{"id":737,"date":"2006-04-21T07:24:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-21T07:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest\/"},"modified":"2006-04-21T07:24:00","modified_gmt":"2006-04-21T07:24:00","slug":"life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html","title":{"rendered":"Life: Poetry and an Unexpected Guest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I arrived home tonight (home being a house near campus where I\u2019m house-sitting) to find a mentally handicapped 50 year old man on the front porch who will apparently be staying with me for the next four nights. He knows the woman who owns the house and she is a saint and always welcomes people who are passing through.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a Native American, Salish or Kootenai I assume, and tells me that the reason he\u2019s \u2018crazy\u2019 is alcohol and \u2018the purple pill\u2019 (acid). He\u2019s incredibly sweet, and though I have a terrible time understanding him, he\u2019s always patient in making himself understood. This weekend he\u2019ll be attending the annual Kyi-yo Pow Wow, and then he\u2019s off to Indiana. In the meantime, I\u2019m his impromptu caretaker; though I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he\u2019s 90% if not 100% self-sufficient.<\/p>\n

Either way, his appearance shatters the placid cocoon I had constructed in the house, reminding me (as if with a sharp thwack! <\/span>on the shoulder) of my interconnectedness and the illusion (though persistent as it may be) of my ever <\/span>being alone or cut off from the contingencies of the world.<\/p>\n

First Americans,
Ways flattened by my<\/span> people.
Springtime breathes new life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I arrived home tonight (home being a house near campus where I\u2019m house-sitting) to find a mentally handicapped 50 year old man on the front porch who will apparently be staying with me for the next four nights. He knows the woman who owns the house and she is a saint and always welcomes people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLife: Poetry and an Unexpected Guest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I arrived home tonight (home being a house near campus where I'm house-sitting) to find a mentally handicapped 50 year old man on the front porch who will\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life: Poetry and an Unexpected Guest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I arrived home tonight (home being a house near campus where I'm house-sitting) to find a mentally handicapped 50 year old man on the front porch who will\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-04-21T07:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-114560263773884713?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html\",\"name\":\"Life: Poetry and an Unexpected Guest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-04-21T07:24:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-04-21T07:24:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"I arrived home tonight (home being a house near campus where I'm house-sitting) to find a mentally handicapped 50 year old man on the front porch who will\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2006\/04\/life-poetry-and-an-unexpected-guest.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Life: Poetry and an Unexpected Guest\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\",\"name\":\"American Buddhist Perspectives\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\",\"name\":\"Justin Whitaker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Justin Whitaker\"},\"description\":\"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; a baptized Catholic; an ardent Atheist; a practicing Buddhist; a lover of Wisdom. 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