Coyopa :: Lightning in the Blood » mystery

On wooing the poem. A beginner’s guide…

Tom — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:28:44 +0000

Two days, two posts!
It’s all happening over at the Coyopa blogspot…

This new post is non-fiction. I write about how yesterday’s poem came into being. There are pictures and writing and all. It’s quite a scene. If I were you, I’d get over there right now and follow the action…

(Do you see the trend yet? Here’s a hint: soon this site will be something completely different. Make sure you’re not caught out in the rain.)

Milk and Stars

Tom — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:40:14 +0000

I forget.
I remember and forget
and remember again.

One day,
When all the mystique of idiocy
Has rubbed off life
Like gold lacquer from oak,
I’ll forget so wholeheartedly
(Or remember so completely)
That I will forget to not dance
And remember my home
Beyond memory and forgetting
- the place where you are waiting
With your hands of milk and stars.

I know you are waiting there,
But I’m too fascinated still
By the twisted mirrors in this hall.
I know the sun is shining where you wait
And the air is sweet as only
Coming home can be.

One day, I will go towards there,
But, I will not be there to arrive.
Only my dancing:
The footsteps of fire on water,
The everlasting bird that flies through the Earth.

Now is the Time of Bright Colours

Tom — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:10:16 +0000

Now is the time of bright colours,
Time to make raiment of the cloth of dreams;
Cast off your heavy worldly dress
And make your clothes ecstatic suits
For dancing and flying.

The days of the great reptiles
Are numbered and few;
Now is the time of the rainbow serpent.
The skydancers are here
And invite your attention.
Look for the heroes and heroines:
They are waiting everywhere,
To be embraced,
To feed and dance
In the fields of your great freedom.

Weathervane

Tom — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:11:58 +0000

I don’t know.
One day to the next, like a weathervane.
Today, I think I’m a Zen renunciate.
Tomorrow, I’ll be a poet again
Mad with life and singing in the fields.
The day after that?
I don’t know.

Yesterday, deepening into memory,
Swimming in the Goddess water.
Today, spiralling out in bright colours,
An explosion of Self everywhere.
Who is in there?
Who is in there?
What is your name?
I’ve been Tom, Tani, Coyopa.
Hirons, Alexander, a King – all of them.
Slept rough on concrete,
Buried my head in the woods.
Known my wings,
Felt the fluid centre of my brain.

One day, I’ll get it.
Before then, I’ll give up getting it.
Who is in there?
Great nameless madness of wonder;
Crushing gravity of Soul.

This morning the sun was warm on my skin.
First time since Winter began.
I was delirious with pleasure
And hope flew round me, dancing!
The wind changed and the clouds came over:
Now it’s icey cold again.

Buddhist, Taoist, Sufi, Christian.
Muslim, Atheist, Heathen.
Jew, Zoroastrian, Heretic.
Red, yellow, black, brown, white.
It makes no difference.
That first touch of Spring
Will make you mad for life.
If you don’t laugh with joy,
You’re already half-dead.

Love Knows Love

Tom — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:31:03 +0000

Love knows love and meets with joy
Its face in the beloved heart.
Come in, it says. Sit down and rest!
You must be tired, but tell me! Tell me!
Where have you been, all this time?
What life are you wearing these days?
What dance, what wounds, what joys?
Ah, the tales we will tell one another, love, the tales!

Hold me. Say nothing. Just hold me.
The road is too strange and beautiful for words.
Hold me. The silence itself is a wonderful terror to bear.

Love meets love as two twins returning,
As the right hand greeting the left hand.
– It’s YOU! –
In that instant of recognition,
That flight of wonder,
Love is reminding itself
Of the great body of which it is part.

The Big Red Door

Tom — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:00:32 +0000

This is just a reminder to all of you in and around Edinburgh that the Big Red Door (on Lady Lawson Street, near the Grassmarket) is open, is amazing, is full to bursting with goodness, talent and magic… and needs your support, right NOW. For details of everything that’s going on, check out their website:

http://bigreddoor.wordpress.com/

Saturday’s Secret Cabaret is a particular favourite (and I’m often storytelling in one form or another there…)

Get there now (BYOB until Dec 11th to avoid being crushed by the bureaucratic boot of Doom.)

It really is the most glorious place to be and feels like home. Consider yourself telt.

Coyopa Presents: Coyote Bardo at The Big Red Door (13th & 20th August)

Tom — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:02:08 +0000

Coyopa presents:

COYOTE BARDO

Twisted Trickster Tales
August 13th (9-11pm) & August 20th (8-10pm)

The Big Red Door, Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh
(£6/£4 www.tepooka.org 0131 229 1480)

Coyote Paddles His Canoe. No Trouble Here...

Don’t know your Loki from your Eshu or your Coyote from your Monkey? Don’t know a Trickster from a Liar or Trickery from Idiocy?

Don’t despair! Help is at hand in the Trickster’s metaphysical surgery between the worlds.

Tom Hirons will enlighten and confuse in unequal measure with the help of Trickster-tales old and new (but cannot be held responsible for psychological, mythological or philosophical damage to anyone attending…)

Yes, indeed folks, I’m doing a show.
In Edinburgh. During the festival…

Perhaps I have taken leave of my senses completely, but that would fit the theme nicely. Seems like it’s the right time to do this show. What else can I say?

There’s a facebook thing here.
If you’re in Edinburgh, come along, please! It’s going to be fine magic and many tales (and the excellent bar at The Big Red Door is open until ridiculous a.m. in the morning, I hear…)

The Hungry Gods

Tom — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:58:27 +0000

The Gods are among us now;
Mystery of mysteries -
When we awaken into fearlessness,
Follow love’s instruction
And renounce the triumph of death,
The Gods rejoice;
“Look,” they say.
“You are one of us;
“Another divinity has been born.”

All along, it was growing in you;
Teasing your limitations,
Searing your heart,
When you turned away from love;
Reminding you,
In dream,
In joy,
In the cataclysm of despair;
“Look,” it said.
“I am your soul;
“Let me grow and I will take you home.”

Did you learn to listen?
Did you seize the moments of grace
When they were offered?
Did you risk it all, again
And again
And again?
The Gods are not arrogant;
They simply do not fear.
What is there to be afraid of?
Only the stultifying death of things.

You are not only human!
Stop pretending!
The Gods can see through you;
Renounce your allegiance to the
Conspiracy of the dead;
One day, the moment will come
And you will be asked to step forward,
Say your true name
And put your shoulder to the wheel of Destiny.
What will you say then,
If you do not know who you are?

Friend;
That moment may come sooner than you think.
Already the Gods have noticed you;
Right now, they are whispering in your ear.
They are kindling a fire in your heart;
It will burn everything.
Already, it is too late to evade them.
Do not be afraid,
Though your limbs shake
And your mouth turns to dust.
Do not be afraid;
You are surrounded by allies,
Waiting to pull you deeper into love.

If you know this,
You heart will begin to call to them;
If you try to hide it,
How will your allies know where to find you?
The Gods will find you anyway:
They are a great predator, made of love.
Surrender, now,
Before the battle has begun;
To lose that battle
Is the greatest victory
You will ever know.