The Hot Seeds
Struggling to Find Words
After the US election results were determined, my brother and woodcut artist Art Hazelwood sent me the following from the poet Gary Snyder. It’s part of Snyder’s book No Nature and includes reflections from his summer serving as a fire lookout in the Cascades in the 1950s. But as you’ll see, Washington can have two meanings here.
I’ve been struggling to find words for the past 24 hours. I recognize you didn’t sign up for this newsletter expecting political content, so I’ll try to string a thread here that acknowledges this country's recent decision while also applying a metaphor for other contexts.
My wife and I attended Bruce Cockburn’s solo concert Sunday evening at the Odeum in East Greenwich. I’ve long been a fan but have never seen him live. His songs meld a delightful mix of the spiritual, prophetic, and silly - not easy to pull off well, but he does. I secured an autographed copy of his memoir, Rumors of Glory, and last night, choosing to leave the television dark, I read these words:
“We are on a great journey, through darkness and dawn, across time, though sometimes I fear that our journey is about to end. We must not succumb to fear or avarice; we must continue to embrace life, seek light, and gather in the charity of night. This is what God wants from us and for us. Mirrors of the past shine with the hues of unborn days, stars glitter in the dark night to light our way.” Bruce Cockburn, Rumors of Glory, p. 20.
There it was, plopped between stories about his high school years as a disaffected teen in early 1960s Canada. There it was for me—a gift I needed. Perhaps we all need a gift when all seems bleak, be it facing an upcoming surgery, the prospect of a relationship collapsing, or an election result we had not desired.
The thread in all of this is the archetype of the eternal return, the resurrection, new life, and hope springing eternally. We see it in the Hindu mythology of Kali & Shiva, gods representing the forces of destruction, creation and compassion. It is there in the Christian narrative of Christ’s death and resurrection. It is even in the laws of thermodynamics where entropy is associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty and yet also a part of the creation process.
Wherever you are today, we all know the experience of loss, despair, and defeat. Live life long enough, and you’ll experience it. Am I right? Those events are as natural as manure, death, and loss. Well, also know that “the hot seeds steam underground still alive.”
More to come,
James Hazelwood is an author and photographer who reflects on the intersection of the spiritual with the everyday ordinary aspects of life. His website is www.jameshazelwood.net