While I sit here,
my mother
is in a nearby room
asleep
...
I practiced Zen this morning.
I did it the way my master taught me.
When done, I was angry and tired.
I decided the master was full of it.
...
This place is dead and alive
at the same time.
It is empty nothing
and full of form
...
My dream people
are my awake thoughts
while I am asleep
and these electro-chemical energies
...
The fingers are hopping
from key to key
as I look at the letters
and light
...
It is a joy to sit in a cluttered basement in the morning.
It is a joy to wait at the dentist's office.
It is a joy to drive to the post office, and not have an accident.
It is a joy to go to the bathroom.
...
I sit in chairs.
I mean, I meditate in chairs.
I just meditated in a chair.
A black vinyl chair.
...
So, if I cross
my right leg
over my left leg
for awhile,
...
I came up to Maum,
the new Dharma teacher,
snd babbled,
'It was harder
...
I work fast
in all my art disciplines,
because when I do
I rid myself
...
The mantra of highest wisdom
spoken in the mind
and seen before my eyes
brought Kuan Yin
...
Seated comfortably on a flower cushion
I use a well-learned hand position
which detoxifies the body-mind
and in the mind I see some faint visions
...
Buddha has said
not to have outflows
and not to have
inflows of this energy
...
The heat of summer
reminds me of hell
instead of swimming
and cold cans of beer
...
The mind says things
which push us here and there
and it is a good idea
to listen.
...
I am an American Zen Buddhist poet, musician, composer, and visual artist. In the past eighteen years I have written about seventy chapbook length books of poetry, which I have self-published. These have been given to Zen organizations, friends and other people whom I have met. My educational background is music, so I am basically self-taught in writing poetry. I have been published in a few poetry magazines, including the late 'Exquisite Corpse'. My use of language is simple.)
Mom Is Lying In A Hospital Bed
While I sit here,
my mother
is in a nearby room
asleep
in a hospital bed,
and she can't stand up
and she can't hear well
and she can't see well
and she just took out
her teeth,
so I think
'Is this what
I am headed to?
Is this what
we are all headed to? '
as I type
these same words
to give
to whoever wants them.
How is it there are no comments already here....... I really like this poetry for its stark descriprive reality, no pretentiousness, no judgement, no ego, the personal conversational aspect..... love it! Eileen.