Amor Ergo Sum

  We went to a 60th birthday party of a dear friend last week. Twenty of us were there, and we were all commissioned to either write a poem celebrating our friendship and love of our friend or tell some story revealing his personality.  It was a wonderful evening and underlined for me the importance of friends as an extended family. We have that connection where age differences from toddlers to septenagerians (viva septenagarianism!!!) are nonexistent and compassion and acceptance are the order of the day every day.  No, it is not a utopia, but we embrace the collective WE.
     Poems were wonderful, stories were great even if you did not know the birthday boy.  Dinner superb. Laughter---life’s cure-all--- sustained and almost ribald.
     Let me leave you with one thing. A quote from Bill Coffin, former chaplain of Yale University.

    “Descartes said Cogito ergo sum --- I think therefore I am.
                         But I prefer
        Amor ergo sum    ---  I love therefore I am.”

                                                          W. S. Coffin
That about says it all.
Ciao, Ray

The North Country

THE RAIN CAME IN LAST NIGHT as stealthy as a cat on the prowl: first the slow motion approach, then the crouch, then the burst of energy.  I heard it on the tin roof of our house towards 2 am, a favorite hour for me to be awake.  It has that low level drum-roll comfort that includes heart beat and inward seeking mood set that begins to signal that winter is on the wane.
Don’t worry, there is plenty to come. But, the overall snow-pack has reached its basic limit; from now on it will not build. It will grow smaller despite big dollops of fresh snow on top of it.  The earth below with its grasses and seeds and voles and deep down frogs are getting the message. 
For us up here in the North country, it will be a good 8 more weeks, but we can live with that.  Spring skiing can be great, and the sunsets will be back as the days lengthen.
Yippee!!!!!  I love the seasons, each and every one, but now will come the special ones.
Bis bald! 
~Ray

What Is Past Is Prologue

~William Shakespeare,  The Tempest, Act 11, scene 1
So, what’s new is not.  We’ve been through all of this before. Only the flavor changes.  The trouble is that the changes now have bigger and bigger implications---like the whole earth and all its inhabitants.
"YES, WE CAN!!!"
~Barrack Obama
What a powerful expression of both the human spirit and the optimism that has seen us grow as a species.
It’s about will. It’s about recognizing that contrary to what Shakespeare said, we DON’T have to repeat the past. 
Change is like asparagus inexorably pushing up through fertile ground reaching the sun and air and rain.
Change is inexorable. Let’s get it right.
Ray   ( once again sorry for being preachy)

Chapter 2

Thanks for reading the prologue and chapter 1, how about Chapter 2?

Download 11th_dragon_ch2.PDF
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Ray

More Eleventh Dragon

Thanks for reading the prologue. While you're at it, how about Chapter 1.
Download 11th_dragon_chap_1.PDF
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Ray

The Eleventh Dragon

A number of years ago, I became fascinated by China after coming across a book of T'ang poetry.  Poetry never interested me very much, but this did--modern, powerful, evocative, spare, burningly beautiful. It was from the 8th century of the modern era.  So, I dove into history, politics, art, economics of this incredible very old culture, I'm still diving. One result was to write a full-length ( 450 pages) novel about modern China, its strengths and weaknesses.  Historically China has come together, fallen apart, come together.  And what now? Is it time to come apart again?  And what are the forces both internal and external that might cause China to once again divide?
I've decided to put up some sections of THE ELEVENTH DRAGON © R. A. Montgomery 2008 to see what you think. Here is the first part, the prologue:  
Download the_Eleventh_Dragon_Prologue.pdf
Thanks,
Ray

Romance

The smell of freshly made dark chocolates with raspberry centers.
The smell of jet fuel.  Fresh coffee.  Pomegranate Noire.  Melted ski wax. Whatever you like.
The view of a mountain peak through a break in storm clouds, glacier hanging suspended in cloud tendrils. 
The smile of remembrance on the face of a loved one.
Every morning. Every sunset—even hidden by clouds.

Living in a tent with antiques (Contributed by Shannon P. Gilligan)
A voice. A tone. A sound. Music--- a note or two or more.
A challenge to overcome, create, accept, give up, give, believe.
Change in all its powerful, frightening mystery.
Possibility ---- and its companion Hope.
Passports and airline tickets (how banal, but they work)
And then………. (things)