Steven Alm and Friends

Lance Prevailed

Steven Alm — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:06:51 +0000

The Grand Jury closed the case against Lance Armstrong. Would you have expected anything less from Lance? His last victory against his worst foe.

Minnesota Farm in Winter

Steven Alm — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:38:57 +0000

Moon over Minnesota

Steven Alm — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:13:52 +0000

365

Steven Alm — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:13:33 +0000

Snow blowing through pines
Ashes sparking in sunlight
Are all that remain.

364

Steven Alm — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:52:18 +0000

Now that he has died
His lover’s deranged spirit
Seeks rest. Pass me by!

Love.

Steven Alm — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:38:32 +0000

Because everything I know about women
I learned from you
Who treated me as a lover
You spurned
Because you had none
A scapegoat for your husband, my father, whom you despised
Who abused you
And made you his slave
Who ranted and raged like a wounded beast
A petulant prince who had lost his mind.
How did I survive this?
Why was this my destiny?
And why am I now the one person
Who protects you and keeps you safe
Even though you cannot stop hurting me?

This is what you shall do…

Steven Alm — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:22:52 +0000

“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”

–Walt Whitman

This is one of Sarah Jane’s favorite Whitman quotes. I think she read it at the end of yoga class for me. But who knows? Who knows a goddamned thing? Beautiful, isn’t it? Something to strive for. What is strength? I’m not sure any longer beyond holding an asana and breathing through it with calm steadiness. Is there really anything more to life than this?

Through a glass darkly 2 …

Steven Alm — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:16:00 +0000

from unlearning

Steven Alm — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:24:52 +0000

From unlearning everything we thought we knew
was coalesced a wondrous rectitude with all things
and all beings, and in this space from each of us
we put a plait of tattered strings as a reminder
that our pasts had no futures until we gave them hope,
and though we measure everything by our own standards
and are as different as right from left, we stand together
bound by love which knows no end and has no purpose,
and in deference to our resolve the willer of the world
has lent us time to play our parts, and so
with grace and natural dignity, we cherish
our few moments and are gone.

363

Steven Alm — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:21:54 +0000

The heart’s simple truth
Is a stone gray and smooth
Hidden from sight.