[ARTS]: Big and Little Poetry--free verse, any verse.

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  • Ryumon
    Member
    • Apr 2007
    • 1800

    sitting still
    the shadow on the wall is not me
    does it have Buddha nature?



    Gassho,

    Kirk

    sat
    I know nothing.

    Comment

    • Tai Shi
      Member
      • Oct 2014
      • 3420

      Sit Better than Yesterday

      Fountain of Verse,
      Better than yesterday
      Visible, renound
      My teacher, human,
      Sits better today
      Yesterday exactly
      I know which
      Dharma, which Dharma
      My mouth, my restraint
      Is better than yesterday
      Knowing is knowing lovely
      Smell, tast all eyes, felt
      Sound, all poems
      Read aloud, for poems
      For me better in three
      Verses, more lines, better
      Today, yesterday, and now.

      Tai Shi
      sat/ lah
      Gassho
      Last edited by Tai Shi; 08-06-2020, 11:08 AM. Reason: corrections, edited
      Peaceful, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆

      Comment

      • Tai Shi
        Member
        • Oct 2014
        • 3420

        For my friend Myogan

        We Find a Little Peace
        When I met you
        There was slur of speech
        Driven by opiates, grind
        Of bones you did not
        Know wrench nerves
        Into neck, face entire
        Head, so for doctors
        I removed my hat, belt
        Shoe laces, no floss
        For teeth, only two
        Pocket books and
        Simple clothing
        T shirt baggy pants
        Tees and did every
        Action, day I entered
        Last 5 mg tablet
        Only one look back
        I did not turn to stone
        Today tablets vanquished
        Like peaceful surrender,
        I do not stand alone
        Never alone again
        You may be my friend
        May I be your friend?

        Tai Shi
        sat/ Gassho


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
        Peaceful, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆

        Comment

        • Geika
          Treeleaf Unsui
          • Jan 2010
          • 4985

          I have a great fear of doing nothing welling up inside of me
          To see that it is really nothing
          Is real freedom
          The anxiety still rolls
          But the tide should drift back
          And back

          And back

          Allow myself to truly feel peace and ease
          And put it down

          Put it down

          Think nothing
          And wait for the chime

          Breathe through each wave
          Gently work out the tightness
          Each will try to hook me and glimmer
          Just see
          求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
          I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

          Comment

          • Tai Shi
            Member
            • Oct 2014
            • 3420

            Geika
            Outstanding, so I enjoy liberation poetry with respect-- thank you.
            Tai Shi
            sat/ lah
            Gassho
            Peaceful, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆

            Comment

            • Tai Shi
              Member
              • Oct 2014
              • 3420

              Flowers Around Each Other

              Our age, nothing to do
              With love or love or love,
              Our child, each other,
              Our selves each to each
              Reply again, oh, "Yes
              Love's beauty!" one
              Love for us, for her
              For me, it's true, flowers
              Blooming in our yard,
              She so includes my life
              In hers, begonias
              Bloom again, impatiens
              Gone. Forget-me-nots
              Bloom, spring in August
              More, flowers grow again
              Around our home
              Around each other.

              Charles E Taylor, August 4, 2020
              Tai Shi
              sat/ lah
              Gassho
              Last edited by Tai Shi; 08-05-2020, 08:52 AM. Reason: spelling
              Peaceful, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆

              Comment

              • Tai Shi
                Member
                • Oct 2014
                • 3420

                Kirkmc, beautiful, craft, in three lines, Oh, haiku!
                Tai Shi
                sat
                Gassho
                Last edited by Tai Shi; 08-05-2020, 09:01 AM.
                Peaceful, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆

                Comment

                • Tai Shi
                  Member
                  • Oct 2014
                  • 3420

                  Shall longer lines be difficult? No. Each line might contain "Black Petals" on a wet bow, bowel, wood for thought so these words display an image-- more editing with Pound's images, sensation, in Buddhism; can one to six, name them in a poem? SO, plese, I invite you. Creativity a sitting practice. YOUR SPACE!!

                  White Wordless Thank you Kokuu for your suggestion.


                  Transendent white
                  Weeds, in my back
                  Yard, fill voids
                  of distress. Pandemic.

