#131

FOLLOW THAT BIRD, YO

to the Next Adventure!

Countdown

I had always wanted to travel to China ever since I

followed that big bird through the Vereen Screen.

When I finally was able to save up enough money

to arrive in Beijing wit my witty friend & friendly

companion, I truly could not believe it. How did I

get here? When I saw Big Bird in China, G for 1, I

loved it because I was obsessed with puzzles & it

made me feel like life was as big as Toni Morrison

describes. Capital L for Life! Before I got there, I

got the chance to meet my hero, Caroll Spinney, &

shake his hand (which must have been tired), after

his doc I AM BIG BIRD, that tells the story of not

only him, but also, Little Xiao Fu, played by Lisa,

Ouyang Lianzi. If you go watch it & are not moved

to tears, I question who raised you. Of course, I *

might be biased, as the film was released in 1983,

the year of my birth. I used to have very low self

esteem & was awfully shy, so I was a bit proud of

my Self to give Mr. Spinney a copy of a first book

of yellow poems. He thanked me, & he told me that

everything in life is merely timing. Time. He would

never have become Big Bird if he was not in exact

right place at the right time. So, let us go backward,

in true Muppet fashion, before proceeding forward,

because there is so much more to this story. I made

the trip to China with my travel companion, who I

refer to as my Moon Goddess at times. We met in

San Francisco, both as pupils going to same school,

but met by way of connections. I'd gone out wit my

roommates & actually was inside her apartment, but

timing was off. She was not home. Spy, I peeked in

her room, & on the wall was a Sleater-Kinney poster,

& so I thought, now who lives here?! I finally met her

IRL in elevator, where we got to talking about desires

for traveling, & how we’d both been to Thailand before

& had a good experience. I had always been obsessed

with The Oprah Winfrey Show, & she (O) would speak

often about South Africa, a country that still deals wit

the same issues of racism that America is dealing wit

now. At that time, I saw a rainbow on an Oprah show

& I became dead struck on it cuz I’d already begun on

this project of mine— these “muppoems.” I thought,

I must go there for my next trip! & I ran into my girl

on the train (& would U believe?), we’re both reading

The Autobiography of Malcolm X! With another cool

connexion, we decided to travel to that Rainbow Nation

Together, &… it was the most amazing trip I’ve (ever?)

been on. Oprah had talked about that book, The Secret,

but I was too skeptical. I also know the story of how

Oprah got to be Harpo like the back of my hand, but I

couldn't understand. Sure, ender? I surrender already! I’d

pray, or say… but nothing. I then read James Redfield’s

The Celestine Prophecy, & I thought, OMG, he HAS al-

ready written about these weird connections I'm having!

wit that, I determined, I must go to Peru next— on off to

Cusco (declared a World Heritage Site in 1983), so that I

might travel to see Machu Picchu. Trouble was, I’d spent

nearly all my coin going to Africa, & I was waitressing at

the time. I prayed up to God, God, I truly would like to go

there…it seems I am suppose to go there, but don’t have

the allowance for it. What to do?? (Would u believe) It

wasn’t long after I found five 100 dollar bills lying on a

floor wit not another soul in near sight! Holy San Fran,

Batman! What were these?! From God?? No, it must've

dropped by some drug dealers… OMG! I immediately

bought my Self a ticket after work. Finally, I arrived in

Cusco where all these Incan rainbow flags waved high

by the winds! I arranged to hike Salkantay trek onward

to Macchu Picchu,& it was so exciting because I was all

alone, & I was really moving like no other, & as the only

homo in my group, for some sick reason I felt proud as

straight guys kept asking to stop. Well, when we got to

the peak of Salkantay, I was told then how folks wrote

up their dreams & buried them there for them to come

true… & so I did of course. I can not recall if I wrote

more than “HELP me FINISH WRITING my BOOK!

These BOOKS!..maybe (please) meet Oprah?” Finally

at Machu Picchu, it was (for me anyway) as they say:

It was all about the journey. It was so early in the morn

when we got to top of MP, & a fog was rolling through

fiercer than any time I could remember in San Francisco.

Maybe it was the bus ride up there…or…perhaps it was

my (always-reliable) nerves, but I got superbly nauseous!

With time & cool water, I was fast running, trying to make

it to every corner of the sight before we had to leave. I’d

return home, & think, why that was brilliant! But it was...

disappointing? At that point in my life, I wanted real fast

answers— immediate answers!!! I had no patience at ALL.

IDK. Maybe you don’t either? Well, fast forward o seven

years, & I was in Beijing, on my way to The Great Wall!

Once I got there, I was in shock, & I pleaded, OMG! Girl…

Could we go to all the places on the scroll / map Big Bird

had to go to to see the Phoenix?! She laughed at me... but

agreed, & from that point on, IT WAS ON, DIXIE KONG!

I was going to find that Monkey King if it was last Thing

I ever did with my life. I kept telling my Self to write it all

down—every Thing down, cuz you're going to forget this

dream-come-true once back & high wears off. You'll for-

get all names & routes we took, that could help some one

else who might want to live this dream as a TV Super Fan.

On 3/3, I wrote “I’m in China! Life is unreal. Surreal!”…

Then it’s 3/21, and I am criticizing my self again, “Wow!

What a writer you are!” as I waited for my flight home to

Lisboa. I was simply too hung up inside my head to write,

but I recall enough to make my pointless point here now

in muppoem #131. Next on the map, was a camel statue,

which we made it to in no time! After that, find a simple

bridge, but that was a lot more difficult than it had been

for dear Big Bird! Thank every God, my Moon Goddess

knew how obsessive I was to put up wit me & got us to

where there were similar bridges, but I just could NOT

find THE ONE before time was up & the sand ran out...

As the sun went down on us, & I wondered if I should

just give up at that point… but when we found fourth

& final place on the scroll, I thought, let’s just finish (4

fun). Yet, I couldn’t find rice fields close to glass chess

board, never mind the tall stone soldiers standing guard.

However, sailing down Guillin's Li River lifted my Spirit

like River Phoenix & soon I was drinking my bubble tea

by one who could drink river dry, as well as C-thru mount

& made a headless water buffalo by closing one eye. But,

when I saw no feathers that grew at a river bank, I let the

silly dream of us meeting the Phoenix die. Tho, I, resolved

I would rise to write my own ending & last place we went

to, before a Beijing return, was ancient town of Fenghuang,

which means “phoenix.” While hiking there, we discovered

a place where people wrote down their dreams in order to

come true…& of course I did… Sound familiar? Writing

this muppoem, I realize, my dream will come true. I'm here.

I am just a few poems away from FINALLY finishing these

books! I can’t wait to have this demon out of me so I can go

slay it dead in the future! I’m on the last stanza here before

take off, & can’t you tell I’m scrounging for material? Must

I call it a short circuit & leave you, dear reader? Well Golleee...

Nope, there was also Hong Kong! & another rainbow beyond

South Africa, The Rainbow Nation. We also went to Eswatini,

Botswana, & Zimbabwe! Never mind my warm fuzzies wit a

jaw on the floor in SA, to see giraffes & zebras, the Ocavango

Delta was MAGIC! & in Zimbabwe, there was an endless true

rainbow at a Natural Wonder, where I (mad) jumped off the bridge

! & I ! ! !!! as I fell, screamed, JESU— (& the wind stole my voice...)

TIME'S UP!

🙈 🙉 🙊

Search This Blog

Muppoems

#131