Wednesday, April 21, 2021
IN SOME LANGUAGE (41)
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
THIS PLACE
Monday, April 19, 2021
IN SOME LANGUAGE (40)
Sunday, April 18, 2021
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (11)
IF YOU DON'T
If you don't
know what it is,
the old monk says,
don't waste it.
~
HOW MUCH
How much can you endure,
the old monk asked them.
How pure is your heart?
~
AT THE THEATER
The old monk went
to the theater.
Why do you hang
around here,
they asked him.
He said: I don't want
to miss the feature.
~
WRESTLING
Wrestling the poem,
the old monk says,
I don't give up
until it does.
~
THE OLD MONK'S SERMON
Sometimes
what's most dear
we don't know
we have.
~
TURN OUT THE LIGHTS
Turn out the lights
before you're done,
the old monk said.
You'll see things
differently.
~
IF IT WORKS
If it works,
the old monk said,
keep working it
til it won't.
~
IF WHAT YOU WANT
If what you want
is nothing,
the old monk said,
that's something
you can get.
~
CROW GOES
Crow goes
where coyote can't.
Go with crow,
the old monk says.
~
ASKED ABOUT PREACHERS
Asked about preachers
the old monk said,
don't get me started.
~
IN SOME LANGUAGE (39)
Saturday, April 17, 2021
WE ARE
We are nothing but
a darkness between the atoms
which hold us together.
That is to say,
we are the light
which consumes all things.
IN SOME LANGUAGE (38)
Friday, April 16, 2021
ALL THE UNIVERSE
All the universe
but one bubble
in a swirling pot
beyond us. So much
more than we know,
those other places
we cannot reach.
All the life and death
and resurrection
of endless others,
we think it matters.
This universe, too,
this moment, matters,
until it doesn't.
IN SOME LANGUAGE (37)
Thursday, April 15, 2021
THIS TOO
This too shall pass,
this day, this earth,
this universe,
a dust mote,
light and light's
disappearance.
The star we saw
last night, was it
there as we looked,
or was it only
its memory.
IN SOME LANGUAGE (36)
