“Night Palm” | Anthony Satori
Be optimistic. You may actually be right. And even if you’re wrong, life will be a lot more fun along the way.
Night Palm
poetry
The Deep Power of Joy
“The Buddha Laughs” | Anthony Satori
“With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.”
— William Wordsworth
Embrace life with enthusiasm, spread light and compassion wherever you are, and live each day in a state of gratitude and grace.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year!
In That Silence
“In That Silence” (triptych) | Anthony Satori
“To me a mountain is a buddha. Think of the patience, hundreds of thousands of years just sitting there being perfectly perfectly silent and praying for all living creatures in that silence.”
— Jack Kerouac
Dancing is Poetry
“Carnival” | (Venice, Italy) | Anthony Satori
“The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.”
— Charles Baudelaire
The Blue Centerlight
“Girl Playing Guitar by Firelight” | Anthony Satori
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!'”
— Jack Kerouac
The Dreamers of Dreams
“Dreamer” | Anthony Satori
“We are the music makers… we are the dreamers of dreams… we are the movers and shakers… of the world, forever, it seems.”
— Arthur O’Shaughnessy
Summer Wind
“Summer Wind” | Anthony Satori
“I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections, and the truth of imagination.”
— John Keats
Locomotive
“Locomotive” | Anthony Satori
“I walked on the banks of the tin-can banana dock and sat down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the box-house hills and cry. Jack Kerouac sat beside me… companion… we thought the same thoughts of the soul… surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of the trees of machinery.”
— Alan Ginsberg
It is okay to feel sad, sometimes. It is a normal and healthy part of life. But don’t plan to stay there. Be ready to move through it, like a locomotive. Remember that sadness is not who you are. You are Spirit. You are Joy. You are Light. You were created to be the reflection and the conduit of everything that is Good in the Universe. You were created to be the eyes, the ears, the pleasure, and the laughter of God.
By the Sigh of the Sea
“By the Sigh of the Sea” | Anthony Satori
“Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spinning, jumping, running—that’s the way to live… free, in the soft sands of the beach, by the sigh of the sea out there.”
— Jack Kerouac
Embrace life, every moment of it. Immerse yourself in the wonder of it all. Pursue the sublime, it is hiding behind every corner, and it desires nothing more than to be sought, found and inhaled by you.
In the Calm of the Afternoon
“In the Calm of the Afternoon” | Anthony Satori
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
I believe that Fitzgerald got this exactly right. Literature has the ability to connect us — in an almost mystical way — with the universal elements of the human experience. This applies not only to literature, of course, but to all art — music, dance, painting, photography, film, poetry, etc. Every time an artist creates a genuine expression of their inner spirit, it has the potential to bring humanity closer together, and to draw us further toward a place of true connection and harmony.
