I'm a Farmer

I’m a farmer,
Working from a dairy farm to a hog farm.
It must be heaven to walk in this mud.

Many farmers have come to milk on this land.
They bring tools to set down their own gardens in this place.
Neighbors on the earth, brothers and sisters in spirit,
Motherless children yearning for Peace.

Part One is Complete!

Mock Up Cover, Obvs

A phenomenal thing happened yesterday:  I finished the first of three parts for, what I hope, will be my first novel.  It is a fantasy about a young man and his rite of passage, and the war that happens for his soul between the holy Colluchians and the evil Aenocyons. 

Gordie is a young man sent on the Ramble, the generations-old journey to adulthood for the Colluchians.  The wisefolk imparted tremendous wisdom to him before his journey, hoping that this would keep him from straying away.  They have hope that he will be the leader who would bring peace and joy to the Commonwealth.  He was on a path to gain mastery of great power, as willed for him by the deity Colluch.  But Gordie swears off his god and places himself at the center of his own world.

During his subsequent exile, he is pursued by the evil Ayersi, the ugliest man from the distant city of Aenocyon.  As he escapes, he is taken under the protection of three poets, who point Gordie to the road of redemption.

Overseen by the ancient Crag the Crow, this story is a philosophy of life.  Pain, suffering, forgiveness, redemption after a heinous fall.  These are timeless existential lessons for a mad modern world.

Review: Captain Marvel: Just a girl? Just an Attainable Hero

This review originally appeared at Geek Universal.

My boys and I just got back from seeing Captain Marvel.  It is a fantastic movie!  I am a kid of the Nineties, and enjoyed some of the images of my youth on display.  It is also an interesting tool for placing Captain Marvel herself in the larger MCU mythology.  This was done to a small degree with the backstory for Star-Lord, but not to this extent.  This was a beautiful movie, inside and out.

Captain Marvel hits all of the notes for the MCU.  For those who are deeply invested in the metastory, there are tons of additions to advance the story.  For those who like sci-fi and superhero movies, the action is fantastic and clean – easy to watch, follow and be entertained.

The brightest point of the movie is its character study of Captain Marvel herself.  At this point, you’ll need to recognize that my review is not going to be point by point or about the movie itself, but about the person of the protagonist.  When she first appears on screen, it is in the midst of a common trope – the immature warrior is being trained by an experienced superior.  She fights well, but continually receives lessons about her fighting that have nothing to do with her ability.  She is being told to harness and rein in her raw and powerful abilities.

The Second Wind of a Fearful Man

It comes in the dark

After the failures: regrets, burdens of the mind. 

It comes to a man of some promise

Who doubts his Creator

Who doubts his own heart

Who doubts the hope - though it is his core. 

The hope is buried

It’s very thing suppressed. 

The hope is despaired

Though it froths with great strength. 

The hope calls the slumber to end,

The hiding to become boldness, 

The fear to take its place again and again as nothingness. 

A single light,

Here on my hand. 

Entering my mouth 

At this dark moment. 

Dark depth and silence

broken by industry, or fatigue, or frivolity. 

All these being good, properly conceived. 

We don’t do sarcasm. 

We do raw honesty. 

We rise from the errors. 

We battle the enemy of the strength. 

We rise to earthly service and find light’s source. 

After and through the yielding to momentary death: 

            Joy and hope never flagging. 

            Joy and hope always regnant.

She Makes Me Write

She makes me write.
Bestows the ability, Unlocks it from the dangerous cavern where it was manacled.
Loving freely,
Graciously remaining.
I have no fears about releasing my story.

The Jedi and the Messianic Hope

This is my Christmas post.  Trust me for a bit on that.

Allow yourself to rise up.  Meditate on what it means, or the process by which, you can become greater than you have ever thought you could be.  Leave behind ideas of materialism, or even what pop culture offers as spiritualism.  Identify not with the crude matter, but give great psychological effort to becoming one with the Force, that the Force may become one with you.  If we can find clarity enough to look inside of our own souls we will find that there is a secret hope there, implanted by the Creator.  While the Jedi hoped for the Chosen One, we have a hope for the messianic.

 

Click here to read the rest.

 

Seeing Star Wars Anew Again

This article was originally published at the venerable Coffee With Kenobi

Attack of the Clones was on TBS the other day. I dutifully and joyfully put it on. This under-appreciated episode of the Saga is much maligned, and I think that is wrong. While viewing this visually stunning masterpiece, I realized that I was reciting all of the lines along with the movie. Like some people sing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Sweet Caroline” or “Frankenstein,” I find that speaking along with these movies is comforting and helps me to find new depth in them. So then the question arises: How can we see these movies for what they are, and not what we expect them to be? By this I mean an even more basic question. Can we ever see these movies new again?

For the past decade we have been treated to The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, each of which has offered new insights to Episode II (among other things); and I would say that it has made it an entirely different movie. So, I ask myself, can I see this movie fresh, or is it constantly going to be colored by preconceived notions that I, myself, bring to each viewing? What if I had seen Episode II after the various cartoon series? And if I had, what would have changed? Certainly not the cinematic output, but me. I would have changed with more insight, or having been at a different stage in my life.