NOTES About Crossing a Swollen River
.by Rita Greenwood on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 7:53pm ·

Today is my 80th day Living in the Woods (and counting) and my 475th day as a HAPPY & HOMELESS WOMAN!)
It rained pretty heavy here in ATL last night and crossing the River this morning after leaving the Emory Library to get to my Camp was Fierce!

Exhausted, once I finally crossed-over, I watched STEAM come-off my body as I took-off my soaked clothes and hung them on branches. Then I sat in my tent trying to dry-out my backpack which I had carried on my head, ate a piece of bread that "fruit-truck-Joe" had given me a couple of days before, settled and doodled these little aphorisms:

NOTES ABOUT CROSSING A SWOLLEN RIVER:

Instead of pushing-up against you-
Let the waters sweep you along
With your feet still touching bottom
As they move endlessly towards the other side
Keep your Head up High
And Resist the invitation to float.

"Find Your Way Home"

Even if the rain is coming hard
Even if there is heat in a public bathroom
Find your way Home
Even if Daylight arrives
Before your eyelids were fully closed
Get-up and walk.

Wait

I know what it feels like
To be on a Mountain
That feels like a suspension bridge
With deep, dark valleys lower than the abyss
I've thrown gingerbread manikins of myself off--
To the left
And wondered if I could slide-down to the right.
But intuition knew that void, empty and forever lost
Are the shadows off this Rock!
Also, when the tides are high (though you are tired & eager
To cross to the other side)
Do not enter where the currents can pull you under.
Wait, the Lord will provide.

"Questions for the Family"

Mother, did you bring back any Milex milk?
Brother, what's going-on in your head?
Why does everything seem so quiet after the rain?
Is it I-- another dead?

"HOMELESS OPTIONS"

Lying in a tent feels great
Compared to laying under a bridge
On Jagged Rocks.
Eating someone's leftover pickle, half-eaten sandwich
& Soggy chips
Taste better than THAT food you hardly gave me.

"Rushing Waters Subsided"

All in the same day
Perhaps it all happened in the same hour...
Violent, muddy storms
Flushed-out waves of end-times despair
Followed by peace & quiet.

(To Helton B. & the "HealthCaring" Campaign):

I Saw One or 2 in a Garden
I saw one or 2 in a Garden Laughing
Laughing! --The Nerve!
"HealthCaring" they said is
A new word we coined.
Let the heavy boots of profit stomp
On our wooden floors.
We are together in our garden
Sharing the fruits of our Soul.

Brainy Kids: Ode to Emory University
Shouting their algorithms
& Cohelix sequences!
In library masses
As if studying was next to bread.

I knew it would be...but today i must say, "Thank God, All is well!"

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