mississippi mud climbin

tunica falls, MS
May 09

woodswalk with fine friends
we ran fleetfooted downhills and back up and back up and back up
waterfall watched
climbed down the mudrock to rescue the groundwater from plastic waterbottles
opening it to smash it down to pack it out
i unleashed a bright blue liquid into the creekbed
freaky
no one should be drinking stuff that color

i practiced lifting up
putting space between my joints
get some tree-clean air in there

i noticed how we breathed together
spun over fallen trees
cartwheeled in the creek
we climbed a muddy bank, steep, 20-25 feet
slid down
dubbed it mississippi mud climbin
rad

i asked
what is the smallest sound?
we quiet walked,
then wordlessly, we sat

birdsound
feetcrunch
water-fall
treewind

i watched a leaf
it spun down crazily
beautifully crazy--staying within some wild spiral
till the end, in water, casting ripples

chad said

i found the smallest sound:
the sound of the leaf landing on the water

i said

i was thinking it would be good to live like the leaf
plunging in, moving with every bend of the wind, free, trusting

chad said

yeah, so brief and crazy
yet with such grace

i said

then it ripples the water
changes things
its energy changes
maybe the fall is the life
or maybe the fall the time in between lives
in the other space
and the time on the water is the life, rippling out

scott did not speak
kept listening
quiet waters running deep