In The Paddy

Day 1098

2012-01-26T01:19:00.000-08:00

MY WOMBS GROW MAXIMUM WITH THE LOVE OF THE JAMES.

Day 1096

2012-01-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

JAMES IS BRING HOME BUT I AM STAY TO THE UNITED STATES IT IS POSSIBLE

Day 1084

2012-01-12T23:39:00.001-08:00

Is that you, small flower, smiling with the joy of winter, or my beautiful wife, whose hair is the dark ochre of the grackle?

Day 1039

2011-11-28T15:46:00.001-08:00

My seed is strong. My seed is good.

Day 1037

2011-11-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

I return from my new bride's village home. My presence emboldens the many of her family. There are fruit trees there, and at night, the song and call of many birds: new and old, same and different.

Day 1019

2011-11-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

I MAXIMUM LOVE THE JAMES.

Day 1017

2011-11-06T08:35:00.001-08:00

My beautiful wife, laboring among the papaya trees: winter.

Day 1014

2011-11-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

JAMES ALL DAY TIRED I AM WORK PLANT DIG HOLE PLANT WHEN IS GO HOME FROM THE VILLAGE MARY

Day 1010

2011-10-31T20:33:00.001-07:00

The marital vow binds me to my new wife. We tell the story of this place in separate voices, together.

Day 1007

2011-10-28T00:14:00.001-07:00

MARY GOOD WIFE FOR JAMES THE MARRIAGE LOVE AND GOOD WORK SO I AM WRITE NOW FROM THE VILLAGE MARY

Day 1007

2011-10-28T00:13:00.001-07:00

MARY GOOD WIFE FOR JAMES THE MARRIAGE LOVE AND GOOD WORK SO I AM WRITE NOW FROM THE VILLAGE

Day 1000

2011-10-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

I have taken a wife.

Day 999

2011-10-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

My body is strong of limb and bone. I move through the forest with stealth and cunning. My children follow like the lamb follows the ewe.

Day 979

2011-09-30T10:53:00.001-07:00

We will start again.

Day 975

2011-09-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

I have made the signal for those who will follow me from the village, through the paddy, into the rainforests.

Day 971

2011-09-22T14:09:00.001-07:00

He of cow brain refuses to wear the red hat.

Day 967

2011-09-18T23:22:00.000-07:00

Who brings me this bowl of rice every night? It is me. My community waits for me in the village.

Day 962

2011-09-13T01:37:00.000-07:00

I have constructed a humble reed shelter in the forest and buried tubers nearby.

Day 956

2011-09-07T19:10:00.001-07:00

The Red Hat is powerful among the people. But there are many corrupters among those who do not wear it. I begin investigations.

Day 950

2011-09-01T13:52:00.001-07:00

I have taken certain security precautions. The children I trust wear red hats. This way, I know at all times the spies.

Day 941

2011-08-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

I remain at my post. I will not leave. I am here until the end.

Day 933

2011-08-15T01:37:00.001-07:00

Who is this man of paunchy girth who sits behind his desk in air conditioned splendor in the capitol, calls himself a "CD", and "requests" that I take a home leave? Who is he? Has he ever felt the warmth of the soil or the radiant smiles of the children coming out of the pond? Has he ever walked barefoot in the dewy pre-dawn grass and beheld the wonder of the paddy? I am who I am. A man. A man bursting with love. Who are you, CD? Perhaps it is you who needs a "break".

Day 924

2011-08-06T15:34:00.001-07:00

Is it possible to give too much of oneself? And yet, always, it is still not enough. I do what I can. The people (sometimes) smile for it.

Day 922

2011-08-04T16:08:00.001-07:00

A German is not an American.

Day 920

2011-08-02T13:56:00.001-07:00

What is the earthen pot, except the land journeying in a different vessel? What is a German, but an American born in another country?

Day 917

2011-07-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

A journey is like the earthen pot. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.

Day 909

2011-07-22T08:47:00.001-07:00

Everyone is my brethren. I journey to find the German.

Day 905

2011-07-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

If I am unwell, it is the will of the universe that my immuno-globulins be tested. However the fever, may my mind stay vigilant. Prepare the body in honey and clover. Say, "He worked for the good, wherever he saw it, as best he knew how."

Day 901

2011-07-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Perhaps, I shall stay here until my body is wrapped in a white sheet and placed gently in its cool grave. Or, perhaps, I shall be placed high atop the funeral pyre, and the people will breathe in the smoky essence of my travails.

