Actioning words

I did a writing practice from Natalie Goldberg tonight, out of the chapter The Action of a Sentence. You write down any ten nouns, then think of an occupation and write down ten verbs relating to it. I looked around for ten nouns and wrote sunhat, gumboots, kitty litter, colander, coloured chalk, thongs, holepuncher, book, scissors, mug. I chose 'gardener' and put digs, shovels, scatters, weeds, rakes, trims, sprays, hoses, waters, mows. Then you combine them:

His gumboots scatter the gravel. He digs at the concrete with his chalk. The sunhat trims off his ears. Her thongs shovel through the sand. The mug waters her mouth. The holepuncher sprays out paper circles. Water rakes through the colander. The scissors mow through the newspaper. She weeds the lumps out of the kitty litter. Her book hoses her down.

The terminal abode

I like that expression. It comes from my Natalie Goldberg book, Writing Down the Bones (Shambala, 1986), from the chapter called Use Loneliness:

When I was separated from my husband, Katagiri Roshi said to me, "You should live alone. You should learn about that. It is the terminal abode."
"Roshi, will I get used to loneliness?"
"No, you don't get used to it. I take a cold shower every morning and every morning it shocks me, but I continue to stand up in the shower. Loneliness has a bite, but learn to stand up in it and not be tossed away."

So where are you on this cold night, I wonder? Haven't heard from you in a while. Will you write to our blog again at some point? I will go on alone for now. Come back anytime. I miss your poems and your photos and your paintings. I miss you.
I remember there have been times when you have imposed a media blackout on yourself, cutting yourself off from newspapers, telly and internet. I wonder if as part of your Buddhist studies you are cutting yourself off from all the noise again? But I feel sure you'll return.
Well, I don't know where you are tonight but I know that in 1995 you were here:


















You wrote, "Really great to be here and be alive."
Meanwhile, I was here, thinking the same thing...