Myth of Arrival

… accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu atque in perpetuum ave atque vale.

"… accept now this sad brotherly offering, wet with tears, and forever and ever hail and farewell." translated by Sedulia.

I'm devastated over the news of the murder of Robert Busby. Tonight (Wed. Feb. 28th, from dusk on), there will be a candlelight vigil outside his Creole Gallery in downtown Lansing's Old Town for all who knew Robert and called him our friend, teacher and inspiration.

To say that Robert is the art community of Lansing is not praise, it is simply the truth. Through his Creole he not only brought in talented musical acts and art from around the world at a time when Lansing's local art scene was dubious at best but also provided a place for our small poetry readings to happen month after month for years. He helped rejuvenate Old Town back when it was nothing more than boarded up wrecks and a strip bar.

How do you write praise for a man who is the back bone of your community? And he has been murdered. And I am at a loss for words.

Homicide stuns Old Town
Creole Gallery owner found dead; police search for man's truck

By Kevin Grasha and Tom Lambert, Lansing State Journal.

Family members and police confirmed late Tuesday that the body found earlier in the day at the Creole Gallery was that of prominent Old Town businessman Robert Busby.

At about 1 p.m. Tuesday, police went to Busby's gallery at 1218 Turner St. - he had been reported missing Monday - and discovered a body in the building, which he owned.

About seven hours later, family members arriving at the gallery tried to console one another shortly after learning what they had feared for most of the day was true.

"It's just terrible," said Mike Busby, one of Robert Busby's brothers, outside the gallery Tuesday night.

Lansing police, who are investigating the death as a homicide, are searching for a pickup registered to Busby: a silver, 1999 Chevrolet Silverado with a Michigan license plate 3897DF. Police are asking anyone who sees the truck not to approach it, but instead to call 911.

"Somebody has that truck," Lansing police Lt. Bruce Ferguson said. "Once we can find that truck, we will get some answers."

An autopsy is expected to take place this morning, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Dean Sienko said Tuesday night.

Busby, a driving force behind revitalization in Old Town, lived in an apartment above the gallery, a well-known venue for visual art, poetry, theater and live music. The news of his body's discovery left the Old Town community stunned.

"It's a great loss for the community," said City Council President Harold Leeman, who went to Old Town on Tuesday afternoon to talk to grieving business owners.

"Most people are in shock. You always see him at different events; you just take for granted you are going to see him again."

'Godfather' of Old Town

Busby has been a fixture in the neighborhood for three decades. People who knew him referred to him as either the "godfather" or "mayor" of Old Town.

"He was such a dear person with such a big heart," said Debbie Preuss of Preuss Pets in Old Town, as tears filled her eyes at the thought of losing a friend.

"He was somebody who embraced the community. He was one of a kind."

In 1978, when Turner Street was dominated by boarded up buildings and a notorious bar, Busby was part of a group of people who opened the neighborhood's first art gallery, said Roxanne Frith, who has known Busby for decades.

Frith called Busby a "supporter of not only the arts but the collective community of North Lansing, long before it became Old Town."

His passion remembered

Jamie Schriner-Hooper of the Old Town Commercial Association said Busby's passion has been transforming what was once a run-down neighborhood into a vital arts and entertainment area.

"We all feel as though we have lost our dearest friend," Schriner-Hooper said in a statement.

Mayor Virg Bernero added in a statement issued Tuesday night: "Robert was an extraordinary community leader, a talented artist and a trailblazing entrepreneur who led the rebirth of Lansing's original downtown."

This song, The Parting Glass, has been close to my heart for all my life. I will sing it tonight at the candlelight vigil for you Robert.

Of all the money that e'er I spent
I've spent it in good company
and all the harm that ever I did
alas it was to none but me
and all I've done for want of wit
to memory now I can't recall
so fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all.

Oh, all the comrades that e'er I had
they're sorry for my going away
and all the sweethearts that e'er I had
they'd wish me one more day to stay
but since it falls unto my lot
that I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and softly call
good night and joy be with you all.

Ruelaine Stokes, coordinator of the Old Town Poetry Series, just sent me this. I can't believe this. I do not have all the information at this time. I am at a loss of words. I am sorry.

Tonight (Wed. Feb. 28th, from dusk on), there will be a candlelight vigil outside the Creole Gallery for Robert Busby, our dear friend ‹ the owner of the Creole Gallery and the host and supporter of the Old Town Poetry Series, who died Monday night. If you have instruments or poems, perhaps we can put them to use.

In creating the Creole Gallery, Robert was the greatest kind of artist. He created. . . step by step, over many years . . . an environment in which people could come together to celebrate art, music, poetry, genuine human connection, and community itself. I first experienced the sweet air of freedom surrounding art at Robert's former gallery on Turner Street, known as Two Doors Down. The performance events there still stand out in my mind as blessed events. Like many other people, I "cut my baby teeth" as a performer at Two Doors Down. It was the place that I learned that the combination of poetry, community, and spirit could give me and others a state of bliss. . . . . that music, poetry and art could activate those blessed moments when one feels deeply alive, whole, and in communion with others.