                  Gassho
                  sat/ lah
                  Tai Shi
                  Last edited by Tai Shi; 08-29-2020, 06:17 PM. Reason: Title. Thank You Kokuu
                  Peaceful, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆

                  Comment

                  • Kokuu
                    Treeleaf Priest
                    • Nov 2012
                    • 6845

                    White Wordless

                    Transendent white
                    Weeds, in my back-
                    Yard, fill voids
                    of distress. Pandemic.

                    I like that very much, Tai Shi!

                    Gassho
                    Kokuu
                    -sattoday/lah-

                    Comment

                    • Jundo
                      Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                      • Apr 2006
                      • 40396

                      One of my rare attempts at poetry. A fellow in an online Zen group posted this pessimistic piece ...

                      Gad Horowitz‎

                      DUKKHA
                      OH IS’NT THIS TOO PESSIMISTIC?

                      Torn from the womb screaming hungry helpless pining paining yearning for love approval safety beg and plead and threaten and whimper and bluster grab and waste one thing after another study work get rich kill study work get rich kill good sex bad sex no sex love hate envy apathy and terror boredom chatter and blather smug self-satisfied and cheery beery glum and weary as body slowly quickly suddenly falls apart more and more sickness and pain and fear of death and wishing for death body falls apart shredded hollowed more and more. how are things? things fall apart. grab some wisdom suck it up too bad for you if you don’t. mourn the wounds the losses of mother father wife husband all close friends one after another even children . it’s only natural. the good books say just relax and accept everything swallow and digest those insults and you’ll have no problem. isn’t that wonderful?
                      stiff upper lip bite the bullet resentment and blah blah “self expression”. good for you for “confronting your own mortality” enjoy compulsory equanimity if you know what’s good for you too bad if you don’t live with uncertainty too bad for you if you won’t can’t don’t.
                      Tell yourself well it wasnt all bad look on the bright side it wasn’t all bad. I had a nice dinner and cute grandchildren. And a lovely zen garden. Other people are much less fortunate I should be grateful oh so grateful too bad for me if I’m not
                      And then do it all over again, again and again maybe this time I’ll be a winner.
                      But no. Same old same old. From beginningless time the same losing game. Like and share. Then—maybe — Gone gone utterly and completely gone. Svaha! Maybe.
                      Oh my. Yes, the world can be seen so if we wish, but I rejoined ...

                      THE CURE FOR DUKKHA
                      Oh, isn't this too Shikantastic?


                      Born yet beyond birth, silent and satisfied, safe, beyond desire, pain-is-not-suffering, cravings in healthy check, loving, approved and safe, nothing to beg or plead for, free of threat and fear, open hands without grabbing, never a drop of waste, one thing after another yet no place to go, studying and working for their own sake so rich, nobody to kill or be killed (thus we Vow to end the violence!), sex just sex in its time and place, yet more love, never a prisoner or pawn of hate or envy, no way to be apathetic to this treasure of a world, terror exists between our ears yet so does peace, the boredom and celebration of sitting cross legged facing a wall, the loudest chatter and blather of the world is both silence and words of endless wisdom to the attuned ear, the self is satisfied because the self is released, sometimes cheery & sometimes glum yet a Buddha's subtle smile in equanimity through all the ups and downs, sometimes energetic & sometimes weary yet the world keeps turning even as we run or rest, body slowing quickly suddenly falls apart yet there is no time or aging, thus disentangled and content in the face of even sickness and pain and death, moaning and curled up in agony some days as the body falls to pieces yet somehow wonderfully the spirit soars above it all ... observing, Master Dogen says, "If life comes, this is life. If death comes, this is death. There is no reason to try to escape from it, and their is no reason to cling to it either," for all things are impermanent and fall into collapse yet we can allow and flow along with the changes, one need not ask "how are things?" for all things are" just as they be," the people we love and lose and mourn ... mother father wife husband all close friends one after another even children ... go no where and are never lost never born nor die even as we lose them and cry at their graves, . it’s only natural. The good books proclaim so thus they are good, isn’t that wonderful!! May all beings know this treasure, not a matter of some 'stiff upper lip' but a straight upright back just sitting cross legged, the blah blah as simple as the "No going, no coming, no arising, no abiding; Baba wawa" that the Hokyo Zanmai sings - is anything said or not? Oh, so many people in this world are less fortunate, hungry and afraid, let us feed and house and comfort them then teach them how to be free, let us be grateful for all of it ... even the ugly and scary parts ... while we also seek to bring beauty and peace to this sometimes terrible world. No need to be a winner, for the game is already the goal, no gain no loss no win no lose as the ball enters Indra's Net. From the beginning of time, there is no beginning nor time, from the startless start gone gone utterly and completely gone to the other shore right where we sit and stand the Pure Lotus Land ... Svaha! No ifs or maybes about it.



