sitting quietly for a very long time

5.19.2025

book of jobe

May 19, 2025

∙ Paid

Eventually, all things merge into one,
and a river runs through it.

Norman Maclean

**Yuba River, Purdon Crossing, Nevada County, California**

Visiting the yuba river

cold water on white stones

the ridges towering above us

a million trees — oak and pine

overhead a hawk is circling

hunting I suppose

walking the trail on a fine summer day

I could easily spend the rest of my life here

but I don't say a word of it to my wife

jobe

I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.
Abbie Hoffman

I felt like writing a letter.

No. That's not quite right.

I needed to write a letter. I felt that need. An old fashioned letter, in an envelope, with a stamp, the way we did a generation ago, but I had no one to write. I took out a pen and paper and I wrote "dear" on it, and I stopped there.

Outside, a fog was growing. Wisps of fog in the wind. I watched it for a while through the window. I thought of making a small fire in a portable fire pit that I keep on my patio, but I didn't. I didn't even go outside.

The fog slowly grew thicker and the unfinished letter with one word stayed on the table. I didn't turn on any music or the television. I left it silent and sat down in a chair for a long time.

Time is nothing.

jobe

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Staying Overnight in Hsü’s Library, Hsieh Shih-hou and I Are Driven Crazy by Rats
Lamp flame low and blue, everyone asleep,
hungry rats come sneaking out of holes
and send plates and bowls crashing over,
startling us from our dream-filled sleep.
Bang— an inkstone tumbles off the table,
and we panic. Next they’re on the shelves
gnawing at books. Suddenly my silly boy
starts meowing like a cat! Goofy plan, eh?
Mei Yao-ch'en 1002-1060 CE

white and black sink beside wall — Photo by Daniel Fazio on Unsplash

Quite simply

the valley is the valley

and the river is the river

they help each other to exist

as a watershed

together they give us

the humans

rich soil to grow food

and a place to live

nice of them

and we in turn

must respect the watershed

and not overbuild

and ruin it all

one hand washes the other

you need tools to create tools

we all exist among cycles

of living

jobe

After weeks of watching the roof leak
I fixed it tonight by moving a single board.

Gary Snyder

The moon, like a snake, shed her skin last night. Skinless, she glowed even brighter, I could see that her light was the beacon that marked the dark and rocky shore, and so saved the small boats. Her light was a candle left in the window for the child who wandered so far; years have passed and she hasn't returned. Her light was a prayer across the face of the earth. Moon-skin at our feet. A light on our human faces.
jobe

somewhere in my mind

lives a rather large sewer rat

he can feed on anything

including other rats

but my inner-rat has a strength

that I lean on quite often

a strength that I need

to keep going

he is scary

but I could never harm him

I can also never let him loose

contain the inner rat!

jobe

I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
Alan Watts