Taoist Tai Chi

Attended my first Taoist Tai Chi class this afternoon.

Missed the first session earlier this week, because I was out of town visiting a friend.

My previous instruction includes about three hours over the past twenty-five years.

Once I attended a session with a group of folks who did tai chi and then watched the X-Flies together. They were more advanced in their practice, and as a beginner I couldn't keep up.

One year the staff inservice included a tai chi workshop which was led by a Tai Chi Chih instuctor.

Several years ago I shared a Thanksgiving dinner with another Tai Chi Chih instructor, although I have never studied with him.

My first experience with Tai Chi was a brief introductory workshop at the Black Hills Survival Gathering.

Howard Zimmon (z'l) (1938-1999) studied and taught tai chi for more than thirty years. Although I never studied tai chi with him, I learned from each conversation we shared. Howard was a poet, a fine-book printer, a bookseller, and a technical draftsman for the University of Iowa Physics Department.

Cardinal

1.

W O W !
I just saw a cardinal out there

There is a red cardinal
In the tree.

I saw a bright red cardinal

W O W !

there is a bright red cardinal
out there in the tree

He's still there look!

he's on the grass look!

whoops he flew away.

2.

When I come back
I want to come back as a cardinal
(the bird that is)

& I am going to have
the crimsonest feathers

& the neatest red crown

& I am going to eat
sunflower seeds
from Howard's feeder

& I am going to perch
on a branch
and sing all day.

This time around
I am practicing
for when I come back
as a cardinal.

--Howard Zimmon

Iowa Review,
Volume Twenty-Nine Number Two, page 97