There is a beautiful quote by Ursula LeGuin. It begins, "Community is the best we can hope for, and for most of us, community means touch, the touch of another's hand, the dance danced together, the work done together, the child conceived together, the sledge hauled together."

Robert had the gift of nurturing and building community, and for that . . . and for the gift of his gentle, wise, delightful self, we will be forever grateful.

Power writes:

Earlier today, my friend Robert Busby was found murdered in the basement of his home/business.

I met Robert fifteen years or more ago… My then-wife rented a building (now home of October Moon from him to teach art. I spent a lot of time there helping her with a variety of things, and on occasion chatted with Robert. I took this photo as part of my The Artists Project exhibit in 1995 (Robert was also an artist).

He owned and restored several buildings in Lansing's Old Town area (Lansing's original downtown years ago) and was probably the most devoted person in turning the area back into a thriving community. I attribute most of the gains that Old Town has made to his efforts. When I first moved to the Lansing area, Old Town (I don't think the area even had a name then, actually) was rife with crime and was a pretty scary place through which to drive, and spending time would not have been something I'd have wanted to do at that time. But Robert made his home there and persisted, making it a very livable place for others.

About six or seven years ago, I received a phone call from his girlfriend, asking for advice with regard to presenting concerts at Robert's Creole Gallery. She and I have become best of friends since then and Robert and I have become better friends. The three of us hung out a little bit in Memphis last week as she and I were attending the same conference. I met a couple of his sisters Friday afternoon.

While I can't claim to have been amongst his closest friends, I can still claim to know that he was about as good a person as I have ever known — generous and kind. For the better, he affected the lives of many, many people, including those who aren't aware of his efforts in Old Town or who might never have known him.

He will be sorely, sorely missed.

Everyone should congradulate wm. rike. for having his poem crone on time appear on The Countdown #20, with Bob Marcacci.

Or better yet, you should go and listen to the MP3. It rocks!

It's amazing what one word will spark. My friends are hungry. I am hungry; though what I hunger for changes day to day. I would not deny, though, I live a rather lean life since most my pleasures are imaginary. Greed is an interesting emotion. We starve ourselves then get upset when our bellies rumble. We work endlessly but the shame of being seen as weak or lazy or a parasite on others pushes us ever on … well, it does for me.

As I was walking over to the Grand Rapids library I read these lines from Shakespeare's Sonnet 75: … starved for a look;/ Possessing or pursuing no delight/ Save what is had, or must from you be took./ Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,/ Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

"Me too!" I thought to myself, "me too!"

I do not think greed is as bad as all that in context; it's the starving that is the problem. Greed is simply the body's sad cry that it is not being taken care of. I find it ironic that I am fully aware of poetry's function of feeding the soul and yet I am a terrible steward of my self. But this is not new; I have been starving for years. When I was in graduate school in Las Vegas I wrote the lines, "Blue is my belly/ intestines entwined/ I have been a poor father/ to these desires/ I wish to cut them out …" and I meant it, I really wished back then I could take a knife and cut that part of the soul out that controls "desire" and "hunger" and "yearning" right out of my body the way a doctor removes a cancer lump … and did then and I still do today.

If I could I would ask the future I can not imagine a question it would be: "O child, what good is hunger if you cannot feed? Why do we have greed if there is no way to appease this terrible appetite, O child to come, O child who will never be?"

After guilt and surely after pleasure
all our bodies are just bodies and greed
is good and implies what we all prefer
to do and no one ever has to bleed
for their disgrace, listen, you to not need
to bleed for disgrace; I will pray for you
because only this little word will feed
you and today I want you fed. Who knew
you were so hungry? Oh my love, succeed
where we all failed. Learn love. Make new mistakes.
Awake from birth knowing this word will lead
you to new greed in the midst of heartaches.
It's your birthright. This word is your reward.
It's your birthright. Your reward is this word.

There are things I do not understand in this world. My dreaming goes from famine to feast; years go by with nothing coming to me while I sleep (or at least nothing I can recall) and then suddenly someone, or something, so detailed and material arrives; it is as if I were wide awake. Last night Lalla Aisha Qandisha visited me to remind me of my link to "love's confusing joy."

For those of you familiar with Morocco and Muslim mythology you will probably be rolling your eyes at this point and saying in a dry, sarcastic voice, "oh, it's going to be one of those dreams, isn't it?" since Lalla Aisha Qandisha, and almost all female djinn,¹ have been reworked in the West as nothing more than cranky succubi; an after thought for men's pleasure.

I hope, however, that I will never be that big of a fool to see our world in such sexist terms. Yes, there are pleasures in this world and yes the world of Spirit can give out gifts, but I do not think this universe was created simply to reinforce certain sad male beliefs that they rest on the top of the food chain. As the Sufi poet Rumi put it:

If you want what visible reality
can give, you are an employee.

