Laugh and Love your Dog

I found a rugged quartz crystal in our gardenMy life as a rip off artist now began in earnest.
yesterday and brought it to my writing table, to gazeOne day, I took Alphia Lee for a walk in Golden Gate
at its beauty and reveal its mystery as I write, likepark. A squirrel distracted her from the beloved stick,
gazing into a crystal ball.and damn it if she didn't run in front of a fast moving
The five crystals in the center of it are perfect, in theircar. She crawled back to the side of the road.
own wild way, like the days I spent in total conflict withI remember crying and kneeling beside her, going over
myself, with society and the world.her body, getting a sense of how badly she was hurt.
It brings to mind one of my favorite Alphia stories, myA car pulled over and a young man asked to take me
golden German Shepard Collie of the 1960's, thewhere ever I wished to go.
pre-Funk commune years, occurring several monthsHe had an old blanket and we carefully laid her on it.
after the communal caravan arrived in San Francisco.Then he drove Alphia and me to the big rambling
We found our large Victorian house after severalVictorian house that was our temporary abode.
weeks of illegal camping around the jagged PacificWe prepared a bed for her with old blankets and rags.
shore hideaways and in the many untamed parks forShe'd look at us with a forlorn Muki eye, the dog who
which the city is famous.joined me 28 years later to show me true love.
The caravan people had remained disgruntled in spiteThat look inspired me to slip into the meat department
of the constant dog/God guidance surrounding us.of a local Safeway, and steal one steak a day for her,
A chasm developed between those who wanted toand for her only.
join the ranks of the work-a-day world, and the four ofThen we'd sit with her for hours, stroking her neck and
us who went on to establish the Funky Farmbody and encouraging her to come back to us.
community and knew that going to work wasThe long intimate times we spent with her were
antithetical to living creatively by the seat of our pants.patient and happy. We did not desperately plead with
I had come to a place within myself where I needed toher to live rather than die. Rather, we coaxed her
live outside of the mainstream, established 9-5 ho-humgently, showing her our love, and gave her the great
I'm beaten down, kill me now style of existence Ioption of living with a handful of rogues completely
imagined my father ascribing to for his thirty-fivealienated from society.
working years, at the same place, doing the same job,She opted to spend a few more years with us in our
everyday. I'd think of an exhilarating alternative, bet onexperiment of living--dangerously.
that.