Sunday, January 23, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (51)
WHEN YOU TOUCH
When you touch
what God touches
you come home
charged,
the old monk said.
~
A GARAGE SALE
A garage sale
is no place to be
talking Jesus,
the old monk
admonished them.
~
SOMETIMES LIGHT
Sometimes light
is light and
sometimes light
just is,
the old monk said.
~
IF THE UNIVERSE
If the universe
doesn't ever
come back together,
does that disprove
gravity,
the old monk wondered.
~
OKAY, SO I DON'T
Okay, so I don't
believe the universe
can throw itself out
farther than it can
pull itself back,
the old monk said.
~
IF YOU TAKE IT
If you take it
up the mountain,
take it down,
if you ever
go back down,
the old monk said.
~
THE BUSINESS
The business
of business
is money.
The business
of poetry
is not,
the old monk said.
~
THE ANIMAL
The animal you'll be
will come to you,
the old monk told
the shaman.
~
I CAN SAY
I can say things
you don't understand
and I can say things
I don't understand.
Can I say things
God will understand,
the old monk asked them.
~
THE ANGELS DON'T KNOW
The angels don't know the answers,
they only know the questions,
the old monk said.
~
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (112)
I KNOW, I KNOW
I know, I know,
the old monk said,
if you invite them in
you can't say stop
when they come.
~
IF IT'S THE ONLY
If it's the only
deal you can make
you're dealing
with the devil,
the old monk said.
~
POURING THE WINE
Pouring the wine
the old monk said,
I'd give you more
but I see how
much you spill.
~
Saturday, January 22, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (112)
YOU MAKE THE BEST
You make the best
kind of deal while
they're still taking
down the tent,
the old monk said.
~
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO
Sometimes you have to
play dead
from the beginning
and they call that
acting,
the old monk said.
~
IT'S NOT THAT
It's not that
it's wisdom,
it's that it sounds
like wisdom,
the old monk said.
~
Friday, January 21, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (111)
SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T
Sometimes you can't
get far enough
away to see it,
the old monk said.
~
IT IS MORE
It is more
than I want to see,
the eye of God,
looking,
the old monk said.
~
EVERYTHING HE SAYS
Everything he says
means what he says
and also means more,
they said about
the old monk.
~
Thursday, January 20, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (110)
I DON'T RESENT
I don't resent you,
the old monk told his students.
What else would I be doing?
~
WHAT
What
speaks to me
is silence,
the old monk said.
~
WE COULD PLAY
We could play this
kind of thing all night,
the old monk said
about the band.
We call it
hillbilly jazz.
~
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (109)
THERE ARE AS MANY
There are as many shades
of gray as you need, to find
the one to fit your sadness,
the old monk said.
~
IT'S ALL THE SAME
It's all the same
even when it's different,
the old monk heard
his students complain.
~
SOMEWHERE
Somewhere
on the mountain is
somewhere,
the old monk promised.
~
Monday, January 17, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (108)
IF YOU KEEP
If you keep driving like that
it's going to come around backwards,
the old monk warned the driver.
~
SIDEWAYS IS
Sideways is the way
coyote walks,
the old monk says.
Walk that way.
~
THAT NOISE
That noise you hear
waiting to fall
asleep? That's
the electricity
inside all of us,
the old monk said.
It's inside you.
~
Sunday, January 16, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (50)
SOMEWHERE SOMEONE
Somewhere someone is
shaking dice and moving us
around the game board,
the old monk said.
We're just plastic tokens.
He didn't always believe this.
~
NO ONE WATCHES
No one watches
the old monk
the way he watches
himself.
~
SOMETIMES YOU DRIVE
Sometimes you drive in the ditch
because you have to
and live to tell the story,
the old monk said. He wasn't
just teaching driving school.
~
NOT EVERYTHING
Not everything that flies
wants to, the wind says.
The old monk agrees.
~
THAT'S A TRICK
That's a trick you can do
if you practice -- put it
behind your back and have it
come out your front,
the old monk said.
~
THE ISLAND OF THE WIDE SUNSET
The Island of the Wide Sunset –
that's where I want to live,
the old monk said, but
I can't afford a house.
~
HOW MANY TIMES
How many times
must I say it
before you get it,
the old monk asked
the fencepost. Yes,
he was making
fun of himself.
~
ARE YOU SURE
Are you sure
you will find it --
the other side
of sky,
the old monk asked
the master.
~
WHEN THEY'RE LOOKING
When they're looking through
your suitcase, sometimes it's
only your dirty underwear
they will find,
the old monk said.
~
IF EVERYTHING
If everything
would be
what everything
is, it would
be easier
to explain,
the old monk
assured them.
~
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (107)
YOU KEEP BETTING
You keep betting
even at the end,
the old monk said,
and you keep thinking
you're still going to win.
~
WHATEVER IT IS
Whatever it is
you think you want,
what you need is to learn
to say thank you,
the old monk said.
~
THE STARS ARE
The stars are
already conspiring
to make the next
universe,
the old monk said.
~