Day 900

2011-07-13T12:05:00.001-07:00

Nine hundred days. You say these are many, or the few? Nine hundred humble gestures of enduring hope. Nine hundred smiling children in the day's sun. Nine hundred drops of fecund water from the village pond--that I have yet to sterilize. Yes, I arrive only at the beginning.

Day 894

2011-07-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

My Country Director has recommended that I take a home leave of six weeks duration. I have flatly refused his request.

Day 893

2011-07-06T00:17:00.000-07:00

Two men enter the quiet paddy. One man is quick, but arrogant. The other moves like the humble mongoose, all shoulders and quick first-strike.

Day 890

2011-07-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

Bloody, runny stools... My country celebrates its birthday tomorrow... The german practises with his throwing stars in the forest.

Day 883

2011-06-26T20:49:00.001-07:00

Met with the village elders. They trust me, and my work. It is good to be here.

Day 876

2011-06-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I cook a meal on my own. I burn the noodles a little. It is a humble meal, as I am humble in the face of these people, this paddy.

Day 871

2011-06-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

I stroll barefoot in the forest with the children. We watch as Gui Shap and Cobra spar and tussle under the canopy. Am I Gui Shap or Cobra?

Day 870

2011-06-13T08:02:00.001-07:00

The German celebrates the NBA championship in his compound. I walk the streets of this village, to the simple school, and continue my work.

Day 866

2011-06-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

The blood of my body is luminous. It marks everything, my trousers. I bleed for these people.

Day 860

2011-06-03T01:27:00.000-07:00

My fissure has opened up. I bleed anew.

Day 855

2011-05-29T20:28:00.003-07:00

Memorial Day, somewhere. I say it is only Sunday. I have much work to do here.

Day 848

2011-05-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

Ignore the media speculation. My body is numinous, as my spirit. It asks nothing from the German.

Day 842

2011-05-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

What shall cure this illness, if not faith?

Day 838

2011-05-12T01:29:00.000-07:00

Hives, some infected. I burn reeds to make the allergen paste.

Day 835

2011-05-09T12:26:00.001-07:00

Blood on my sheets.

Day 834

2011-05-08T16:30:00.001-07:00

The people of the village have a taste for peanuts.

Day 827

2011-05-01T08:40:00.001-07:00

Sell a man a peanut and he'll eat for a day. Teach the children, as I do, and they shall eat forever. So it is known.

Day 824

2011-04-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

The peanut vendor has disappeared from the market.

Day 821

2011-04-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

I am to initiate the reckoning that will change everything.

Day 816

2011-04-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

Fact: I have a single elevated-level allergy. Fact: that allergy is all legumes of the nut variation. Fact: this is known by everyone in my village. Conclusion: Someone is attempting to negatively impact my work here, the work I do of my own free will, to help the people.

Day 814

2011-04-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

News of the Great Pretender Mortenson has spread via the BBC.

Day 811

2011-04-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

My inquiries are met with uncertainty. The situation of my allergies was made clear prior to the terms of my service. Even the man selling the peanuts knows this.

Day 808

2011-04-14T22:34:00.001-07:00

Peanuts at the market. I make inquiries to the elders.

Day 805

2011-04-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

How do I honor my forebears with this work? The children do not challenge it.

Day 802

2011-04-09T00:36:00.000-07:00

Mist brushing the lonely face of the river: I do good work here.

Day 797

2011-04-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

I approach my eight hundredth day in the village. The children bustle. There is to be a feast, I suppose, though I shall not be the guest of honor. It is to these beautiful people that I give thanks. It is for them that I do all of that which I am capable. They understand this, so our gratitude is a circle.

Day 788

2011-03-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Who am I to fear the bite of the malarial mosquito? I run barefoot through the cobra-ridden forest. I bathe in the fetid ponds. I am a child among men. A man among children!

Day 785

2011-03-22T15:27:00.001-07:00

Here, learning is like the leopard arriving to the egg farm. I am both bountiful and never enough.

Day 784

2011-03-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Who am I to shield my body from the life-giving sun?

Day 779

2011-03-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

Upon my body, the sun of the rainy season, like the lachrymose faces of the beautiful children.

Day 774

2011-03-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

I care not for shoes. I walk barefoot in the dewy grass at dawn.

Day 771

2011-03-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

The German leaves for the city.

Day 767

2011-03-04T04:22:00.000-08:00

Does not the night-bird flying overhead see my work among these people? And so also his brother, the day-crow?

Day 765

2011-03-02T02:36:00.001-08:00

"Who are you to claim this body?" I said. "I am no one," he said. "It is late," I said, "the moon rises over the village."

