Fractals are an example of exquisite design without planning. The repeated emission of something that seems random results in something that has clear organization on a larger scale.

There are writers who work with detailed outlines mapping the course of their stories. There are those who start with a single sentence, and venture forward with no plan at all.

There are sculptors and architects and scientists and knitters who have a vision they hope to achieve, with every step and necessary supply anticipated. There are those who make the first stitch blindly.

I knew a man who never learned more than a single word, who seemed to see people in the same light as he saw a chair or a tree. Give him a pencil, and he could produce detailed, accurate drawings. He came back from a doctor's appointment once clutching a drawing he had done in the waiting room. The drawing was of a window pane in the door to the examining rooms. He had carefully reproduced the diamond pattern imbedded in the safety glass.

What he chose to draw helped me to see differently. Out of the busy activity around him, something in him was drawn to attend to and reflect through his pencil and paper that single window.

We benefit from the planners among us, and from those who seem to exist entirely in the moment.

A daytime moon
hangs above the icy parking lot.
A man shrunken and bent
inches his walker
across the lane,
snow banked in low mounds
against the curb of the sidewalk.
Cars murmur in pause,
waiting, observing.
This is old.
This is disability.
This is a human being.
Most of all,
this is a man.

late this afternoon
past fields dusted with snow
I drove through Italy, Texas
a small town in winter
its jewel colors
radiating gently
a light beyond words

It's a skill that's trained in Shintaido, to be aware of another's intention just before he or she acts. Marvin read me every time. I'd say this cat passes the test.

I'm told he's a stray, but he looks healthy and well-fed and he's certainly friendly. The first name that came to mind when I met him in the parking lot was Marvin and so Marvin he is, at least when I'm around. These photos look pretty pathetic, but they illustrate one of Marvin's talents. Although he comes close, even chases me, to be petted, when he is sitting still and I quietly press the button of my camera to snag a photo, he reads my impulse and dodges.

I've been taking pictures for a long time, and I've never met a cat, dog or baby who can so quickly whip his body away from the lens three times in a row. (And oddly, for over 45 minutes I've tried to upload the above-mentioned pics to blogger.com without success. He's still dodging exposure! I'll try posting them in the morning.)

riding in
on a north wind
the rain smelled
wild and poignant -
now the creek
flows once again,
the healing song
of night waters