travel

Name that vase: Natronia

Produced and posted by The Alchemist’s Studio, http://rakupottery.ca/2019/01/08/name-that-vase/ with request for naming and writings.

The inspiration for naming your #44 comes from its immediate ability to draw me back to Tanzania where i experienced Lake Natron, a mineral-rich soda lake which sits below the ‘Mountain of God’, Ol Dionyo Lengai, an active volcano that spews a dark silvery carbonatite ‘cold’ lava at 500-550 celsius.
Your vase reminds me of the colors, textures and unlikely combination of life and death at this lake. The story is real but your vase is the mythical symbolization, Natronia, to me!

Natronia

Oh ‘Golden’ one
Think yourself so mighty,
Robbing me of my waters
Running me dry to the bed.

My visiting flamingoes may flee
And the fish eagle saved
As my alkaline petrifying
and volcanic waters vanish.

But perhaps you leave
Behind, my most renown
Beauty of all,
My crystaline core.

Varied hues of ruby
Azure and seagreen,
All mingle and run in and over
My contours, cracks and crevices.

See my form now!
Matched by none,
As I am the one and only
Lake, Lake Natron.

With me you will find
Life and death
On and in me,
Both like nowhere else.

When waters swell
My salts are savored,
My ruby red
Never feared.

Yet with pH high
I cannot help
To immortalize those poor creatures
Who know not what is wise.

I lay witness to mighty God,
Ol Dionya Lengai.
Beauty is my nature
Protect those that come to my shore.

Pictures curtesy of Nick Brandt and Depositphoto.com.

Sagrada Familia

 

Continued visionary,
Gaudi, introducted by chance
As originator, Villar
Passed the reigns so each
Block, tile, chiseled wood
Glass, marble, steel
And more formed every
Pillar and pew
Chapel and alter
Stairwell to steeple.
All standing together
As this monumental structure served
By the many creative minds and hands.
Today, Jean Vila-Grau
Stains panes so beams and rays
Glow and rain in
To majestically
Bless moments beholding
All past, present and future combined.
The density and charm of light
Heighten senses
As constantly as the changes from dawn to dusk!
Sheer size and variation
Of formations inside and out
Captivate with a stupor
The boggling conforming
Mind! What lessons to learn
As few can claim
This absences of completion
Ongoing effort
Continued metaphorism
Yet is this not the commonality
Between all that lives?
The continued transformation
As stagnation is progression to decay
Perhaps inanimate
Yet a power still resides
Catholicism? God? Existentialism?
May the answers
Be as creative as the creating force
And challenge to inspire the search
Of one’s own divine individuality.

Tanzania 🇹🇿

Irreplaceable
One of a kind
The stars aligned
And our time came to fruition
The apprehensions
Anxieties, dreams and expectations
All surpassed
Even the best author
Could not have written
At first glance
Came a knowing
‘Unfold what may’
As I stood in your hands
And walked as if with a friend
Pockets of people
In towns to villages
Children to men of the Maasai
All smiles and welcomes
Hospitality endearing
Leaving warmth
Down to my core
With spectrum of adventure
Wide, wild and of wonderment
Yet secured by the guides
With rifle, machete and spear!
The call of the wild
From lion to elephants
With splashes and scurries
By hippos and gazelle
Terrain of diversity
With rubbles roads to wild bush
The crunch of dried salt beds
Even great whirls of red sand
Monumental forms
With Kilimanjaro and Meru
To Oldionyo Lengai; mountain of Gods
All footed by plains and lakes
No less than the great Natron
Just a piece of this planet
Yet you’ve left me awe
Stirred me deep
And revived me well
They call you Tanzania
I shall call you the soul
For all you are
Has always been just so
Live long, Tanzania
Be fruitful
Your survival is the legacy
That Mother Nature
This Universe
Is strongest of all

