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

[Tai Shi]

I did not comment on your poem, Anthony, but very nice leisurely poem of morning breakfast, nice to bring coffee to my mouth. I like this very much. Good for you. My coffee is decaf.

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Of Consciousness

Would I one cup
Bring to mouth
To wake my frame
Of my idle frame!
What cry for us has
Done, with this day
In Rohatsu, on that
Morn when they
Appeared to find
Prince worshiped,
Foretold here Lord
Prince to honor, King
Oh King realizing all
Must die there was
A King who wandered
To find Loving Kindness
To love others as
Himself, Love more
Than ultimate gift!
Waltzing Dancing,
Below that Yesterday
Trees of Leaves
Standing still to be
Going down these paths
The twelve knowing
But the truth of breathe
Oh Life , do not
Change our beloved
Message to all, All
To all, each morning
Sing and meditate
To live in just "the now,"
Of yesterdays, to
Not look forward
Of Consciousness

These behind, to sit
Right now--to love
Another in Loving
Kindness, instead
Of focus, yet us Play
In Receptive Way
The Sounds of Earth,
Of birds, let them brightly
Fly, simply listen, listen,
To these sounds of Earth
Be; it is time to fly.

Tai Shi
Deep bows
Gassho
sat/ lend a hand.

[Anthony]

Lukewarm instant coffee
illuminates the hot sun
There is no cup here
just me

Gassho,
Anthony, satlah

[Tai Shi]

Regret What We Do?

There are words
Like ice, ice that bights
With Cold, that kills
With my misguided glances
To criticize, to demand
Like ignorance in mountains
To be ignorant of fullness
This is my fault, though
I have learned another
Way, not to report what
I know not of this
Situation, like tents
On mountain passes
As pioneers struggle
To understand what
We see as dust in snowy
Passes; Donner Party
Had no recourse, would
You starve in fields of snow
Would you deny children
What they do not understand
What we see as barbarous
What we deem as horror?
How can we condemn
What is already dead,
What is left in snow frozen
In this pass of life survival

Gassho
sat/lah
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

My Heart Weeps

Are places, Netherlands, More

I was friends with first Zazen
Teachers, advised me, that to sit
There was special zazen chair,
Chair one could sit zazen, first
Zazenkai, told me about first
Zazenkai, met them early on
Facebook. Their town's people
Attacked their village, even
Reported to us on Facebook
These were days when Facebook
Became reporters of those shark
Things befalling ordinary Zen
Folks in our world, so these peace
Folks felt bights of fangs normal
People striking normal people like
Anabaptist centuries before when
Protestants and Catholics attacked
Other religions, so is Zazen religion
Some say not not religion way of
Life, I break poems in middle of
Prepositional phrases sometimes
I don't spell right of include an
Article in my writing, so town's
People took a dislike to those
Different, bird-wing Zen Buddhism
This was different in 2010 when
Enclave was slaughtered then
Cabins, soy hut, gardens, homes
Clotheslines swiftness downed
Other, mistakes in sitting, moved
Zazen village, kept it quiet, came
Back to Facebook to teach people
Like me that peaceful sitting was
Okay and the day I learned of
Decimation of Zazen village I
Was stunned beyond belief so
For years I sat stunned that
Such things could happen in our
World is a temple, now with Treeleaf
Zendo I know the privileged to sit
Zazen on my computer and
I weep for little village where
Children taught to sit zazen,
Now I OWN MY OWN COMPUTER
So have this privilege to because
I am wealthy American
With enough to eat, wonder often
What became of Dutch people
Who tried to sit Zazen, what
Becomes of Burmese children
Forced to change name of villages
Even country where they seek
To practice Buddhism, government
Won't let second most persecuted
Religion, right behind Christian, why
Couldn't Christian villages seek
Peace with Buddhism there is
This misunderstanding that
Loving Kindness is Idol Worship,
Pictures and statues of Mother
Mary are not idol worship so
Why are statues of Buddha
Idol Worship instead of Loving
Kindness I break phrases.

Sat/lah
GasshoTai Shi
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

Courage for Both

I am the victim of trees
In beginnings of cold
Visions of spring, green
As I look out to covet
Spring days where we
Once walked hand, hand
Hand befor the spring days
Of late March when beyond
The Ides we smote days
Keeping love in our
Hearts, we knew we would
Marry in June before
June 13th when we would
Depart from Hokkaido
To Chatem, New Jersey
Not knowing her skin
Was dark was dark
Unlike white parents
Who then we realized
Parents had adopted.

