So, what did the river show me today? Well, I went down there, straightaway after work today, to see what I could see, and hear what I could hear.

I walked down North 7th, still all wound up, tense and anxious and something since I woke up, or went to sleep. I don’t really know when it started, or what it’s happening because of, but it’s been coming and going. Anyway, so as I walk west down the street, away from the crowds at the Bedford stop, everything starts to slow down, and cool off in and around me. I recognize familiar landmarks along my way, little stores, bits of graffiti, the gate with all the metal horseheads on it. I start to relax.

So I get down to the water-front, and make my way north, since someone is sitting in my usual spot. I head out to the first long old broken down pier, stopping to pick up a long long piece of grass first. I carefully tread the hundred or so feet of concrete out into the water, and sit down at the end. The sun is hanging low, the wind is moving softly. I feel better because of all that, and the spot, and the water, but still, everything is all knotted up inside me.

In honor of that, and with that in mind, I started tieing the piece of grass into all these little knots, slowly, slowly, thinking about how everythings all whacky in me. I finish, and hold it for a while, and just am feeling all this stuff well up in me, and just being like, damn, what am I doing, you know, and all that…

When all of a sudden, the water swells in front of me, and something catches my eye off to my right side in the water. It’s a turtle! A pretty good size one too, about 12 inches long, just sitting there, in the East River, of all places. And he’s just floating there, paddling in place, just staring at me. And all of a sudden, I was just so happy! Like tremendously happy! It swelled in me like the wave that brought him there. He stared at me for almost a whole minute, just paddling, paddling, and then all of a sudden, he swims forward in front of me, and dives underneath.

After he leaves, I drop my little knotted up piece of grass into the water and let it drift away, knowing that I was done with it.

Oh right, then after that, I saw all these cool gross pretty jelly fish in the water, in all different sizes. It was awesome.

Yeah, since I’m on a roll with all that totem animal medicine crap, I was gonna throw in some stuff that I found online, even though I don’t think any of it really hits the mark as to what this turtle meant to me, in this particular situation.

Here’s the link, and here’s some quotes picked out of it…

• “The turtle is a shore creature, using the land and the water. All shore areas are associated with doorways to the Faerie Realm. The turtle is sometimes known as the keeper to the doors. Turtles thus were often seen as signs of fairy contact and the promise of fairy rewards.”
• “Because of its great age and slow metabolism, the turtle is also associated with longevity. Long life and groundedness within life is part of what is associated with the turtle. It does not move fast. It is as if, on some level, turtle knows it has all the time in the world. Turtle medicine can teach new perceptions about time and our relationship with it.”
• “Turtles have amazing survival skills and strategies. They hear well. Actually they sense vibrations in the water through their skin and shell. Turtles are also to distinguish some colors, and they do not have a sense of smell. Turtle totems hold the mystery of awakening of the senses~ on both physical and spiritual levels. Turtle stimulates hearing and clairaudience. It can help with vision and clairvoyance. It heightens the sense of smell and higher discrimination.”

Besides all that jazz, I used to have a turtle when I was a kid, and I named it “Chuck” for whatever reason, and we used to give him live feeder goldfish to eat, and sometimes I would take him out and let him run around and stuff. Also, I remember that one time I wrote a song about him on the organ, and it was all about how his name was Chuck and he was a turtle and stuff. It wasn’t a very good song, but the intent was there.