ubud literary festival: the land of temples

MONDAY

man this is weeks later, been recovering from that 33 hr plane ride, talk about brutal
profile from jakarta post behind recent bali experience, they got some of the factuals wrong

for instance my father was called a 'full service doctor' by some of his country patients
but it was because he would use folk remedies when called for, not hoodoo his patients

as she imply, he would have found that amusing

but the essence is correct and what artist care about factuals long as the mythwork correct, right
that backdrop is the lotus stage, told you about it before, this huge outdoor lotus pond and this

temple backdrop, it was magical, i had a ball, representing, sometimes when im being acclaimed
for performance or anything tangential to being a writer i worry about ministrelsy notions, especially

since i have an exotic performance persona, that hoodoo blues storyteller thing

but im building armies, sowing constituents worldwide

in the name of the conqueror - what can you do, except be true to yourself

im out

 

SATURDAY

hit on panel with aussie singer paulkelly and pedalsteel master lucky oceans
we had a ball, it was a good gig, caught their act later at betelnut, highlight of conf

me & lucky & his wife chris been hanging tough, we got that soul connection, its like
me & lucky is brothers in that great fraternity, the mystic knights of the sea

and i just love pedalsteel done right, cant imagine i didnt know of his work before
& his wife chris she kinda magical, she like some spirit of grace or something

man im having a ball, and the usual trajectory has manifested, i go to these conferences,
nobody knows me - i hit a couple of times and im the talk of the town, thats the way i roll

i have met so many interesting folk, many of them from australia, in many ways bali is
an australian playground, lot of expats, lot of western questers from all over, its an interesting

dynamic, very symbiotic, and ive figured out if i do bring students over regularly that the focus wont
be so much on the official temples as it will the culture and the sacredspaces off the beaten path

ps: found my manuscript, backtracked my day until i found it at a restaurant, im so relieved

all my love

 

 

FRIDAY

well, finally made the temple run, was disappointed
the temple on the lake was empty and felt lifeless

except for all the hustlers, both in and out
reminded me of the ghanian slave castles, folk hustling tourists

i guess folk got to make a living but it ruint the spiritual quest bit
when i got hustled both inside and out the temple

then went to the natural spring temple, this one was full of life
and tourists such as myself with our cameras, taking pictures of

folk praying and all, it was kind of a turnoff, i mean hordes of tourists
so im rethinking that bringing my students over as a course

dont know if the hassle (read flight) is worth it, the culture itself is profoundly
spiritual and the architecture makes it all one big temple, but the temples themselves

so far are disappointing, i didnt feel no luminosity, was just thinking about some of the rock churches
of ethiopia, because if i do this, i think ima get bored of the bali temple run real quick, ohwell, on a good

foot did my big performance on this incredible outdoor lotus stage, aong with wordmeisters like salena godden and geoff lemon - the venue was magical, ima have to show you pictures, there is no way i can explain it,

you reach it by traversing this causeway over a lotuspond to the stage surrounded by the pond and all the temple architecture, what the hell, let me find you a picture on the internet, only way you will feel this stage

it was one of the most amazing venues ever, but it rained on and off

and i was concerned that rain would warp my kalimba and it was outdoors in this huge space that just
swallowed the kalimba so halfway thru i abandoned it and did it straight up, just me and the word

but it threw my rhythm off and i was disappointed in myself until i was walking down the street of ubud that next morning and 3 young bali folk stopped me raving about what i did last night, one of them say you

sound like bb king, can we take pictures with you, and so forth along that line, that made
me feel good, even when im off my game it comes across well - i like that

im out, lost my damned novel manuscript, longhanded it on the 2 day planeride and everyday since i got here
had got a 3rd of the way thru a rewrite and was happy with it, been a little discouraged since big pub dissed me

but doing my rewrite i was just as tickled with it as i could be and i was thinking, this is a damn good novel
i dont care what they say, this is a damn good novel, now i got to redo whatever i can remember before it gets cold

i keep hoping it will show up, but its gone and i dont remember where i could have left it
every morning i work on the open air roof of the restaurant but they say i didnt leave it there

so best i get busy, been stalling for about 3 hours now cause i really dont want to do this
i keep hoping it will turn up but i cant wait no longer, im out

ps: nextday: ok, ive caught up the critical rewritten passages, man got to do what a man got to do
jarkarta post doing a profile on me, reporter say she got shots of me on the lotusstage,

looking forward to posting them

 

