Prologue to FIESTA of SMOKE

         The story I am about to tell you is true. I myself witnessed parts of it, as a participant. Some comes from the accounts of my contemporaries, as alive and vivid as a basket of eels. The rest, rising from the dust of centuries, is open to conjecture only to those among you who lack a certain kind of faith that we, who made this story by our doing, held as our deepest fiber. To participate with us, you must know that illusion is the veriest truth, and reality can play you false in a heartbeat. There is nothing more you need to know except that, in matters of this world -- and, no doubt, the next -- the only real thing is love.

Quote of the Day

Who's not sat tense before his own heart's curtain?
--Rainer Maria Rilke

 Yesterday, I finished the 4 pages I'm requiring of myself, each day. Which puts me up to page 712 of Fiesta of Smoke. Slowly but surely, I've built a plot that seems, at this point, a lot like these Jackson Pollock-esque branches -- a big tangle. I know where the trunk and root of each branch ends, though, so it's just a matter of getting there. Excelsior!

Blessings and strength to all who are awaiting the parting of the heart's curtain.

Quote of the Day

The work will teach you how to do it.
--Estonian proverb

It's a writing day, today. I'm already falling behind in my determination to do at least 4 pages a day. At least I'm getting a lot of walks in and windows washed, as I ponder the next paragraph!

A joyous, creative day to all!

A Peek at Fiesta of Smoke

Fiesta of Smoke is a love story, set against the background of the social and political hotbed of Mexico during five turbulent decades leading toward revolution, as experienced through the eyes of three protagonists: Javier Carteña, a poor Mexican boy who grows into powerful manhood as a revolutionary leader; Calypso Searcy, an American student at Berkeley who becomes a successful writer; and Walter Hill, an international investigative newsman who, after a chance meeting with Calypso in Paris, begins to ferret out the facts behind her sudden, mysterious disappearance. Fiesta of Smoke begins in their middle age, glances back at their adolescence and early adulthood and finally follows them, fully mature, into the maelstrom of revolution.

Javier and Calypso fall in love as teenagers, are separated for three decades, then are drawn together again as revolutionary fervor heats up. Although married to others, they never abandon the intensity of their love for one another and, when reunited, become inseparable, a circumstance that plunges Calypso into the center of revolutionary preparations and plots, and that involves Hill, too, as he quests along her swiftly vanishing trail.

In the center of the book there is a deep well in time, that takes the reader back to 12^th century Egypt through the stories of Father Roberto, the padre attached to Javier’s troops. A series of interlocking personal accounts gradually recedes into the past where, at well’s bottom, a great gift is bestowed that, brought forward through successive generations, eventually becomes Calypso’s talisman, countering the dangers of warfare.

A similar regression in time, through the stories of Mexican artist Achille de Castellanos, takes the reader back to colonial Mexico, when tremendous fortunes were made by the conquering Spaniards at the expense of indigenous peoples. In this case, too, a gift is given to successive generations of the Castellanos family that will impact Javier’s revolution and send Calypso into danger, on a mission that violates international law.

 Hill joins the revolutionary forces after tracking Calypso to southern Mexico, where the revolutionarios are gathering in an ancient Mayan city. Moved by the peril of their situation, Hill steps forward to help counter all-out war. Nevertheless, a conflict between the revolutionaries and the Mexican military, aided by the private militias of wealthy landowners, is inevitable. In the ensuing chaos, it appears that Javier and Calypso may not even survive, let alone fight through to a peaceful life together.

        

Quote of the Day

Light tomorrow with today!
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Quote of the Day

Things do not change. We change.
--Henry David Thoreau

Ring Out, Wild Bells, to the Wild Sky

                                                       Sunset, 2011

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

Signs of Life:

In the profoundest and happiest spirit of the larger heart and kindlier hand, Playing for Change promotes music around the world – wild bells, harmonica, guitar, sitar, drums, tambourine and violin. Singing and dancing, people of all nations ring in redress to all mankind. If you would like to get your New Year off to a rousing and heart-centered start, take a few minutes to listen to these joyous men and women jamming internationally. They move me to tears of joy – see if they have the same effect on you! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xjPODksI08&feature=share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM&feature=relmfu

If they do, you might consider deeper involvement with this inspired and inspiring organization, at:  http://playingforchangeday.org/

And friends – ROCK ON!

                                                           Dawn, 2012