Haven't checked his site much since I last blogged about it, but Dallas Clayton has some sweet new pieces out. I've put a couple here, but there's a link to his site at the end of this post: ===

THE BRINK

You know what’s in the ocean and that most of it, including the ocean itself, can kill you without concern.

But here you are on the shore all alone stripped down to nothing smile on your face charging toward the waves.

=== GROWN

It‘s a dismal day that day when your parents decide because of books they’ve read and teacher’s they’ve talked to that you are too old to keep taking baths with your friends.

No more bubbles splashing playing pretend submarines. Only washing yourself clean and thorough.

It’s a hopeful day the day that follows as you set out looking to make new friends the kind who will not care what their parents think and many years later will wander with you arm in arm in search of larger bathtubs and neverending bubbles.

===

TOURING SHOULD BE A MANDATORY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS

What good is it having access to all these hundreds and thousands of virtual friends if you don’t use that ability and that information to get in a van and travel the world meeting people face to face and learning what it’s really like to be where they’ve been?

=== PENNANCE

With a hotel pen I scratched all kinds of facts on the other side of that dollar bill ones about how many people I’ve punched and how many have punched me, their names and ages and reasons we were both so mad and how we felt afterward and if anyone threw up or had to go to the hospital or snitched.

I spent it on a snow cone flavored like tamarind. I didn’t know what that was when I first moved here but now I do and it’s delicious.

===

PASSION

As a teenager It is important to shake your fist at the gods to run as far and as fast as you can into the dark get lost, pass out, and wake up the next day with a volume of new and troubling goals and no plan whatsoever to help you achieve them.

As an adult it is important to look back at how hard your fist shook and how those gods still forgave you, because they had been there too, running and passing out, and now that it is all here upon you plan or no plan those goals don’t seem nearly as troubling.

===

His website is here, you should check it if you like these.

I think I've seen some of Dallas Clayton's books around and about, but I didn't know about his AWESOME WEBSITE until I stumbled upon it here. If you have a spare minute or two, go check him out. He posts pictures, poems, musings, messages and more. Lovely job. Here are some things he has done (ps - where can I get a falconer's glove?): ==

HOW TO MEET THE GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS (FOOLPROOF)

Buy a falconer’s glove.

Approach the girl you like wearing the falconers glove.

Ask her “Excuse me, have you seen a falcon fly by here?”

Look up to the sky, hopeful/sad.

If she says “No,” look distraught and ask her if she wouldn’t mind helping you look for your falcon.

No human being would ever turn down an opportunity like this.

Use the time you spend together searching for the falcon to get to know her.

At the end of your search (10 minutes) you will probably need consoling re: the loss of your one true friend.

By this point her interest in you based on the fact that you were able to put so much love and time into the raising of a falcon will more than ensure a second date, and from there it’s just a hop skip and a jump to marriage.

Good luck!

*NOTE: If by chance a falcon does appear out of nowhere, simply say ” (falcon’s name) I’ve missed you so much! Don’t ever scare me like that again!” Then offer to take the girl to dinner for helping you find your lost falcon. Bonus: You just got a free falcon!

==

SPOT

At the dinner table upon her going away to college we discuss what dogs we would all be, a common enough question but not one you can answer on your own. You cannot choose because we cannot all be show dogs purebreds or winners of races. But if we are lucky honest and spirited at all the right times some can get named half-golden retrievers with big sloppy smiles warm and perfect for cuddling.

==

MUSEUM

Question:

How important is it, On a scale of one to ten for an adult human being to know what a stegosaurus is?

Answer: 4

Question:

How important is it for an adult human being to not not know what a stegosaurus is?

Answer: 8.5

==

GRIND

When you’re in the midst of a breakdown

remember that others with far more to lose

and much further to go

have been where you are

and emerged unscathed

by doing little more

than continuing forward

with their heads down

and their boots tightly laced.

==

THOUGHTS OF A PROPERTY MANAGER

Been washing the cement on this same parking lot every day for the past six years.

No one pays me. Just like doing it.

It doesn’t get much cleaner than it was the day before.

But the smell is nice

And I get to wave to people on their way to whatever jobs they’ve been cut out to do.

Don’t know the name of the man who owns this parking lot or where this hose is connected but I like what I do.

And I don’t have to dress up for it.