 

 

THURSDAY

so last night im at the opening ceremony, the royal palace, bit outdoor temple courtyard
huge sro crowd, balinese dancers and dignitaries, and i notice this litte bitty kitty wandering

about underfoot obviously looking for a handout, wishing i had some meat for him i feed him veggie springroll
so he chowing down on the springroll and im rubbing him while he eats and im thinking this is a fearless little kitty

actually i gave him 2 springrolls and i told him i said you gon be sick little fella and he was like you
need to keep your advice to yourself and come on off that other springroll is what you need to do

then im told that cats are sacred and not to be harmed (sorry about those springrolls, partner) and im thinking
any culture that venerates little kittys is cool with me as i am a devoted servant of the cat people

 

 

WEDNESDAY

had an impressive cocktail hour at the 4 seasons 5 star spot last night
met a lot of writers, folk from egypt and iraq and colombia and sri lanka, et al

but you know my 1st presentation is thursday, i think ima ditch the conf
get me a taxi and find myself one of these temples on the water

been thinking about a 2 week summer course for su abroad i could work up
been trying to come up w/an su abroad course that would get me some subsidized

travel in, has to be something that would generate student interest and something i wouldnt mind teaching
so im thinking, since i been here, memoir and the sacred quest, generating a memoir draft while questing

the temples of bali, is that cool or is that not cool, what i need to do is make the necessary contacts

while im here, though the idea of doing that flight every year, thats kinda rough,
they will have to send me 1st class, thats what im talking about, 1st class op, all the way

one love

rdoc

 

TUESDAY

i wasnt quite sure on that date, was on a plane for 2 days, 3 counting the dateline
but now im here at the ubud literary festival and its something else

i was pissed at them when i got on the plane because i checked the website the day before

and my bio was like vietvet and bluessinger arthur flowers will wow you with his performances
which you know i dont have no problem with but there was nothing about me as a writer, nothing

about my books and literary achievements and i was like, what am i, a singing dancing minstrel at the lit festival - i protested vociferously and they changed it quick quick but i had a little tude, janet was most gracious though, always has been, she been after me to come ever since jaipur and im glad i finally did

and when i got here i was like, this my kinda town, temples everywhere, every other house got this
magnificent temple attached, the driver explained that there are 4 kinds of temples, family temples

village temples, regional temples and public temples, you can visit village on up but you cant pray there
who knows if all this is true, i should read a guidebook is what i should do, but it sure sounds good

and thats all the old storyteller ask for, good mythwork, but all these temples putting the old hoodooman

in a spiritual state of mind, so far they have taken very good care of me, im chilling

but they got me on programs performing w/rappers and spokenword folk from all over
one program with a damn choir, one panel me and paul kelly, whom ive been told is the national treasure

of australia, rode up with aneeshacapur of stealing karma fame and goeff lemon, australian poet
we had a nice ride up the mountain, i love these festivals and i can see im going to love this one

im out, i got to get out here and look around, soak up some atmosphere

all my love

rdoc

Comments

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawmQgS-dXLu090Abc-tqjK4qjBRQLxIH0ag]

Sound wonderful. Now I want to go visit one day. Glad you found your manuscript.

[Mildred]

Ha! Am tickled that the reporter said your Pa would hoodoo his patients. Still a good read, errors aside. Keep the Bali muse flowing.

[Buffalosoldier]

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