Never Give Up!

The Full Moon is February 9, 2020.

All hail Moon of Silence!

Thank you Moon of Sparkling Snow

Thank you Moon of Gentle Bell,

bridging me from dream to other dream

Thank you Moon of Out Breath,

expanding from a single point of stillness

Thank you Moon of Epic Thundering: Slow Crash Ice

Thank you Moon of Sheet Ice, Chunk Ice, Rifts of River Ice,

crashing & sliding over each other

Thank you Moon of Sit Quietly & Witness

the Steady Construction of Motionless River Ice

Thank you Moon of Reverberant Silence that Followed the Freezing

Thank you Moon of Four-fold Vibration of Voices Joining

Thank you Moon of Leaning Against Each Other While Washing the Plates

Thank you Moon of Laughter From the Other Room

Thank you Moon of Song Wafting from the Gulley

Thank you Moon of Patience for Pots of Acorns

and Chestnuts and Onions and Coffee

left to burn away to nothing but smell

Thank you Moon of Do Not Wait for the People in Political Power

to Challenge the Corporations that are Destroying the Planet

Thank you Moon of We are Both

the Victims & the Perpetrators of the Destruction

Thank you Moon of Carrying Shame is like Carrying Bad Water

Thank you Moon of Pouring Out & Refilling Fresh

Thank you Moon of Intentional Psychedelics

Thank you Moon of Open Mind,

slippery, clutching and vast

Thank you Moon of Tender Heart,

spacious, gentle, and sad

Thank you Moon of Ginger Tea

Thank you Moon of Hot Water for being there for me

Thank you Moon of Bitter Disappointment when you weren’t

Thank you Moon of Leaving the Lights Off After Evening Sit

& Making Our Way to Bed in the Dark

Thank you Moon of Grandmother Pear

Thank you Moon of  my Body,

who never gets me there

but always gets me here

Thank you Moon of Wooden Mallet Striking Wooden Board — clack clack! 

reverberating across the landscape,

calling us to sit

Thank you Moon of Flock,

approaching as chatty messy chevrons,

departing as cosmic sea serpent

Thank you Moon of Earth Falling From the River,

the Abenaki word for time

Thank you Moon of Ole-ohneh Abenaki

(Thank you Moon of Thank you Abenaki)

Thank you Moon of a World Categorized by Whats and Whos

Thank you Moon of Experimentation

Thank you Moon of Privilege

Thank you Moon of Vulnerable Sharing

both in and out of silence

Thank you Moon of Alone Together

Thank you Moon of Creative Flow as it meanders

Thank you Moon of Sharpest Pencil

Thank you Moon of Womb

Thank you Moon of Winter

Thank you Moon of What Will We Do Now?

Thank you Moon of Licking the Blade of Nowness

Thank you Moon of Disconnecting from Devices

Thank you Moon of a Thousand Different Sounds of Snow Under foot,

each one a chorus of billions unique

Thank you Moon of We Do Not Bow to the Condiments

Thank you Moon of Each of Us Takes Our Turn Bowing to the Condiments

Thank you Moon of Tender Relations with the Tree

Thank you Moon of You Never Know What’s Going on for Someone Else

Thank you Moon of Judgement, Projection, and Knotted Shoulder

Thank you Moon of Don’t Expect a Standing Ovation

Thank you Moon of Schedule is the Teacher

Thank you Moon of Wild Grapes,

clinging & withered on the vine

offering luscious ink strewn across the page

Thank you Moon of Natural Inks Prefer Natural Papers

Thank you Moon of Is That So Surprising?

Thank you Moon of Inks are Whos

Thank you Moon of Golden Nectar of Luminosity Inlaid in the Fabric of Laughter

Thank you Moon of Formal Eating Rituals

Thank you Moon of What We Do Here is Highly Unusual

Thank you Moon of Deep Sadness in my Sternum

Thank you Moon of Connected to Mom Through the Pain in my Knees

Thank you Moon of Basic Goodness

Thank you Moon of Multi-Billion Dollar Cosmetics Industry

to Profit off us Forgetting our Basic Goodness

Thank you Moon of the Clan of Human Decency

Thank you Moon of Forever Whisper: Never give up!

Thank you Moon of Perpetual Feast Before Us

Thank you Moon of Shared Consciousness of Body, Earth, Animals, Sky

Thank you Moon of Tiger Lion Dragon Garuda vision

Thank you Moon of Setting Sun

Thank you Moon of Vigilant Honesty in Artmaking

Thank you Moon of Teach us not to Take Ourselves so Seriously

Thank you Qwan Yin, dancing in the incense

Thank you Moon of Dark Enigma

Thank you Moon of Spontaneous Appropriate Response

Thank you Moon of Love

Thank you Moon of Impossible Repetition

Thank you Moon of Impossible Repetition

Thank you Moon of Impossible Repetition

Thank you Moon of Muse

Thank you Moon of Why Are We Doing This?

Thank you Moon of Fourfold Task to Save the Planet

Thank you Moon of Don’t Have Kids

Thank you Moon of Drive Less

Thank you Moon of Fly Less

Thank you Moon of Eat Less Meat

Thank you Moon of Earth Mother

Thank you Our Mother, the Earth!

Thank you Moon of Water Is Life

Thank you Moon of Candlelight

Thank you Moon of Space to Work

Thank you Moon of Dreading Lifting the Silence

Thank you Moon of Relief that We’re Done

Thank you Moon of my Dear Friends

Thank you Moon of How Did I Get so Blessed?

Thank you Moon of Yes Yes and More Yes!

Thank you Moon of Practice Yes.

Thank you Moon of Practice, Yes.

Thank you Moon of Over & Over

Thank you Moon of Thank you

Thank you Moon of Thank you

Thank you Moon of Thank you

Thank you Moon of Silence

Text by Suiko McCall

Collage by Qayyum Johnson