today the sun is glorious

in some languages of the middle east
the word for rain and the word for grace are the same

i hope you are feeling okay and loved by all who surround you

how open are you for a collaboration?

tonight the air is warm and agreeable for walking

millions of stories and conversations
reverberating in the air

your difference 

consequently 
mine-othered 

become sound 

i am beginning to feel that i have a clue 
to the origins of my illness 

is this the sharing that you talk about? 

we don’t have this tradition here in the countryside 
people are content with the dead quiet in the ground below 
there are always beautiful chrysanthemums 
just for this occasion 

you sat on the beach regaining yourself 
it is good to know limits and boundaries 
even birds know this
and so they do not fly beyond
or they fall 

our conversation continues? 

the days have been long and dark here 
the fate of autumn
i find it all beautiful but lately 
weather seems to affect me differently
of course it is all memory 

i imagine a different sense and it becomes musical 

now back to the open fields... 

i just want to continue living 
with as much truth as possible 
as much love as possible 

was i attentive? 

i’ll just throw it all in
eventually it will all arrive in your ocean door 

the body is just a form and essences don’t die 
our work is not in time but rather time itself 
i do not understand anything
so i try to have compassion
of course it is all memory
it lingers and i try
to accompany it
with grace 

amities
je t’embrasse 

This letter was pieced together from conversations in the winter months of 2017 
between Lani Maestro in the Norman woods of Orgères la Roche 
and Perry Shimon by the ocean in West Marin, California