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