“My fellow creatures, we have been gifted with only so many turns around the sun. We Become What We Normalize is a plea to be brave, truthful, and joyful with our lives. In a clear and prophetic voice reminiscent of Wendell Berry and Richard Rohr, David Dark invites us to live authentic, wholehearted, undivided lives. Sit alongside David Dark for a spell. Observe him as he disarms himself by telling the deepest truths about his life. In turn, Dark’s courage and wisdom might help
I wrote a poem recently using the human act of naming as a metaphor to describe human behavior
Naming the Wind
Name the wind on your face, it becomes part of you.
Even the distant revving of a motorcycle engine whizzing by worms through your consciousness.
Name the wind, name the sound
Your body possessed.
Your mind obsessed.
The sound vibrates in the ear,
And circles through your brain
a relentlessly refrain.
Suddenly an image becomes attached,
And a story imagined of the rider’s destiny.
All is noise.
Naming,
a heavy chain of possibilities,
Endless scenarios spun
Anchors down your reality.
So human to take charge;
Assign work, corral circumstance,
Even with the most innocent of incidents
Arranged for personal understanding.
Forces of nature and culture impose
on solitude infinite distractions,
Muddy mind’s eye,
Call for possible solutions
Insist on resolution,
Beyond ability and surpassing intentions.
Continuously these storms stir habitat and circumstance,
Disturb stillness time after time
Anxious to control,
To impose our will,
To swing secure with the wind at your back.
Forget what binds
Learn to let go
Or fail to revel in the present flow.
The best prayer of the human soul.
A worthy contemplation —
this blessed moment.
THH
7/20/23