The Baobab Tree

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You may not tower
But stand you do
Strong and grounded
With reassuring girth
Your vertical ripples
And segmental trunking
Branch up symmetrically
Dispersed across the plains
You lend life to many
Hosting beehives
Nesting Superb starlings
With dried out river beds
Elephants gnaw deep into your trunk
Sucking your rich sap
Parasitic plant life
Twine around and into your branches
No harm done
As your longevity is into the hundreds
Oh mighty tree
Humble and kind
In this arid bush land
You stand giant-like
Sharing all you are
Giving house and nutrients
Denying not even the termites
In awe of your qualities
Humbled by your lessons
You teach it is possible
To live with all who share your space

Man of Maasai

 

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Standard 6 foot 3 inches
Draped in colored shuka
Spear and machete unconcealed
No mistaking your identity.
Footprint invisible
True to your ancient ways
Treading soft on your red earth.
As one with your land
You live side by side
Beast, bush and Man.
Boma-home, simplistic
Matted or bricked
Domed or steepled
Housing your family and livestock.
Your community ways
Protect the elderly
And teach your young.
What men of honor
Trust once gained impeccable
Unity undeniable.
Accepting of right and wrong
No law keepers required
Justice served from within your circles.
With tolerance to political and western tyranny
You have accommodated ‘globalization’
By being inched out of your land.
Of the ‘worldly’ new ways
Not all is needed
For human existence
Nor this great planet.
Much we can learn from you
As you sustain yourself
Your families, your communities
My prayers for your survival.
I shall never forget
Our precious time
Meeting at rock mountain bed
Guided through adventured lands
Dancing by light of campfire.
Thankyou
Nameste
Kwa heri
May we meet again.

Yogis in Africa

Yoga was a repeated practice and component on my recent adventure, lead by the instruction of Erin Elizabeth Young

 

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Bandstand cabana
Kindly made available
Yogis international come together
On rainbow colored mats
Circular goddesses rise
Then dive to savasana
Egyptian salutations
Welcome almighty Sun
Seeding love, joy and life
Atop the A1 Hotel
Daring to face Mount Meru
We reach for the clouds
And dive to forward fold
Happy as clams
We clasp our hands
Then spread to warrior woman
Our strength never too far
Chirping birds surround
We perch on terrace edge
Stretching out in free dance
To reach the Tarangire plains
Above the Ngorongoro Crater
Amidst the thick foiled ridge
Sheltered by Acacias and more
Joined by creatures big and small
The sunset claims the backdrop
Making backbends a must
And finally a full circle
With morning, noon and night
Glory be to this kingdom
This gifted abode my body
And this divine privilege of existence
May I remember always
My breath
And strive to dance in its rhythm

Wild Awakening

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Photograph compliments of Erin Elizabeth Young

Wild Awakening African Safari : Spear headed by abstract artist, Erin Elizabeth Young and founding member of Olasiti Orphanage and community center, Shelly Wolfe.

I am one of 4 excited San Joaquin women embarking on an adventure of yoga, art, Safari and community service.
Hope to bring you back writings from another continent! Leave you with my inner voice as I begin the journey.
Wild Awakening
Blazing sunlight
Thunderous wildebeest
Endless landscapes
Passive or passionate
Absent or present
Believing or knowing
Which is it to be?!
Inhaling deep
Exhale gratuitous delight
Reverberating life
Knowing my time, my existence, my gift
With thumping heart
Pulsating veins
Flushed and vibrant in face
See me alive, engaged and impassioned
Drawing the line
Striving to acknowledge the infinite
Embracing the finite
Do you know of the ‘coming’?
It is here
It is in you, in me!
No waiting
No deliverance
Opening the eyes
For the first time
To see
To look
To understand
No room for the half hearted
No room for the faint hearted
Coming emboldened
Coming impassioned
This day awaits
This life is here
Let’s not miss our time

Africa Calling

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I hear you calling
I know your arms are wide open
There is no stepping
This must be a dive
Closing my eyes
I feel my free fall
As there is no fight
Against the draw of your call
From endless landscapes
With blistering deserts
Placid salt lakes
And daunting forests
Where Man is of no consequence
Where beast is the king
I will come as your guest
And leave as your subject
The Queen of this Earth
You give birth and house to the wild
You show how it was
You teach how it can still be
No matter the challenge
You survive feast and famine
Uprisings and peace
You uphold your regal name
And with reverence I say
She is Africa