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

[Kokuu]

Thank you, Tai Shi! Means a lot coming from an excellent poet such as yourself!

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Kokuu]

Just a short something that came to me just before sleep last night...

Hours beyond sunset
I read by electric light.
With all of these words on the page,
who can show me the sound
of the wind in the trees?


Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Inshin]

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



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

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.

That's the best piece on being fed up with Samsara I've ever read. Dharma seeking mind is partly born from having had enough of life and death cycle, right? From here it takes a split second to realise, to truly let go and swim with the Flow.
Gassho
Sat

[Jundo]

[Seikan]

Just a short something that came to me just before sleep last night...

Hours beyond sunset
I read by electric light.
With all of these words on the page,
who can show me the sound
of the wind in the trees?


Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

That's lovely Kokuu! Thank you for sharing.



Gassho,
Rob

-stlah-


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[Tai Shi]

Poetry

“Who can show me
sound of wind in trees.”

Beautiful thought, beautiful so lines good and creative.
Gassho
st/ lah
Tai Shi


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[Tai Shi]

With all my dedication, there are here many excellent poets. All I’ve ever wanted was to win my third year college poetry contest. These poets surpass my yearning to ‘just be good enough.’ My MFA brought only time to write. Then time disappeared like years of worthless verse.
Gassho
st/lah
Tai Shi


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[Hensho]

Lovely poem, Kokuu. Keep em coming.

Hensho

Satlah

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[Tai Shi]

But now I write with joy
With chair I sit, not cushion on the chair
I hope to sit as mountain with belly
Round filled with air
I let each breath leave my body!
With my belly
I say in my mind
After I recite in my mind
Beautiful Robe Verse, just
Impatience
Letting go what is in
One, two, three, four
Back again
Out always mindfully
Giving as my mind
Does not wander following
Highway gently out, out
Out, out, our, out
Ten times now I recite
In my mind Serenity Prayer
Let me be strong enough
To let my cat run my sitting
Sitting, seamless my cat decides
To walk away, I’m focusing
Or not one two three four...
Bell rings three times while
To myself I think about
Lord’s Prayer and was I grateful for my day my Evening Gatha
Somewhere monks pen
Beauty to my day.

Gassho
sat
Tai Shi


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[Inshin]

Immersed in the abundance of life.
Nothing lacking.
How could I even ask for more?
Bowing deeply in gratitude.
How could I be of service to all?

Gassho
Sat

[Tai Shi]

Big and Little Poetry--free verse, any verse.

Peerless Price

Full autumn
Of great growing
Cathedral
Celebrating life,
Sit in wonder
Of universe.
Sailing peering.
Night just ahead.
What great Being?
Zazen my giving
Warm black nights.
White cloud
I perceive day
Of great sunny
Spring in my
Eternity, great
Being answers
Every retreat,
Every future my
More emptiness.
I live eternal
In my thirty
Minutes, I walk-in ten.
More is less, less
Is more. I know this now!

Gassho
satTai Shi
sat / lah
Ha, ha!!!
Lah


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[Tai Shi]

My friend
In poems
Friendship
Morning wonder
I’m hungry
No zen ghost
Filled
Emotion rolls
Forth
Rob in poems
Not Robert
But Rob
My friend
Lithe of reward
He is wonder
Himself
In poems
He writes
If Friendship.
Gassho
sat! / lah
Tai Shi


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[Tai Shi]

Big and Little Poetry--free verse, any verse.

Today I’m thankful,
For me never cliche,
Thank you, my Sangha
Home haven? Real
Refuge, as Dharma,
Buddha, three Jewels
I know more today
More than six years
One month ago
Matters of emotion
Equanimity, Gratitude,
Giving as pours because
As boy I was poor, mother
Brother, and me older
Boy, how often I heard
I was mom’s little man
The Right age 17 called
What, did he, where was
He in Sierra Nevada.
How he would not
Only now learning
Equanimity, never
Politics, he’s leading
With calls, I lead letters
To him and new wife
At 90 he’s married
Again, why he cannot
Be alone, not me
We can say together
Father and sons, love
Finally, finally, though
He cannot say the words
At 69 I finally know he
Loves us he makes
Efforts, he calls, he
Listens as I’ve listened
Telling him letters
Better, we sit at our
Thankful food time
Our thanksgiving
Never. So today, I’ve
Given when it hurts,
Thanksgiving, give
Thanks, my loved one
I break bread with her
Our life a dedication
Intertwined in equanimity.
Gassho
sat/ lah
Tai Shi


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[Tai Shi]

One wonders why
Buddha left his wife
Roaming country as boy
After running away, father
What happened? Did he
Remember his wife
So pretty, women
Of courtly desire
Tokens of pride, whispers
Of father, fetid desire?
Wrong? What of women?
Why were nuns real?
Why were priests alone?
Why no women
In courtly power?
Gassho
sat/ lah
Tai Shi





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[Tai Shi]

Big and Little Poetry--free verse, any verse.

As boy I raised
My hands in tongues!
What was spirit
When children wrote
In the air, gods gone
Where did I turn?
College, then all
Therapies led
Never kill the Buddha
On the road for who
Is enlightenment?
What are rules
To live by, what stories
“Stories keep” Emperor
Awake? When retirement
Is no witness especially
Gone is Buddha life;
I’ve killed just like
Every tongue of freedom.
Gassho
sat/ lah
Tai Shi


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