desert

i just got done perusing ‘ode’ magazine. i used to like the publication. now i find it uninspiring. blessings to the organization and mission, and to those who like the publication. i realized i needed to move on when i read another entry by paulo coehlo. paulo has written a few things i found fascinating. mostly i found his writing to skew a bit odd, and rambling. it didn’t help that i read an article in a different preferred publication that mentioned a book publishers gathering wherein paulo was the keynote speaker. the writer’s description was not complimentary. and it fit the feel i have come to have about paulo. in reading paulo’s latest entry, i was stirred to write the following tome which, in more ways than many, could indeed be a cogent descriptor of my current state:

“the two men, friends of a sort, traveled for hours through the flat nameless country. weary a bit from the start, and now with the afternoon shadows enlongating perceptibly, they came upon a campsite functionally constructed by a retired psychologist and his earth-friendly wife. the welcoming couple shared provisions, energy, friendship, and restful accommodations. that the wife and one of the travelers found a connection a bit soulful but wholly boundary-respecting was not unnoticed by the husband and the other traveler. you never know where connections exist and for what purpose. in the morning the travelers bade the campers best wishes and their trek continued. one of the men periodically ruminated about vacations as a child, particularly gas stops at stuckey’s along the interstate, replete with the free box of white divinity candy free with a fill-up. the other man’s thoughts caromed from unfinished projects at work to metaphors for the sound of the ground crunching under his timberland boots. in the evening they ate freeze-dried stroganoff with a sip of j&b. at 6a the next morning the one man walked to the left thinking about white divinity. at 8:47a the other man changed his socks. in the valley 1517 kilometers to the northwest a mule deer ate aspen leaves for the last time. near the apostle islands, a young boy errantly threw a jurassic age agate into the water trying to scare away a floating loon. activity on the dow continued independently. micro-credit loans were offered and also failed in coastal peru. meanwhile, mozy back-up systems stored data.”