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February 2009 
Jacaranda days with Sidney Poitier
Posted on May 29th, 2008
by 
Kaius Maximus
Kaius Maximus
Do you have any friends that you have met in books?
Since I was a kid, the characters in books have been as real to me as people I know. A book is a private world you can share with everyone. What appeal! You get this little window into the minds of others, and share their foibles, trials, and wins, and it is a treasure, a drug even.
But maybe I just missed my calling as a spy. Lord knows I eavesdrop everywhere. But not in any ill-intentioned way. I just find myself often alone, and sitting beside folks who are talking about their lives in cafes, on benches, and in the hallways. I just listen to the world around me, because I find the world and the people in it very interesting. And I happen to LOVE being alone, so its easy to blend in, and observe.
Writing is a lesson in Solitude 101. You kind of have to be kind of fundamentally ok with yourself to sit alone in a room for 8 hours with a bunch of imaginary people hashing it out. I tend to talk to myself. I'm an only child. We're allowed this luxury. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.
Anyways, I usually read fiction. The last best novel I read was The Life of Pi. Talk about a window into another world! A young boy on a liferaft surviving in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for 8 months with a full grown bengal tiger. Richard Parker. That was the tiger's name.
When I meet someone who has read the book, we share a long sigh, and a big smile. And someone brings up Richard Parker, and we laugh, and say, can you believe it? Two women who have read the same book is almost like we have both slept with the same man and we know how big his cock is. We share the most intimate secrets about another world. We have shared a secret feeling.
So lately I have gotten into reading biographies. I prefer autobiographies, as hearing a person's own words really lends a lot to the read. I really enjoy understanding the failures of successful people. I'm still a kid in this life in a lot of ways, and I want to learn how to ride the tide that has so often been against me. I've been ill-equipped with too much optimism early on, but I'm learning some balance.
Last month, I discovered Sidney Poitier's "spiritual autobiography" The Measure of a Man, a treasure trove of stories and anecdotes, and struggles, many many struggles. He is a truly great man, one of the few, and I was surprised to read how many of his struggles have been within himself as much as with the outer world.
I live in Los Angeles. And I always carry a book. You never know when you have to wait in line. I've been known to bring a book to the bar. My friends have admonished me for this little habit. But it sure keeps the unwanted men away! The bigger the book the better! Only the worthy men will approach ; )
Anyways, it is May, and all the Jacaranda trees are in bloom. Big lilac colored blossoms exploding on every avenue, wafting across the street like lavender snow. And I just drive around and swoon. Everywhere I go, I take the long way just to oogle the trees. The people behind me go crazy. Why is this girl slowing down? Honk honk. Sorry.
I'll admit it. I'm in love.
In love with beauty. Flowers. Color. When I see a whole tree glowing like a purple candle, full of light and wind and well, my heart flutters and I know there is a God, a Goddess. It is an ecstasy for me. I'm too easy!
I like to picture the Jacaranda in the middle of the forest. They come from South America, but now they are favored all over the world from Zimbabwe to South Africa to the Caribbean. Could you imagine walking through a wet forest, green vines dangling from the trees. Maybe a few sleepy snakes coiled in the branches. Sunlight dappling the grass beneath you, and then you come to a meadow, and there, a tall Jacaranda tree, a giraffe nibbling the lavender blossoms.
I like the giraffe image. I'm not sure if a giraffe has ever seen a Jacaranda tree. Well, maybe one. His name is Fergusson, and he would like to find his place in the world. It's a children's story I am working on for someone.
Anyway, I was between classes yesterday, and I wandered over to a cafe with my new Sidney Poitier book, Letters to my Great-Granddaughter. I think I qualify to sit at his feet like a child. Why not? And so I sat a long while beneath the purple trees, feeling the cool breeze on my skin, and eavesdropping on one of the greatest actors that has ever lived via the written word.
The following passage really spoke to me. He was talking about mastering his difficult gambling compulsion (among others), and how he finally beat it, and went on to add:
"Nor is my life (now) altogether void of compulsions. Here is a list of those that remain: a compulsion to read more, and better understand the world around me; to keep an eye on the dualities inside me and try to center myself at the point of balance between as many pairs of opposites as I might; to experience all that I can. And most of all, to learn all that there is to learn that might make of me a better person --with better insights and a deeper understanding of myself and my fellow human beings."
In the Tantra tradition, there is a philosophy that easier than erasing your compulsions is to put them in service of some higher good. I have another friend who was a serious coke addict, and rather than beat the drug, he turned his compulsion toward purchasing and collecting art books. He has a marvelous collection, and never felt the need to return to the drug.
For myself, I tend to obsess. On anything, on whatever. If my brain gets hold of something, it is like a dog with a bone that just won't let go. That's why I write stories. Free reign. My mind can just run wild, obsess to the ends of the earth, and it is fodder for creativity. The brain is primarily a puzzle solving tool. If you have an active puzzle solving tool, and no puzzle, the brain will concoct a puzzle to solve. Yikes. Best keep it invested in fiction lest it ruin your relationships, I have found. In service of the higher good!
Go pick up Poitier's book. You will be inspired by a truly great man. And if you happen to live anywhere near a blossoming Jacaranda tree, I highly recommend sitting beneath it, book in hand, and allowing the blossoms to fall upon your lap, and the pages, caressing your cheeks as they tumble like divine tears, reminding you of all that is beautiful and good in the world.
Access: PublicTagged with: Sidney Poitier, tantra, compulsion, philosophy, jacaranda, tree, Los Angeles, Life of Pi, fiction, writing, friends, friend, book, books
“the Jacaranda trees are in bloom. Big lilac colored blossoms exploding on every avenue, wafting across the street like lavender snow. And I just drive around and swoon.” - Oh my that's good!
Thanks, Joe ; )