I wrote this poem for you. You wonder how this could be, since we’ve never met. You think I would need to know at least a few things about your self before I could make such a claim. You think, perhaps, that our two bodies should have shared a room at least once before I could even consider such a crazy idea as writing this poem for you. Or at least they should have heard one […]
This year I realized that in so many ways, I have scarcely begun. The difference this time, is that having orienteered my way around the mountain in a great and unwitting circle– riding out storms and then reveling in the graceful vacuum of their departure, plotting the next day’s course based on a strange mash of signs, principles and self-argument, being nourished by glimpses of colored bird and flower, by moments of heartfelt communion with […]
High up in a cathedral of sky, in an alcove sunken into a sheer face of towering stone where few sounds dare to reach, where first percentile vultures congregate on weekends like a caste of the chosen and on whose sunbaked ledge adolescent mountain goats dream of one day standing motionless but for the waving of their beards in the icy winds and the steady chewing rhythm induced by a mouthful of snowbells, there is […]
We have to drill down. Straight through it. Through the door we nailed shut all those years ago. Through the weathered planks and carefully placed stones. Through every concession we once offered to the sky that the sky could never take, and still be a place for shining. Through all those fragmentary hopes that never went anywhere. Through that half-light we never really wanted. We have to drill down. Down through our belief that things might […]
A mind enamored of its own disguise cannot see all the imminent Buddhas– the ones stationed everywhere it looks. The Ones everywhere it can’t quite see. (Stop here for a moment and take a look around.) (Do you see?) A mind convinced of its own fabrications cannot imagine that experience itself is an omni-sided doorway– a passage to every form of grace. A passage to every glory, seated in circles. (Don’t worry where, just imagine… that you […]
Recent events in my life served the function of popping the vacuum sealed lid of a small glass jar of fear I had been carrying around in my coat pocket. I smacked dab into some real world events—moments of indeterminate outcome surrounded by a steadily gathering mob of foreboding consequences—and you could hear the audible inrush of air as the jar was pried open. Out spilled vestiges of a future I had sworn to abandon, […]
I’ve done it now. I’ve stepped into It. It’s gotten all over my shoe and It’s made walking a squishy awkward. Also, a certain quantity of the material ended up in dollops on the rug in the front hall, like a band of slugs that woke up and had no idea where they were. Too stunned to move. Just laying there like a constellation of invertebrates collectively embodying a deeper meaning. Like tea leaves. They must […]
A lawn bordered by backlit trees, and a sun pouring forth on the matters of this age. Such consistency in the face of my impromptu madness. The smattering of robins working through the yard understand exactly what the sun is saying. Their curious heads turn in silent clicks from one world to the next. Some have scruffy necks and perform shutter-speed calculations. They all have Open, upturned eyes. Open. I’m catching on. The quality of […]
Sometimes when the door slams and the house wobbles, we forget the stew bubbling happily on the stove. We forget the scent of roasting carrots. We forget the light dancing softly on the candle. Sometimes when the light turns red and two horns joust in reply, we forget the fresh cut flowers on the passenger seat. We forget we were celebrating an abiding love. We forget the other reasons for this plane are moot. Sometimes […]
When asked to explain the self, the Buddha demurred. How would this help? Likewise, a trusted computer will not look too closely at division by zero, not because it is impossible, but because of the hypnotic ramifications. Caught in its beguiling web, the self resists clear understanding. Better to consider the photon. When a filament of refined metallic earth is filled to the brimming point with a humming sweetness, or space itself collapses into an incredible, […]
Embracing Forever 