Gassho
deep bows
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Too much for Dear Friend

I weep for beginnings
Ends of poems, lines
Of poems begun just
Before spring when
I loved her so much
My heart aches fir desire
For herr was not desire
For her body, but for her
Eternity which I saw
In a small sketch
Above the window
Which I crawled
Into to undo the latch
To the door to my
Old friends who Oh,
I just now realized
How much I loved
Even Tomas who
Drank too much
Like me, who I could
Not rescue because
He was too much
Like me would not
Stop drinking, made
Himself sot before
It was too late, so I
Go on, go on, go on.


Gassho
Tai Shi,
26/02/2024
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

The clouds float freely through the blue sky, the blue sky and clouds are just the blue sky and clouds no matter how much “loss” or “gain” I experience because there ultimately is no loss or gain…even though there IS loss and gain.


Very nice
Gassho
Tom

[Tai Shi]

Chasing my tail ends when I realize it is my own.
I and everything becomes Zazen being zazen,
the hand opens, clouds float by, the mirror reflects, it is okay
to want X and accept Y, feel feelings, stumble a bit… then, as gracefully as possible, getting on with being helpful and kind.


Gassho
Tom

[Tom A.]

Not Quite Poetry Poetry

A continuum:

Having nothing <——> having everything

Always wanting more and more of everything to prove that “I” exist…

I sometimes feel devastated if I move towards the “having nothing” side of the continuum…

Often, I am not accepting x (loss and other disappointments) when I want y (gain)…

There is another way:

Soto Zen teacher Jukoshu Kwong calls it “an active participation with loss.” And Kodo Sawaki says, “gain is delusion; loss is enlightenment.”

No need to prove to anyone (including myself) that “I” exist through gaining more, more and more. It is okay to grieve what is not possible, and what is lost, while at the same time feeling joy, wonder and simplicity while doing everything to “keep the wolf from the door” while lending a hand to others…

The clouds float freely through the blue sky, the blue sky and clouds are just the blue sky and clouds no matter how much “loss” or “gain” I experience because there ultimately is no loss or gain…even though there IS loss and gain.

Not wanting x and wanting y, accepting x even while still wanting y… and doing my best to let go of y, when that is needed…

One time or ten thousand times until “my” non-“death” death…

It is a beautiful and often a challenging way of life…

Gassho,

Tom

SatLah


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[Onkai]

Chasing my tail ends when I realize it is my own.
I and everything becomes Zazen being zazen,
the hand opens, clouds float by, the mirror reflects, it is okay
to want X and accept Y, feel feelings, stumble a bit… then, as gracefully as possible, getting on with being helpful and kind.

Gassho,
Tom

SatLah


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Gassho Onkai
Sat lah

[Tom A.]

Chasing my tail ends when I realize it is my own.
I and everything becomes Zazen being zazen,
the hand opens, clouds float by, the mirror reflects, it is okay
to want X and accept Y, feel feelings, stumble a bit… then, as gracefully as possible, getting on with being helpful and kind.

Gassho,
Tom

SatLah


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[Kaitan]

I gave my Mom one small frame with a phrase written in Chinese characters.

见山见海见自己
Jiàn shān jiàn hǎi jiàn zì jǐ

See the mountains
see the sea
see yourself

Gasshō

stlah, Kaitan

[Shinkon]

Poem: Cave No More

Cave No More

Look through the trees,
Down the path,
Around the hollow of the bend.
Lies that cave,
Where I spent hours looking
For fossils and arrow heads.

One wet spring morning
My feet carried me to its mouth.
Torch in hand and soaked to the bone, I sat on a large boulder,
Staring into a clear pool for treasure.

As shadows moved across the floor,
The pool grew and the walls cried streams.
Without announcement nor fanfare,
The cave’s walls slid toward my seat.
My body carried me outside,
To safety and cold rain.

Like many of those safe secret places Away from willow whips and leather belts, Are now gone.
However, that boy’s mind Is still in that cave,
Flooded over forty years hence.

JEGaston 03.03.2023

Gassho,
Shinkon
sat/lah

[Shinkon]

Wonderful thread. I'm collecting my poems for submission. I'll post some as I get to them. And, some new ones

Gassho,
Shinkon
Sat/lah