The woodpecker and the apple tree

I wrote this last year looking out my window of the dorm room and watching a woodpecker at work on the apple tree. This is the imagined conversation I jotted down. Even though its nothing special for some reason I really like it. I hope my Grandma does too. I feel like a kid whenever  I re-read it.

The Woodpecker and the Apple Tree-a childlike story

I saw the woodpecker pecking the apple tree, tossing off the coat of moss off the bark with each thrust and flick of its head. I think I heard him say, ‘Hey are there any bugs in here to eat?’ And the apple tree said, ‘No, I’m just an old apple tree and even though the sun is out I’m still cold so please don’t take anymore of my coat off.’ ‘Oh dear goodness, I am sorry,’ said the woodpecker, ‘I didn’t know you were an apple tree. I’m new to these parts.’ The old apple tree was wise and kind and wanted to give help to the woodpecker who was hungry and in a foreign territory. So what did the apple tree do you might wonder since he was wise and kind? The apple tree told the woodpecker where to find the juiciest bugs in Portland, and not only that, the apple tree invited the woodpecker to come back in the late summer/early fall when his apples will be rotting and come partake in the apple maggots. ‘Why thank you Mr. Apple Tree,’ the woodpecker said, ‘You’re the wisest and kindest apple tree I’ve ever met.’ ‘Good day,’ said the apple tree, and there was peace in the land for that moment of time.

Poet, Theologian & Contemplative (wanna be)

I’m putting together some poems and random things I wrote over the last year for my grandma as a birthday present. She’ll be 76 next tuesday the 30th of October. My beloved father and I are traveling north to Seattle to celebrate her existence. Here are a few samplings that will be in her gift.

Poet, Theologian,& Contemplative (wanna be)

Is the silence as deep as eternity? Why do the voices never stop chatting non-sense? Learn to still those outbursts and let them not be hindrances but catalysts to the depths. Constant focus on the invitation and the one who sent it.

Time ticks.

Let time be an ally in proving the love to be true. Behold his elegant manner. Glimpses of glory. Food. Chew. Digest. Sweetness lingers on the taste buds. It costs to go deep, maybe even my sanity. Write about the experience in the language of imagination. emajyn full potential realized. I need to do this, I need to do that.

I need to slow down and love and be loved.

Cook up words that are shovels to dig deep under the walls that keep us apart. A new us. Image bearers. Lets live together and sing the song of ultimate reality. When am I going to really start living? Live out my beliefs, my conversation. My name is Jesse you can call me JG. I like my name. Its time to wrestle.

Inner Views with Qwel part II

emajyn- …so with the season album concept the motif seems to be this thing of change. Like what is change? The seasons change, you talk a lot about change…

Qwel- Change is like first cousins with suffering. Change is the painful thing that we all… see we are conscious of growing, the tree isn’t conscious of growing, but the side effect of being conscious of growing is pain. Man you want your muscles to grow bigger you have to pop your muscles so they grow back bigger, you want your hair to grow thicker you have to shave, kill it and it grows. That is one of things that we’ve neglected with all our science is like pain is the physical sensation of change to some extent. Because our free will makes us so intelligent we’ve made ourselves unwise. No serious there are two different intelligences. There’s reading books, but wisdom is like if you touch a burnt cigarette you won’t do that again. You don’t have to remember it and show it off to your fucking F. Scott Fitzgerald friends. You know it forever, youknowwhatImsayin. But we know F. Scott Fitzgerald and we know so many of these other details that we the lose the big scheme of things a lot and shit. I dunno man… we just neglected that sensation I think.

emajyn- I think its on your track asceticism, you talk about at the end when your done rhyming one thing that will be a conduit of change is this thing that we live forever.

Inner Views with Qwel Part I

The sense of liberation after conquering a fear makes me feel alive. With that said Saturday October 6th I hopped off some public transportation and rolled solo into Berbati’s Pan to here some quality hip hop (state of mind, Grey Matters, Grouch, Qwel, and Sandpeople). I had my mini tape recorder in my pocket with hopes to interview one of my favorite rappers but wondering if I had the umph to pull it off. Well most of the time it doesn’t hurts to ask, so after detaching from my fear emotion I went for it and the following is the outcome of a little conversation I had with Qwel of Typical Cats. Who according to some is the best rapper in hip hop right now. Check him out for yourself. http://www.myspace.com/qwe1

(Before you dip into this interview please know that Qwel uses raw language. Its funny how when you type a tape recorded conversation you lose an aspect of communication that took place. You can’t sense my nervous energy or Qwel’s sincerity in what he says. I tried to type it like I heard it to capture the inner views of Qwel. Enjoy.)

Inner Views

I have this blog idea I’m gonna run with called Inner Views where I’m going to interview people I come in contact with from all different walks of life. I want to ask them questions that would reflect their world and how they see things. I’m hoping a couple of things will happen:

• I’m going to connect significantly to the person I interview
• Expose people to people who otherwise wouldn’t meet
• Hearts can be expressed in beneficial ways
• An overall theme of reconciliation will take place
• I’ll learn to ask better question, because I’ve come to find that the question guides the quest.

We’ll see what happens…