If you want the unseen world,
you are not living your truth.

Both wishes are foolish,
but you'll be forgiven for forgetting
that what you really want is
love's confusing joy. (60)

I have never studied (nor have had any interest in) Islamic law; however, since my spiritual teachers are women and since there are Muslim Feminists² just as their are Jewish and Christian Feminists, I think I could follow an Islamic holy woman — or spirit like Lalla Aisha Qandisha — just as easy as anyone else. I suppose one of the big problems with our quest for love is almost all the world's belief systems, while having the burden of potential in leading us to love, also teach that the sexes are not equal and it's man's divine right to exploit that. I do not mean to single anyone out; Riffat Hassan writes that not only Islamic but also Jewish and Christian traditions are all rooted in profoundly misogynistic beliefs.³ True, sadly, which is what makes life difficult for the rest of us and why I do not believe we shall ever have a peaceful world as long as men insist on seeing women as something other than equals.

But no culture or religion is fixed in stone; ideas and people simply change or die. In many parts of the West the common belief is that Islam is anti-woman (which, of course, is pure bollocks). Sexism can be overcome anywhere as long as there are people are willing to work at it. For example, in Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur's anthology, Living Islam Out Loud, I found this manifesto which I reprint here:

An Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in Mosques

Women have an Islamic right to enter a mosque.

Women have an Islamic right to enter through the main door.

Women have an Islamic right to visual and auditory access to the musalla (main santuary).

Women have an Islamic right to pray in the musalla without being separated by a barrier, including in the front and in mixed-gender congregational lines.

Women have an Islamic right to address any and all members of the congregation.

Women have an Islamic right to hold leadership positions, including positions as prayer leaders, or imams, and as members of the board of directors and management committees.

Women have an Islamic right to be full participants in all congregational activities.

Women have an Islamic right to lead and participate in meetings, study sessions, and other community activities without being separated by a barrier.

Women have an Islamic right to be greeted and addressed cordially.

Women have an Islamic right to respectful treatment and exemption from gossip and slander. (153 – 54)

It might take a while for these ideas to become accepted but it is my certainty that they will be part of all our lives sooner or later. As long as we listen to what Lalla Aisha Qandisha and others have to say then we can begin living a life based on confusing love instead of egotistic hatred. That belief is indeed something we should try to teach to future generations.

You, child of fire, are able to transcend
all these years to arrive now in my dream
as my sister, mother, teacher and friend.
I am the worst of sinners, blaspheme
on two legs; everything is just questions
with no answers. The poorest of fortune
tellers can trace my doubts in you, the ones
reserved for all Christian, Jewish, Muslim
faith. And still you come. You and I; without
bodies, only fire, only your lips, kiss
on kiss, on mine. Like burning ash; drifting
and then fusing together. Let my doubt
be a song I sing from that day to this.
I burn, child of fire. Yes, I am burning.

Works Cited

Abdul-Ghafur, Saleemah (ed). Living Islam out loud: American Muslim women speak. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press. (2005)

Barks, Coleman. A Year With Rumi: daily readings. San Francisco: Harpers (2006)

Goodwin, Jan. Price of honor: Muslim women lift the veil of silence on the Islamic world. Boston: Little, Brown. (1994)

Sharma, Arvind and Katherine K. Young (eds) Her voice, her faith: women speak on world religions. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. (2003)

1. James Randi has this to say of the djinn: (plural noun, pronounced jinn; singular, djinni) In the Muslim religion, spirits with specific supernatural powers, the children of fire. They are corporeal, often taking the shapes of ostriches, snakes, or humans, and can become invisible. In Malaysian magic, there are 190 Black Djinn, evil mountain-dwelling spirits. [back]
2. While it is true Feminism is a world wide movement there are probably more attacks on Islamic Feminism today than ever before. Jan Goodwin, writing in 1994, notes:

   Egypt was the first Arab country to begin education of women in the 1880s, but today, 110 years later, 63 percent of all women are still illiterate. The first feminist movements in the Muslim world were founded in Egypt in the twenties and yet the “Law of Obedience” enacted in 1979 requires a wife to submit totally to the authority of her husband, and the “Law of Return” enables police to forcibly return her to him even if she has fled from her husband's physical abuse. Twenty years ago Egypt prohibited female circumcision, but 80 percent of rural girls, and an estimated 40 percent of urban ones are still forced to submit to this practice, which mutilates their genitalia. In Egypt 25 to 30 percent of all household breadwinners are female, yet fundamentalists campaign for women to stop working.(322) [back]

3. I reprint Hassan's points here not because I believe them (just the opposite) but because it's good to know how people think so you can come up with intelligent and witty rebukes to silence the wagging of tongues. According to Hassan, religious sexism is rooted in these three points: “(1) that God's primary creation is man, not woman … (2) that woman, not man, was the primary agent of what is customarily described as the 'Fall' … (3) that woman was created not only from man but also for man …” (228) [back]