greenwood
Delta Dispatch #7
Thinking so much of it is just weird luck - being up here, being led up here, all the strange crossings that toed to the this particular road, and just the simple drive from here-to-there, signs everywhere saying Go-Go-Go, Yes-this-is-it, and God-Bless-You, and,
He said, ‘well keep your cards close,’ and I done gone and hollered then threw my cards out for all to see, God bless me -
Like - what does God say to you, how does he communicate?
I am not saying I am doing holy work, or even visionary, but I am sitting there painting feeling like I could leave my body at any moment - if you have felt it, you know, - I been stumbling, I been fallin, and at this point it been so long I am glad to sit and paint and if it is a wiser spirit coming through, thank you.
And maybe I ought to quit asking questions, causing folks to worry and weep, but the thing is, it’s a human line to follow, very human,
With everyone I have met so far, falling seems a lesser word,
When it turns to rain out here, I swear the whole sky and earth and land and air turn towards belief, the sky is grey blue brown, the land is so saturated, the puddles reflect the sky, I seen the fog far-off, nearer the river, all upon; imagine,
Somehow the Mississippi River means more out here than it does at home, that old highway 178 life, more than there,
I don’t understand it, I don’t understand much, it is all so terrific, a whole lot,
Dreaming so much up until this point, it seems like a cataclysm, a microscope,
On all these dreams through now
I feel so healed up out here, I don’t know what all it is - felt so good this whole day, walking and painting and singing and loving,
A crossroads of geese passed through the sky, more than a multitude, honking and sincere into the grey rainy sky, I smiled and exclaimed in seeing, ran from mud puddle to mud puddle to follow and witness and holler -
Went for a run the first time in two months, waving to folks out on their cold porches but watching, a dog-parade wherever so we go, they follow -
Went run and back through the brown grey blue dark stormy world, and showered,
What a strange old lucky old life, again, again, again,
Went ran in the strange delta, went showered in this strange camper with mighty fine hot water, left and felt so warm and good and whole and true, three four more hours in the studio, time moves quick but the paintings seem to go so slow,
“well I am so glad, so glad so glad today,”
Out here in this land and so glad, so silly, wondering if I will ever grow up, but knowing and thankful in every angle to be so well loved,
I am so glad salvation is free
Living and acting in mercy,
It will carry with you to the end