Revised 6/12         Da Soul Hotel: Bird and Breakfast                             2/12/19

Da Soul Hotel is owned, operated and blessed by it’s resident Saint, renowned throughout Kauai as St. Francesca of Da Chickenz. Otherwise called Francie by her friends and neighbors, she is the savior of all wounded, abandoned, wandering creatures of earth and sky. Francie welcomes us all to her safe lodgings. All meaning naked, two legged creatures like myself, as well as her feathered and furry friends.

Where legs, wings, hearts are broken, where any suffering inflicted, conflicted, confessed or unconfessed have been lost, all are welcome to heal, eat and sleep at Da Soul Hotel: Bird and Breakfast. Her door is always open, refrigerator full, drinking water, clean toilets, hot showers and warm blankets await the lonely spirit. Your healing journey begins here. The path through Francie’s door and to her kitchen is safe to travel. Joy and a full tummy can again be found.

Sadly, the injured birds and sick chickens often pass with beloved dignity in her kitchen and birdie ER (emergency room). Here, a dead chicken is not a rotisserie dinner, but a departed friend placed carefully on a sterilized counter, wrapped in a clean towel, resting on the floor of a freshly newspapered cage. At Da Soul Hotel: Bird and Breakfast all creatures are loved in life and death.

Among the majority of Kauai’s humans, chickens are often hated, killed or at the least disdained and ignored. The wild chickens are generally considered an annoying pest much like pidgeons in large cities where they are often called “flying rats.” Such inhumanity is an abomination to St. Francesca. She responds to brutality with incredible kindness and forgiveness. To St. Francesca, chickens are not flightless, feathered rats, they are among her beloved creatures of Mother Earth, Mother Aina, Mama Kauai. Chickens are respected, enjoyed, fed and cared for amidst her charitable domain.

No chicken, wild piglet, or pidgeon is left squashed on the road. To her, all creatures, dead or alive deserve love and respect. She will stop her truck in the middle of the road to pick up a flattened chicken, peeling it gently off the road then placing it lovingly on the grassy curb. Finding a sunny, nice spot for her wild chicken to rest in peace is important because to her a dead chicken is not disgusting road kill. It is not left on the road to be ground into the red dirt and tires of oblivious drivers. Eventually, the rotting carcass will probably be eaten by the growing feral cat population but before becoming a cat’s dinner, just for a moment, da dead chicken is bid a fond “Aloha” by our beloved St. Francesca of Da Chickenz (aka Francie).

Francie, our friendly neighbor, looks nothing like a Saint. There is nothing special about her outward appearance. To the world outside Da Soul Hotel, Francie is your average aging lady next door. In worn jeans, t-shirt and flip flops, she has the slightly eccentric habit of feeding wild chickens and birds who daily return to her yard for breakfast. The unseen St. Francesca within wears many guises. She does not wear a monk’s robe or a nun’s habit. For me, in her orbit of healing, I see her floating in an astronaut’s suit and helmet protecting her from the gravity of our planet’s dramas and traumas. She is impervious to the cruelty of the human species and focuses only on the lazer beam of light shining from the heart of human kindness.

 

St. Francesca, da inner astronaut, is unafraid of hurt and hostility. Exploring inner space, she revels in the silence of the universe within. She listens for the call of the human heart like a space station needing repair and fearing abandonment in the darkness. She answers the unheard allowing the void to heal itself with love and compassion. From the depths of inner space she observes our struggling human beingness temporarily occupying a lovely blue pebble in the vastness of eternity. She laughs lovingly at our human betterness, slowly overcoming bitterness and violence, seeking higher intelligence, deeper wisdom and inner peace. Believing human beings will discover the power of humankindness before becoming human has beenz eradicating our species from the precious pebble called home, planet Earth, Mother Earth, Mother Aina, Mama Kauai.

In my dreams, sleeping in da comfort of Da Soul Hotel, I float with St. Francesca, learning to repair my broken heart in da darkness of all broken-ness. I awake feeling a bit more whole than when I first arrived. Through the window of inner space, I discover Francie feeding flocks of birds and chickens outside Da Hotel. The yard is bright in the morning sun, bird songs and crowing chickens filling my silence. Broken-ness becomes Wholeness. Whole-ness becomes Broken-ness. Pebbles become sand under my feet. Night turns to Day.

I am happy in Da Soul Hotel: Bird and Breakfast. Soon, I will learn to fly.