all the pebbles drop

 

 

all the pebbles drop

 

there are stones in my body with

space around them and through them

there is a feeling of solid when paying attention

it vibrates and disperses

 

seeds begin elsewhere

dropped from the bowels of birds

their heads with clouds squeezing out the water

the atmosphere and soil retain

 

little clear roots dig into being;

lick between the drops, the tongue

splits content; solid until it’s eaten

blood is hope flavored

 

the birds stop singing and

the pebbles steam; i’m in love with

the smell of concrete after rain

this foot wet, this foot dry

 

 

 

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drag the Lotus seed

mom cake

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Insideidea Lepidoptera

Insideidea Lepidoptera

the moth clings to the inside of the heart

it is dying to love

the one to which the heart belongs

it cannot fly free because it is afraid

of the idea crawling around inside the mind

of the one to which the mind belongs

the idea has no body;

yet, it crawls and climbs and claws

trying to shred the moth

Yayoi Kusama at the Whitney Museum July 12, 2012  (how very auspicious..)

Appreciating the Corner

appreciating the corner

 

In the corner is a space

where stacked are bits of other corners

warps and wefts, porous and knocking.

they lean, waiting, quietly subdued,

tilted and jumbled, gathering dust

 

and like grandma’s sofa, wrapped,

in preparation for a celebration.

That crushed velvet never felt

the wind upon it, in her lifetime.

 

But someone somewhere now

might make a raincoat of its covers one day; especially

since it had a built in zipper which

went from corner to corner to corner to corner

 

So similar will

the still filling colors in squares of all sizes and age,

eventually be lit with light or fire;

keeping someone

warm or dry or inspired.

 

They too containing a zipper;

being unseen, unheard, utterly unborn,

with corners in the corner

of the boundless corner.

 

Candelabrum

 

Bring that light over here

 

see that cherub in the rainbow suit?

stubbed its toe the other day; hard to walk on it

its wings, neglected, need a little attending

 

Bring that light over here

 

clouds are rolling in; knock on the next door

do you have a cup of sugar to spare?

there’s a visitor visiting

 

Bring that light over here

 

breathe a foggy breath on the window

draw a heart, a monster, an angel

become visible

 

forgotten earthquakes

“Any perception can connect us to reality, properly and fully.
What we see doesn’t have to be pretty, particulary; we can appreciate anything that exists.
There is some prinicple of magic in everything, some living quality.
Something living, something real, is taking place in everything…”-  Chogyam Trungpa

forgotten earthquakes

echolocating colors

of full balloon lady-slipper orchids

so rare

the honey bee fur below your ear;

the stickyness of my jealous mouth

a tenderfoot threshold

 

encouragement

 

the cushion waits there

memory’s, yesterdays, perfume

Live the cold sun-patch

cakes and insults

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Akkosa Sutta: Insult

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels’ Sanctuary. Then the brahman Akkosaka[1] Bharadvaja heard that a brahman of the Bharadvaja clan had gone forth from the home life into homelessness in the presence of the Blessed One. Angered & displeased, he went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, insulted & cursed him with rude, harsh words.

When this was said, the Blessed One said to him: “What do you think, brahman: Do friends & colleagues, relatives & kinsmen come to you as guests?”

“Yes, Master Gotama, sometimes friends & colleagues, relatives & kinsmen come to me as guests.”

“And what do you think: Do you serve them with staple & non-staple foods & delicacies?”

“Yes, sometimes I serve them with staple & non-staple foods & delicacies.”

“And if they don’t accept them, to whom do those foods belong?”

“If they don’t accept them, Master Gotama, those foods are all mine.”

“In the same way, brahman, that with which you have insulted me, who is not insulting; that with which you have taunted me, who is not taunting; that with which you have berated me, who is not berating: that I don’t accept from you. It’s all yours, brahman. It’s all yours.

“Whoever returns insult to one who is insulting, returns taunts to one who is taunting, returns a berating to one who is berating, is said to be eating together, sharing company, with that person. But I am neither eating together nor sharing your company, brahman. It’s all yours. It’s all yours.”

“The king together with his court know this of Master Gotama — ‘Gotama the contemplative is an arahant’ — and yet still Master Gotama gets angry.”[2]

[The Buddha:]

Whence is there anger for one free from anger, tamed, living in tune — one released through right knowing, calmed & Such. You make things worse when you flare up at someone who’s angry. Whoever doesn’t flare up at someone who’s angry wins a battle hard to win. You live for the good of both — your own, the other’s — when, knowing the other’s provoked, you mindfully grow calm. When you work the cure of both — your own, the other’s — those who think you a fool know nothing of Dhamma.

When this was said, the brahman Akkosaka Bharadvaja said to the Blessed One, “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has Master Gotama — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, & to the community of monks. Let me obtain the going forth in Master Gotama’s presence, let me obtain admission.”

Then the brahman Akkosaka Bharadvaja received the going forth & the admission in the Blessed One’s presence. And not long after his admission — dwelling alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute — he in no long time reached & remained in the supreme goal of the holy life, for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, knowing & realizing it for himself in the here & now. He knew: “Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world.” And so Ven. Bharadvaja became another one of the arahants.

the resolution of Dorian Gray

 

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the resolution of Dorian Gray

a portrait, with its scars, sins, and cavernous despairs

is created for a token, given endless youth

then hidden

a reflection in a mirror

 

grand history stretching rainbow

make-up written on the face

and in the cellular structure of all beings

is more than false, more than paste, the true jewel

 

bending with the flow of change

a willow on a flooding river

a blade of grass underfoot

the rise and fall of bodys’ breath

 

this year’s new vow, a resolution of flexibility

to see through and attend like the knife

that pierced and freed poor Youth’s heart; releasing

its’ crisp and sweet, from the craquelure of varnish

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