                      Here is another Zen poem ...

                      Roses are red, violets are blue ...

                      ... yet not.


                      Gassho, J

                      STLah
                      ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                      Comment

                      • Seikan
                        Member
                        • Apr 2020
                        • 712

                        Jundo,

                        That's a wonderful prose poem—and a great counterbalance to the other, pessimistic post that you reference. Your poem also has a lovely Kerouac/Ginsberg stream of consciousness vibe that resonates with me.

                        And then there's this hidden gem...

                        Originally posted by Jundo
                        ...Baba wawa...
                        Are you referencing the late, great Gilda?

                        Gassho,
                        Rob

                        -stlah-



                        Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
                        聖簡 Seikan (Sacred Simplicity)

                        Comment

                        • Jundo
                          Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                          • Apr 2006
                          • 40396

                          Baba wawa ...

                          I always think of that too. It is actually a line from the Hokyo Zanmai ...

                          Although it is not constructed,
                          it is not beyond words.

                          Like facing a precious mirror;
                          form and reflection behold each other.

                          You are not it,
                          but in truth it is you.

                          Like a newborn child,
                          it is fully endowed with five aspects.

                          No going, no coming, no arising, no abiding;
                          "Baba wawa" - is anything said or not?

                          In the end it says nothing,
                          for the words are not yet right.
                          https://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng.../pdf/01/06.pdf
                          Gassho, J

                          STLah
                          ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                          Comment

                          • Seikan
                            Member
                            • Apr 2020
                            • 712

                            Originally posted by Jundo
                            Baba wawa ...

                            I always think of that too. It is actually a line from the Hokyo Zanmai ...
                            So cool. I learn something new every day.

                            Thank you for that.

                            Gassho,
                            Rob

                            -stlah-

                            Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
                            聖簡 Seikan (Sacred Simplicity)

                            Comment

                            • Tai Shi
                              Member
                              • Oct 2014
                              • 3420

                              I was taught several basic ideas in writing good poetry. 1) Aim for concision in making lines pack images into as little space as possible. 2) The image is basic building block of good poetry. 3) An image makes use of one to five senses in writing that packed imaage. {I believe in Buddhism this might include thought.} 4) Verse can be free but it must contain internal assonance, consonance, alliterations, rhyme, and sound devices. 5) internal sound and sensory detail make meaning outside of the evident (Metaphore, and Simile). 6) Free verse (without traditional stanzas in rhyme produces structure freely formed from elission. 6) Elission is the systematic leaving out of structures in conectives. 7) Elission begines with leaving out connectives like a, an, the, and as many conjunctions and articles as possible. 8) Leaving out some ideas to produce implied meaning {Elission} must not sacrafice meaning. 9) A poem must point to meaning. That is, a poem cannot sacrafice meaning in the way lines are built. 10) Free verse poems can produce stanzas of differing length. 11) Within poems that are built upon traditional metter and rhyme, all these "Rules," {implied or obvious} are used in the best poetry. 12) Free verse, without traditional rhyme and metter, can be, and is some of the greastest poetry written. 13) Traditional rhyme and metter is a great body, some of the greatest poetry ever written, of historical magnitude. 14) Great Literature refers back to the great traditions in meaning and sometimes rhyme, meter-- all sound rules and free verse can form {new} meaning. 15) When a poet writes she reaches toward traditions of great poetry while useing the ideas of sound and sense. 16) Weather ultimate meaning in culture is negative, positive, or neutral has no bearing on the magnitude of great writing. 17) The poet spends her time in study to build, fashion, and write great poetry. 18) Great poetry refers back to this entire body of rules and suggestions. 19) Poetry can make use of some, none, or all of these ideas. 20) Sound, sense, sturcture, and thought exist or do not exist in great poetry. 21) It is the obligation of the great poet to know these ideas whether she makes use, or does not make use of tradition. 22) New traditions such as Marxism, Feminism, Gender Studies, Sociological Structures, and new historical events spring up everyday, and can forge ahead to produce new meaning and new forms, content, and meaning. 23) The great poet might make use of none of these ideas. 24) These ideas are only part of the craft of good poetry, and the great poet attempts to craft meaning in words-- sometimes succeeds.{Sorry Jundo, I couldn't restrict this, only part of the studies of students who write or critique poetry, in just three lines}
                              Gassho
                              Deep bows
                              sat / lah
                              Tai Shi
                              {calm poetry}
                              Last edited by Tai Shi; 09-04-2020, 10:40 AM. Reason: Spelling can be, or might not be evident in poetry (Walt Whitman).
                              Peaceful, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆

