Sunday, September 25, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (86)
SOMETIMES YOU SPLIT IT
Sometimes you split it
and they don't know
how much goes with
which part, but it keeps
the professors in business,
the old monk told
the poet.
~
I TELL MYSELF
I tell myself
the world's story
to understand it,
the old monk said.
~
SOME DAYS WE GET FAT
Some days we get faty
and some days we go lean --
it's up and down
on the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
A DARK SKY
A dark sky
marked with stars.
In the old pine
the spirits
are talking,
the old monk
reported.
~
JUST THROW THEM
Just throw them
anywhere.
No one cares
til it's time to
pick them up,
the old monk said.
~
PROMISING
Promising
to make no
promises --
how does that
work,
the old monk
wondered.
~
WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW
When you don't know
the question,
anyone can see you
an answer,
the old monk said.
~
IF YOU MAKE ENOUGH
If you make enough
predictions,
some of them
will happen,
the old monk said.
~
THIRD ON A MATCH
Third on a match,
third past the rattlesnake --
you want to be
first or second,
the old monk said.
~
SOME OF THE THINGS
Some of the things you say
have your father's accent,
the master told the old monk.
~
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (320)
THE WIND IS
The wind is a warning,
the old monk said.
~
YOU KNOW WHEN
You know when sadness
lays down beside you
it's going to be a long night,
the old monk said.
You just know.
~
THE MASKED BANDIT
The masked bandit
doesn't spread Covid
when he takes your money,
the old monk said.
~
IN THE NEWS
Friday, September 23, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (319)
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (319)
TONIGHT THE STARS
Tonight the stars
are telling stories
about their childhood,
the old monk said.
O, such stories.
~
IT WAS IOWA
It was Iowa.
It was dark.
The stars knew
their business,
the old monk said
about his vacation.
~
YOU ENJOY
You enjoy
anything
when you have
nothing.
You enjoy
nothing
when you have
everything,
the old monk said.
That's just
the way we are.
~
Thursday, September 22, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (318)
ALL YOU HAVE
All you have left
when you're done
is nothing --
that's when you
start over,
the old monk said
about re-incarnation.
~
IF SHE HAS
If she has time to
put her dress on straight
before she has to go,
maybe she shouldn't,
the old monk said
with a wink.
~
WHAT I SAY
What I say
I say to say,
the old monk said.
I don't expect you
to believe it.
~
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (317)
THE STARS DON'T
The stars don't have to
understand the numbers,
the old monk said.
They're blessed that way.
~
ALL THINGS
All things line up
in one direction
or they don't,
the old monk says.
You get one life
or the other.
~
YOU COULD OFFER
You could offer
more but it's not
money he wants,
the old monk said
about the hermit.
~
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (316)
SOMETIMES THE ROAD
Sometimes the road
turns before
you want to --
you have to
be ready,
the old monk said.
~
WE COULD TAKE
We could take him
to the library
but it wouldn't
make him wiser,
they said about
the old monk.
~
EVERY NIGHT
Every night
an hour or two
of peace and quiet
might make you
half a saint,
the old monk said.
~
IN THE NEWS
Monday, September 19, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (315)
IT'S WISDOM
It's wisdom
til you weigh it,
the old monk said
about his lectures.
~
YOU CAN'T GET
You can't get to heaven
if you can't laugh,
the old monk said.
~
DON'T THINK
Don't think
that thinking
about it
is ever
enough,
the old monk said.
~
IN THE NEWS
Sunday, September 18, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (85)
IF THE TRICKS
If the tricks
don't fool them,
you'd better be
funny,
the old monk said.
~
FUNNY
Funny
is a business
and it's a
funny business,
the comedian
told the old monk.
~
THEY WANT US
They want us
to be funny
and then they'll
pay us,
the old monk
told the band.
~
SOMETIMES YOU'RE
Sometimes you're
74
before
you realize
you've always been
an old man,
the old monk said.
Sometimes you're
85.
~
I GET AROUND
I get around well enough
for a man with limited prospects,
the old monk admitted.
~
IN A POEM
In a poem
something has to
rhyme. It doesn't
always have to
be the words,
the old monk said.
~
TAKE OFF EVERYTHING
Take off everything --
pretty soon you'll see
what you are,
the old monk said.
~
WHAT DOES THE WORLD
What does the world
slap you with?
That's what you're
supposed to pursue,
the old monk said.
~
I HAVE WORKED SO HARD
I have worked so hard
to say so little --
I wonder why,
the old monk said.
~
SOMETIMES SADNESS
Sometimes sadness
is like straw
out the back
of the thresher,
even as it
shines in the sun,
the old monk said.
~
IN THE NEWS
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (314)
THOSE THREE
Those three,
the old monk said,
you can't break them
into pairs.
~
IS THIS WHAT
Is this what I want to do,
to teach you,
the old monk asked,
or shall I have
a bowl of ice cream?
~
I WANT
I want the one
that wants the other,
the old monk said.
~