Day 763

2011-02-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

Like the vaunted Phoenix, I build my nest of twigs.

Day 761

2011-02-26T21:33:00.001-08:00

My body will not contain itself.

Day 759

2011-02-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

The German twists my words. His impure connivation. His supple, graceful body.

Day 753

2011-02-18T12:49:00.001-08:00

Is this not my penis? Is not the bamboo reed I hold in my hand my own?

Day 749

2011-02-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

I am at peace with the periodicities of love.

Day 742

2011-02-07T23:06:00.001-08:00

What is the limit of my accomplishment except that it is unbound?

Day 738

2011-02-04T01:37:00.000-08:00

I came. I saw. I conquered.

Day 734

2011-01-31T01:24:00.000-08:00

I break bread with my children.

Day 731

2011-01-28T10:13:00.000-08:00

Harvest! O, blessed, the season of my bounty!

Day 730

2011-01-27T08:36:00.000-08:00

My pain brings me closer to these people. What I suffer is the emblem of their struggle.

Day 728

2011-01-25T14:37:00.001-08:00

Love hurts. I get that.

Day 727

2011-01-24T04:45:00.001-08:00

I awake in the fetal position.

Day 725

2011-01-22T21:21:00.001-08:00

I have given too much.

Day 723

2011-01-20T23:42:00.000-08:00

The German asks much. I give what I can give.

Day 722

2011-01-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

An understanding, yes, but I still bristle when he works with my people. What is this feeling?

Day 720

2011-01-17T21:45:00.000-08:00

My world is made whole by the good of the children. I am manifest in their good deeds and pure hearts, their long and lithe bodies glistening with the good sweat of work.

Day 716

2011-01-13T17:06:00.001-08:00

The German and I have reached an understanding.

Day 715

2011-01-12T20:21:00.001-08:00

Are these hands that work for the good not the tools of angels?

Day 713

2011-01-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep.

Day 711

2011-01-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

I would write these people a new Constitution. I would give them liberty to prosper and be good. The German understands neither the means nor the purpose.

Day 709

2011-01-06T01:34:00.000-08:00

These cracked calloused hands : besmirch them not for they are the hands of freedom.

Day 708

2011-01-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

Days of work, and the night. I rise early to continent myself.

Day 705

2011-01-02T04:40:00.000-08:00

I bathe naked at dawn in the pond.

Day 704

2011-01-01T16:17:00.001-08:00

Is my work good because there is the a great need, or is the need great because of my good work?

Day 702

2010-12-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

My New Year brings much of the old. So much work still to do, so many people who need this help. No cocktail hour for me--I save my money to buy mosquito nets, pay school fees, mix infant formula. "Auld Lang Syne" rings in my heart. Smiles explode in the sky of the children's faces.

Day 701

2010-12-29T13:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day passes. The birth of a savior. Where is he now?

Day 691

2010-12-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

A boiled yam arrives at my door wrapped in a banana leaf. I would die for these people.

Day 690

2010-12-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

Is this really a "holiday season," with so much suffering in the world? The German takes a holiday to his country. I redouble my efforts to help the many that I can.

Day 687

2010-12-15T23:25:00.001-08:00

Flowers, today. The blossoming children tend the simple garden.

Day 683

2010-12-13T23:42:00.000-08:00

To whom do I owe the simple pleasures of this work: the need of man or the bounty of the Earth?

Day 676

2010-12-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands.

Day 675

2010-12-06T01:41:00.000-08:00

I walk upon this earth with a light and winsome step, but I shall tarry for the chance to crush a biting insect.

Day 674

2010-12-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

What are two hands clapping but the noise of union and harmony, my crushing the German and his relenting?

Day 671

2010-12-02T02:20:00.001-08:00

Silence, today. The harvest is beginning. I have removed from my land what was overgrown and fetid.

Day 660

2010-11-21T23:03:00.001-08:00

Of you who cast your words of German in mockery and umbrage, I am taken by nothing. For this is the essence of one who helps those in need. Reveal yourself, or upon your shoulders take the absence of my forbearance.

[To my regular readers, a note of apology for having displayed this side of myself. It needed doing. I will return to my regular posting about the good work here shortly.]

Day 659

2010-11-21T03:54:00.001-08:00

Many are welcome into my home. Many also are unwelcome. Such is the situation of traveling abroad.

Day 645

2010-11-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

I must reconcile with my antagonist. With knitting needles in hand, I shall begin a pair of socks for him.