                              Comment

                              • Seikan
                                Member
                                • Apr 2020
                                • 712

                                Originally posted by Tai Shi
                                I was taught several basic ideas in writing good poetry. 1) Aim for concision in making lines pack images into as little space as possible. 2) The image is basic building block of good poetry. 3) An image makes use of one to five senses in writing that packed imaage. {I believe in Buddhism this might include thought.} 4) Verse can be free but it must contain internal assonance, consonance, alliterations, rhyme, and sound devices. 5) internal sound and sensory detail make meaning outside of the evident (Metaphore, and Simile). 6) Free verse (without traditional stanzas in rhyme produces structure freely formed from elission. 6) Elission is the systematic leaving out of structures in conectives. 7) Elission begines with leaving out connectives like a, an, the, and as many conjunctions and articles as possible. 8) Leaving out some ideas to produce implied meaning {Elission} must not sacrafice meaning. 9) A poem must point to meaning. That is, a poem cannot sacrafice meaning in the way lines are built. 10) Free verse poems can produce stanzas of differing length. 11) Within poems that are built upon traditional metter and rhyme, all these "Rules," {implied or obvious} are used in the best poetry. 12) Free verse, without traditional rhyme and metter, can be, and is some of the greastest poetry written. 13) Traditional rhyme and metter is a great body, some of the greatest poetry ever written, of historical magnitude. 14) Great Literature refers back to the great traditions in meaning and sometimes rhyme, meter-- all sound rules and free verse can form {new} meaning. 15) When a poet writes she reaches toward traditions of great poetry while useing the ideas of sound and sense. 16) Weather ultimate meaning in culture is negative, positive, or neutral has no bearing on the magnitude of great writing. 17) The poet spends her time in study to build, fashion, and write great poetry. 18) Great poetry refers back to this entire body of rules and suggestions. 19) Poetry can make use of some, none, or all of these ideas. 20) Sound, sense, sturcture, and thought exist or do not exist in great poetry. 21) It is the obligation of the great poet to know these ideas whether she makes use, or does not make use of tradition. 22) New traditions such as Marxism, Feminism, Gender Studies, Sociological Structures, and new historical events spring up everyday, and can forge ahead to produce new meaning and new forms, content, and meaning. 23) The great poet might make use of none of these ideas. 24) These ideas are only part of the craft of good poetry, and the great poet attempts to craft meaning in words-- sometimes succeeds.{Sorry Jundo, I couldn't restrict this, only part of the studies of students who write or critique poetry, in just three lines}
                                Gassho
                                Deep bows
                                sat / lah
                                Tai Shi
                                {calm poetry}
                                Tai Shi,

                                This is wonderful! A poetry "manifesto" if you will.

                                If I may share a similar, yet shorter perspective of my own (in free verse):


                                Poetry is

                                That sacred space
                                Where we meet

                                Traversing bridges
                                Built of words

                                Yet lingering long
                                In the spaces between


                                Gassho,
                                Rob

                                -stlah-
                                聖簡 Seikan (Sacred Simplicity)

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