RABBIT! RABBIT!

kaBOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
today is the big day, neighbors.
numero uno.
the premier of a whole new calendar,
a whole new scene,
a great big fat gigantic batch of new new hottness,
and all of it starts today.
happy mutha-F*ing new year, to you, and yours,
and to all the rest of 'em as well.
this is IT....what?
....luchini falling from the sky, kid!
hahaha.
today marks the millenium's sweet sixteen,
and i suppose that's a good thing,
however,
the chronological number isn't as important as the simple fact
that we're starting over again,
with another clearly delineated grid of days and nights
for all new all different improved and enlarged hard styles, tough times,
big berserker barbarian battle beast bard business,
blazing, raging, stormswept hot fire,
lightning-striking viking virtue,
and warrior poetry in perpetual motion.
that's the stuff.
and, today is when it all resets, recharges, and begins anew-
renewed and revived and revitalized with all the vigor of a veritable hurricane
of that new new.
y'know what i did,
first thing when the clocks and calendars flipped over?
yup.
the same thing i always do.
you know it.
i mean, rules is rules,
and this one is set in stone somewhere i'm sure.
in fact,
after i fell asleep and dreamed of all the woodsly goodsly plans
that this year portends,
i woke up wild-wide-eyed and great-big-open mouthed,
and i did it again.
again?
yes, that's percussive consonants and rolling rrrr's over and over,
and over some more.
why?
because too much is the right amount,
and another 'nother casting of the master-blasting bunny magic
has got to be better than assuming that one shot sniper-styles are enough
to cultivate coincidence and foster fortunes from the future.
that's right.
i spoke into the soft blue night my watership downward dialogue,
and it reverberated through the ice on the trees,
and resonated as an echo into the infinite.
if only it wasn't already such a silly phrase.
awwwwww.
anyway, i said it,
and i meant it,
because the first of the month is when we activate the soulclaps and b!tchslaps
of spirit and memory, gratitude and generosity,
and all the best parts of our really real Folk Life
in the northern reaches of our own far far away.
word.
or, words.
specifically:
rabbit! rabbit!!
yeah!!!
in addition,
we blazed a towering invierno inferno fuego-a-go-go.
check the teleport:

we go out with the old, y'all.
and bring in the ash and wind-whipped worry of an ember-filled finale to december.
hmmm?
we burned our stockpiled XImas's worth of boxes and bags.
that's rural recycling, for those who don't know how we get busy up here.
all the shipping and receiving of a postal armada,
alit and ignited with a single match,
and illuminating the last desperate hours of last year.
it got a little scary when the wind decided to carry all the flaming debris
up and over the trees towards all four corners of the mountain vale:

ha.
fire like that will burn your eyebrows off if you don't scamper away fast enough.
-
harvest, maple, amber, crabtree, and myself all sat by the flames,
and stayed warm,
and spanned time together as a team,
before heading back inside the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress,
stirring in the sugar and salt on a big ol' batch of house-made kettle-corn,
and watching vikings slay each other until the time told us to speak out loud and proud.
yep.
we stay silent for the last few minutes every year,
letting our professional appreciation for true stories and well-crafted wordsmithing
build up a head of steam, and power the pursed lip pronunciation
of the happy happy new new yearly traditional first sounds,
so they ring out louder fresher and harder every time.
*
december gives way to january,
and the whole thing gets going all over again.

embers become flames become embers become flames.
it's all really happening,
the overlapping circles and cycles,
the ghost rings and haunted hollows-
this is What IS,
and that's what we're working with.
this year, there's no excuse to do any less,
i mean,
there's even an exxxtra day to get a little more done with.
a leap year, a jump off, a pouncing bouncy baby-
today is the day,
and it's a good one;
never quiet, never soft.....