海角大神

Every so often, it鈥檚 good to let yourself drift, to just follow the current and see where it takes you; to leave an hour, a morning, a day unplanned; to enter open space and time and invite its effects. The artist Paul Klee spoke of drawing as 鈥渢aking a line out for a walk.鈥� We can see his art as exploration, inquiry, following a random thought, or drifting 鈥� and look what comes of it: something fresh and new.

This is what summer is for.

It鈥檚 not always easy to do. I used to call time and space 鈥渂oredom鈥� when I was a kid, as in 鈥淢om, I鈥檓 bored. There鈥檚 nothing to do.鈥� Now I long for the chance to say, 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing to do (i.e. nothing I have to do) 鈥� thank goodness.鈥� Boredom has gotten such a bad rap. Kids are so conditioned to think that they must always be doing something, going somewhere, entertained, active. But a little boredom can be a terrific vessel for a good drift, following a line of thoughts and just seeing what pictures appear.

It helps to have a raft in your summer 鈥� literally or figuratively. There were countless days when my boyhood gang, bored with the possibilities at home, gathered around Hurley's pond to throw planks together for epic raft voyages along its great grey-green greasy banks. Kids of a certain age have an instinctual urge to mess around on things that float, with mud, and with sticks. Combine the three and you have an empire of imaginary possibilities. We could be Ulysses, Captain Hook, or Viking swashbucklers. Who needs Playstation when you have a raft and a stick?

Later on, when I read about Huck Finn, I learned that a raft is a moment on the Big River when the bravest adventure occurs: a true connection with another human being. For instance, Jim comes alive to Huck as a person, not just a slave, when they share the raft. A raft can be a collection of planks on the Mississippi, a moment of inspiration, or a yielding to a current that brings you 'round the bend to a new view of a person, place or thing. One shouldn鈥檛 gloss over the perils and cruelties encountered on Huck鈥檚 trip down river. But we can safely say that it鈥檚 good to have had a raft, to have drifted, been a swashbuckler, made brave connections.

From our vantage point here on the middle of summer, I like to listen to Huck鈥檚 own words. Dip your toes with me in the current and eddies of his syntax, as Huck throws us an idyllic line:

May the bullfrogs a-clutter to you, as you tend your lines, swim, cool off, and listen to the sound of 鈥渘ot a sound, anywheres.鈥� May you find this free and easy feeling, and a respite from navigating, through the end of July and into August.

Happy rafting. See you around the bend, downstream a ways.