Joy. How it comes about is not mutually exclusive to any tribe or any species. It is not like a petrified forrest fixed in place. It is spirit everywhere present and no one knows from where it blew in or when it will come again. Who even knows the exact nano second it departs from its host. Its packaging for some may be wrapped in timeliness such as finding a tiny island when you have been adrift at sea for days without rescue. Or being cured of some incurable disease because someone finally broke the code. Or a hand reaching out to give you a fist bump for a job well done. Or could it be the ending of a great novel or film that sums up everything in the story so perfectly. For others it could be delivered in the form of a spiritual that emerges from the depths of a despair that calls out in only the way lifted voices can. Thi

It is said that it takes 28 days to form a new habit. You can't believe everything someone tells you. I can say that after writing for 60 days straight, it is not a habit. I may be in the habit of thinking about writing, but it is not daily and for certain it is not a habit. Some days I have to remember to do this. Other days I have to force myself to do this. Right now is a day when it is fine that I write. I am OK with it. I have broken a many of habits. I quit smoking in my early 30's. Actually the cigarettes were taken from me through delivery by the Holy Spirit. I can't lie about that. I quit smoking dope. I quit smoking cloves. I quit smoking Bidis. I quit drinking brandy. I quit eating almonds and pistachios because they made my chest and heart reel with pain to point that I could not breathe well. They went the way of mother's milk and teething rings, and diapers;- though, diapers are back on the horizon as age and gravity do there thing with bladders and sphinc