The end is the beginning

Chicago, U.S.A.

Last night I touched down in Chicago, marking the end of my roaming. This comes as a bit of a surprise to me, as this was not a premeditated gate. It is so because it suddenly feels so, and I am still in the stage of feeling and understanding it. The end of the journey has always been Los Angeles. Still is. And so I find myself in the transitional space, between the end of my roaming and the end of my journey.

I am highly conscious of my absence from the blogosphere. I can couch a piece of that behind the time and effort applied to the extraordinarily rewarding (creatively and personally; heh, is there a difference any more?) poetry project I did during the month of September; another piece behind the background murmur feeling that my commitment to blogging, and my increasing disappointment in my self and my discipline, were becoming unhelpful distractions to actually experiencing whatever there was to be experienced. All I can bring myself to muster is a shrug and yet another regathering of intention.

So what is it now that sits on the tip of my tongue, my fingertips, the edge of my mind, waiting to be expressed? One is a reflection on those travels that have so far escaped the full fruition of documentation. Another is the distillation and discussion of the personal philosophy that has filled so many of my hours of private thought, social intercourse, artistic contemplation throughout this journey, to which I have made allusion in several posts but not yet followed through on the promise to elaborate. A third is an impulse just beyond my ability to articulate at the moment, to 'make something'...

And this place where I am now, Chicago, the Midwest, the part of the world where I grew up and then left many years ago. I am resting here. Am I resting? I feel like being quiet. This is the perfect place to practice quiet. The Midwest, also known as Flyover to the important and smug, blind, asleep, ignorant... the place between here and there that most simply fly over on their way to wherever else. In many ways, that nowhere that resonates with immense beauty and power. I will be here for a while, and write.