still taking the trail

[the mingo]

the old man showed his feather long ago
his arm blooming with comparing
the one music mind
with the sweet wing

devotion was the thing
that took him by surprise
powering the opening of this remember

blue came along too
i mean how else were we
to know the real from
the merely warm?
or home, which fascinates me
as a child charmed by belong
but still taking the trail

[creativesoul]

'the real from the merely warm' mmm interesting=
nice

[dadio]

Enjoyed.

[Christopher T. George]

Hello, the mingo

I enjoyed this somewhat surrealistic piece. While I didn't understand all of it, for example the part about the old man showing the feather... what is that a feather of cowardice or something else? I am not sure... the elements of the poem nonetheless come together to show a father and son relationship, the devotion of the father (to family or God?) and the son taking the trail. Nice work, mingo.

Cheers

Chris

[the mingo]

Chris,
to show the white feather is a tradition in some circles that indicates an acknowledgement of a realization equal in nature to or greater than our own. Death is the greatest realization of all in this life. Everything, love included, must show the white feather to it. Yes, it is about father & son - at least that was the point all else gathered around. Thx, Chris.

[the mingo]

Jana & Terry -

[Christopher T. George]

Chris,
to show the white feather is a tradition in some circles that indicates an acknowledgement of a realization equal in nature to or greater than our own. Death is the greatest realization of all in this life. Everything, love included, must show the white feather to it. Yes, it is about father & son - at least that was the point all else gathered around. Thx, Chris.

.
.
Hi mingo

I have never heard of that tradition, but I do know of the white feather given for cowardice, as in the 1902 adventure novel by British writer A.E.W. Mason, "The Four Feathers", made into a movie by a number of directors, most notably in 1939 by Zoltan Korda in a version starring Ralph Richardson, John Clements, C. Aubrey Smith, and June Duprez, and recently remade by Shekhar Kapur in a version with the late Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, and Kate Hudson. The white feather was also used in a scene in the second series of the TV soap opera "Downton Abbey" where the footman William Mason is given such a feather by a woman who assumed that he was shirking his "duty" by not enlisting in the British forces in the Great War.

All the best

Chris

[creativesoul]

for me-the feather, and someone showing it - is about a person doing native ceremony for ego- showing off a feather is kind of - not real sacred-

[the mingo]

Get down, Lieutenant! These boys is shooters!

Dances With Wolves

Wow - it's all about the fucking feather! - if I had known that I might not have mentioned it in the first place (kidding) ... anyways I love Downton Abbey - I saw that movie you mentioned but I don't remember if I watched it all the way to the end. I scavenged the feather ref from zen writings & adapted it to my own use - my father would not have been familiar with it either. He was more familiar with Tweety from the Looneytoon crew. Every time he would see a Tweety cartoon he would chuckle & laugh and go around for hours afterward saying "I taught I taw a puddy-tat." Dear God I couldn't believe the man was half the origin of myself. My native uncle would encourage him no end in this behavior by saying "Go Jimmie, go!" and then they both would chorus, " I did! I did! I did taw a puddy-tat!" This is why, when things get squirrel-y, (and when ain't things squirrel-y?) I don't worry about it - it's in the DNA & nothing I can do about it.

Jana - my uncle would have chased you all over hell for a kiss and he would have gotten it too no matter how buff & healthy you might be - he was the penultimate of persistence when it came to women. Only woman he ever spoke of in my presence was a woman from Jamaica he met when he was in the Merchant Marine. He called her his "island girl" Her name was Janice and even though my uncle has walked on from this world my bet would be he's still impressed with Janice.

[creativesoul]

kissing is sometimes the very best part- of every intimate cell- and yes - i love men that love women- at any rate- the feather- i got a tatoo of a feather- kind of kept me from jumping off a bridge in portland three years ago- now when i jump off a cliff- it is for fun- once i did that to prove that if an' old lady can jump 45ft into the water- so can you kid'
ran into that kid the other day- he was with a blonde girl that took pills to go shopping at the market- she looked kind of like a vampier-hooker in kauai- but he was 'helping her' so i just thought of his fear- the way he looked at me- like if he chickened out, the other kids would have ruined his life-so he jumped and he was so proud of himself- not sure why i just told this story-awolnation sail--- best song i have ever heard for a girl like me-----BLAME IT ON MY ADD ---

[the mingo]

Hey, I like stories so don't be shy.

[creativesoul]

[Steve Plonk]

I imagine that something similar is going on with that white feather
floating around in the movie/book FORREST GUMP. What do you think?

[the mingo]

ya could be on to something there, steve, the movie begins with it & ends with it and all the romance that happens is sandwiched between the two appearances of that feather.