NARRATIVE
by Trudi Richards
When my brother and sisters and I were little and we got too rowdy, our mother used to suddenly say, “let’s listen to the quiet!” Then we would all hunker down and listen, curious, puzzled, for what cannot be heard.
Since then, whenever my life gets too rowdy, I have kept listening, and listening…
I tried for a long time to capture the Quiet, to apply it like a poultice to my wounds. But the Quiet can’t be caught – it’s like the silver trout that carries the pearl of the moon in its mouth…
After many years of clutching at the Quiet, I discovered that even as it fled from my grasp, it let me taste its flavor. The Quiet has a flavor like nothing else – a flavor of longing, and of blessing. Of the peace that can never be contained, but is simply there, at the root of everything. The flavor of happiness, of no problem, of pleasant days on the river with someone special, of no worry, of summer vacation that never ends. Of Kindness. Of the silence of the Heart that knows, without the slightest trace of a doubt, that all is well, forever…
About the writer:
Trudi Lee Richards
Siloist writer, poet, and singer-songwriter; curator of Winged Lion Press Cooperative; Spanish-English translator. Published work includes The Confessions of Olivia; On Wings of Intent, a biography of Silo; Soft Brushes with Death, a Jorge Espinet Primer; Fish Scribbles; and Experiences on the Threshold. Ongoing projects include audio recordings and possibly a podcast of her literary and musical work. Publishing exploits from the pre-internet past include Human Future, an independent review published from 1989-96 in San Francisco, CA; and La Mamelle, a San Francisco arts publication of the ’70s for which she was co-founder. A graduate of Stanford University, she is the mother of five grown kids/stepkids and five step-grandkids. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is a member of the Portland Community of Silo’s Message.
