Dear Sara, my sweet dead Sister
I made this short video of me doing tai chi and wrote a poem for you this month. Actually the poem is my description of Tai Chi Chuan Forms #7 and #8: “Left, Right Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail,” so maybe it’s more for me than you, dear Sister, but I was thinking of you.
Even thinking about writing these letters to you seems to be filling my head with tiny poets who are trying to crawl out through my ears. And beginning every day doing tai chi in our city park facing the river is only encouraging the situation.
Anyway, wonder if you ever knew I taught tai chi at the Monroe Y for at least two years before Covid. (Living readers can tap this link for a Covid-19 update.)
As my story goes, the origin of this newsletter was a blog I wrote for my students, which you can still read on my website, WarnerBlake.net. When the weekly Wednesday class ended in 2020, I changed the purpose of the blog from helping students learn tai chi to teaching myself writing. That’s when I gave the blog its name “Tai Chi & Me.”
So. When I was still a tai chi teacher, I would research the meaning of the traditional names for the Forms, like “Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail,” for example. And I found a haunting tale of a Sparrow singing through the night, and in the morning the tiny bird rested on the finger of a monk.
I would use this story in my classes every week as we did Forms #7 and #8. I’ve come to experience doing these two Forms to be at the heart of Tai Chi Chuan, 24 Forms.
Since I couldn’t find the source of the singing Sparrow story, dear Sara, I hesitated to use it here. Instead, I wrote my own description for Forms #7 and #8 with this poem.
On the edge of sunshine and shadows I watch my hands grasp each other, holding the memory of this morning.
We think of you every day Sis; until next month.
If you are new to this letter, follow this link for background on our monthly Letters to Sara; and, if you enjoyed reading this letter, please share it with a friend. Thanks ~w.
"Left, Right Grasp the Sparrow's Tail"