Bali Magic
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Greetings! I am a poet turned memoirist. I used to teach writing to kids of all ages, but now I get to write anytime I want.
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Explore: Bali Magic
Ever since my first plane trip to Spain at seventeen years old, I’ve been a dedicated traveler. That excursion with my high school Spanish class changed my life, and since then I’ve had other trips that were as transformative.
This summer, my tour of Bali led by Laura Davis, and Judy Slattum and Madé Surya of Danu Enterprises was just such an experience.
I had traveled to Bali before with Laura, Judy and Madé Surya in 2016. That trip was wonderful and made me want to return to Bali.
This summer I got that opportunity, sharing the experience with a great group of people and staying in some of the same beautiful locations as before.
The beach at Lotus Bungalows, Candidasa
My view from my cottage at Puri Lumbung Cottages, Munduk
While I had enjoyed that beauty before, somehow this trip felt deeper. I was touched by the peoples’ welcoming attitude towards this stranger visiting their country. I soaked up the color and energy in their art and dance, and in their everyday rituals. My connection with this place became more magical.
Like all human societies, there are problems and inconsistencies between the Balinese ideals and their everyday reality. There is poverty and discrimination. There is conflict. I don’t want to romanticize their society by ignoring these issues.
But the Balinese also create great beauty in their lives. They have a devotion to art and culture that is profound. A devotion I wish we all would emulate to enrich our spirits.
I especially love the offerings they make each day, some to honor their gods, some to help maintain balance and harmony in their lives.
Offerings to Ganesh. I learned to make the one on the left.
Dance and music and rituals seemed to be expected almost every day.
Madé Surya performing the Old Man’s Dance.
A procession heading to the temple.
Even now, a few weeks after my trip, I have yet to explain my feelings about Bali. The Balinese believe that everything in nature has a spirit residing within it. While I am uneasy with the word spirit, Madé Surya explained his belief in a way I can accept. He said there is a mystery within all of us. I can believe that. And so I can trust that my passion for Bali is a mystery I don’t need to explain. I can just enjoy it.
One day when I returned to my bungalow in Candidasa I found this heart leaf and frangipani flowers arranged on a table outside the door. How could I not love a place where someone created an offering like this for me?
I'd love to hear from you. What trips or adventures have transformed you?
Write: Memoir News
I’m working away on what I hope are the final revisions to my memoir, Half-Orphans: A Poet, Her Father, and the Silence Between Them. By the end of the summer I will start sending the manuscript out to publishers. Wish me luck! I’ll keep you posted on my journey towards publication.
Going back to Bali made me remember a poem I wrote while I was there in 2016, a year before my father died. This poem is part of my poetry collection, Always a Blue House (Saddle Road Press).
Buy it here at Bookshop.org
Even While Snorkeling in Bali
I float through blue waters, breath steady
in the tube. And here you are beside me.
I remember how you loved swimming.
How each summer you would strike far out
into Lake Michigan – Mother standing on the shore,
hand shading her eyes, afraid.
But you were never afraid. You swam true,
far out into blue water. Then, flipping over,
you floated long minutes before heading
back to shore. And I, once again, have slipped
from a boat into the sea. Coral waves and fish
dart past my mask, their bright stripes flashing
in the sunlight refracted through clear water.
Oh Father, how you would have loved this.
Read: Book Recommendations
The novel Beware the Tall Grass by Ellen Birkett Morris weaves two plots together: the story of a young soldier fighting in Viet Nam alternates with that of a contemporary couple and their young son who seems to have memories of a war that took place long before his birth.
Buy it here at Bookshop.org
The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax is a mystery/thriller that takes place at a writing retreat in Guatemala. I read this while I was in Bali. Luckily my retreat went better than the one Romano-Lax describes!
Buy it here at Bookshop.org