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Member Spotlight for the Month of January 2003 - JD Clay
A simple man, a peaceful man. A man whose path in life was revealed in an infinite instant in January 2000 -- a path of meditation, contemplation, surrender and sacrifice. A man whose muse is ever-present, "Angelina," known to him alone. A man who doesn't set out to write poetry but, rather, allows whatever manifests internally to flow through his fingers and into his computer keyboard. The result: poetry for the universe. --- I had the pleasure of interviewing Jadi (JD Clay) by telephone on December 18. I felt an immediate kinship to Jadi for a variety of reasons, one being his easy and open manner. Jadi was born and raised in Normanrockwellian Michigan 55 years ago into a loving family of artistic people and a culture steeped in the development and support of an important American icon: the automobile. He studied music and art in college but worked and played (racing cars) in the automotive world. Jadi has many artistic interests including painting and metal sculpting. He is a self-described audiophile and collects sonic performances and rare recordings. After completing a marriage, he and his two children pioneered to San Diego in 1986 in search of the perfect beach, and never left. After the children were on their own Jadi moved to Mission Viejo, about 75 miles north of San Diego in Orange County. It was on January 26, 2000 while listening to the aria Pace, Pace from La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny) by Giuseppe Verdi, he made a personal plea and asked for guidance. The word PEACE was revealed to him in a most powerful way and was followed by an extremely spiritual experience that left him paralyzed for several minutes followed by uncontrollable weeping. He was awakened to the possibility of eternal peace: the basis for his spiritual path and eventual poetry. Beginning in April, 2000, he took a break from this line of work for 16 months, to travel, meditate, read, write and reorient himself to the new quest that was revealed to him through his Kundalini experience. During Jadi's 16-month sojourn, he visited places that are sites of spiritual "vortexes.: Mt. Haleakala on Maui, Waimea Canyon on Kauai, Diamond Head on Oahu and several in Sedona, Arizona. He continues to seek out vortexes, and finds spiritual and poetic inspiration on almost any hill or mountain where he often hikes. Jadi continues to earn his living in the automotive field and he is currently the Training Manager and Consultant for AutoNation, Chevrolet Division in Irvine, California. His new, true path includes writing poetry, something not done until his recent experience. He started with Japanese forms and now has settled into free verse. He also writes under the heading "jadi's philosophy" what I call one-liners that are full of good-natured humor and earthy wisdom. Jadi has no formal training in writing, poetry or otherwise. He has engaged in self-study, including the reading of philosophy from Eckhart Tolle, Joseph Campbell and Ken Wilber. His favorite poets include Rumi, Kahlil Gibran, Langston Hughes, and Charles Bukowski -- Rumi being the most influential. Jadi treats all his creations very carefully. Each piece is allowed to incubate on paper and in his brain for a month or so and may be subject to as many as 50 privately spoken readings and as many as 30 re-writes. He is the sole editor of his work and writes poetry, exclusively. Jadi recently, and for the first time, submitted poems to two Internet publishers and had 8 of 10 submissions accepted. These are "Wired Art from Wired Hearts" (http://wiredheart.hispeed.com/) and "the Swamp" (http://www.the-swamp.net/). Jadi credits fellow pathetic.org poet Quentin Clingerman with helping him develop his haiku writing. JD is also a member of Quentin's poetry site, WordChimes (http://www.wordchimes.com/). Some of Jadi's favorites in his own work are: Chasin' The Moon, No Girls Allowed, Skybluepink, The Love in Which I Fell, and Bedazzled. During the lengthy incubation period for Jadi's poems, he tests each to see if it: - Is philosophical
- Is simple
- Has a catchy title
- Has an alluring first line
- Has an intelligent message
- Has a last line with impact
One can see from this that Jadi's self-training is a syllabus for the rest of us. --- A simple man, a man of "Pace" -- Peace. --- The following is a list of the highlights of JD Clay's poetry: Author: Ronald A Pavellas
The member spotlighted in this month's "Member Spotlight" is chosen by the pathetic.org Spotlight committee, which is made up of a small group of site patrons and administrators. Each month a member is selected for this privilege based upon contributions to pathetic.org and the quality of work. Previous Member Spotlights | 
