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

[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

[Tai Shi]

Valentines Day, 2024

To graceful hands, to make this sign
Of Mudra to reach a seldom sought
State, invitation to these verses light
From heavy heart, this weather
Cannot last. It's February 14,
For chocolate hearts abounded this day
The swelling love of her and those
Who have touched, who have bread,
Who have lived to be with kin.

Gassho
Tai Shi

We invite all who woulde to write a verse or simple lines to improve our days.

[Onkai]

Thank you for these poems, Tai Shi.

Gassho, Onkai
Sat lah

[Tai Shi]

Time of Year

There was a time seasons
Were not celebrated, as I sit,
Celebrating, Rohotsu which
I missed, last year, and Lent
As I missed last year, Today
Is Mental Health Day as
I shall not miss, as New Year
Which I have not missed, only
Rohatsu have not missed last
This year I shall miss not all,
Nor The Solstices Equinoxes
So is life Brothers and Sisters,
Live to love each other, in loving kindness,
For we shall weep for war, killing, stealing
Lying, inebriation, and against Brothers
And Sisters as against Gautama Buddha,
Against Jesus Christ, all are Christ all are
Buddha, Brothers, sisters, all Our Earth is
Our Temple, Love one another in Loving, Kindness
Love men women, all the earth, all the universe, all
Life all non-life, weep for the beginning, for the end

Gassho
S\sat/lah
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

To Understand

To understand how
Women are sisters, all women
And all men are brothers, and these
Are our brothers and sisters,
And how Buddha is Loving Kindness
How Jesus is love as we approach Lent
And as how I missed Rohatsu celebrating
That time of year with family getting
Ready for family trying to help birth and death
Marjorie thinks that this is not a sorry time
Winter Solstice is neither sad nor happy
Now as, and for me, is happy,
That how winter is happy, now getting ready,
For Spring, after Winter then Summer
Then Fall, then Winter again, and Winter solstice
Men as brothers, women as sisters
My eyes have been opened to birth
Death and all seasons, and so Jesus,
And Buddha, and Love, Loving Kindness,
Today and now is mental health day.

Gassho
I work at being Tai Shi,
All is sadness, war is sadness, killing is sadness.
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

Land of Dakota
Nakota,
Lakota, blessed
Today with mid winter
Warmth on February
First, we remember
The Great Sioux Nation
For their warmth
Congeniality
Bravery like
Navajo,
The People
Ever after in winter spring
Without flowers.

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Onkai I perceive you too are as much a hero as Marjorie. You sing my song like [emoji106] of no other Treeleafer except perhaps Kokuu.!those who attempt to understand poetry are special to us because we know they have endured a lifetime injustice like we have. I suspect that many are would agree that you and now sister Meian have a very special burden that you carry in secret. [emoji2958] though it be true that it may be secret, know that herein our Sangha will always have freedom like no other place. Our sisters in Treeleaf are special because they have chosen to listen to the Buddha and poor Marjorie feels compelled to speak to me. I am the only one who she completely understands and yet she finally knows in retired women who practice loving kindness. I am grateful she has friends finally a group of retired woman from her work and she eats lunches with them while I sit in the coffee shop and sip decaf coffee by myself. Sometimes Ethiopian friends who I have known for years drink coffee with me. I have many friends all over the areas. Some are acquaintances others are dear four men i call once in a while except one who I can call more often. These men are special because they don’t judge others except when It’s a problem with their lives. Freedom is what Martin Luther King advocated not just for African Americans but also for women and minorities stuck by society in social straight jackets. Personally I was locked up against my own wishes sometimes for months without due process. This is why we seek liberation from this oppression of the mind. About 13 years ago I was placed in a position of need for one of these places. However, unlike so many other places like these, people there believed in short stays of hospital treatment for full consent for treatment of psychiatric disorders. Typically they would in stays of treatment for 3 to 15 days, not 3 or even five months of treatment with court custody. Often they would send people to institutions where they were kept for years and never even heard back from friends and relatives. They would be watched for 24/7 without due process. The government decided to liberate them without warning and without preparation of living skills. These people often ended up in Jails or homeless. They were granted Social housing Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security income. However these individuals were not paid enough for housing or food. When the poverty level was $15,000, they are and were given $10, 000 a year for money to live on. These people were and are stuck with their lives in poverty and they could not work. I’ve been fortunate because I married my wife and she made a decent income. Together we have had a great life, and in old age we, are in fact, better life when we work. Since i was 58 I have received SSDI payments for my work amounting to higher than average income from SSDI. Also my income has benefited me because I worked from 1999 to the 2008 which I could afford to do because I stayed below maxing SSDI allows for work. So I earned quarters to my Social credit which I received when I received at age 65. The follow poem is based on info I give you in my article above.
Poverty in my Soul.

Floundering in pill city
Locked up in West One
Psycho ward, called crazy
By old friends who had
Heard rumor about this
Place of straitjackets,
Starving for love, gaining
No real pleasure or satisfaction
In reality,

Given Thorazine? Stalinize
Which. Bought enough
Seizure forever forgotten
Until I broke free from Haldol
Given Thenothiazene, experimental
I was free to earn enough
As Desk clerk for tiny rooms

This is why I had earned
Precious BA costing
Huge commitment on my behalf
I made enough to pay my
College loan renting rooms
At the YMCA where people
With almost no money tried
To get their own freedom,

Yup, I earned as much as a
Teacher enough for my own
Apartment in Iowa City where
I took a job cooking side dishes
For wealthy families who

Stayed in the rooms above cafeteria
Where I began to find myself
Logically living as student
Of writing, teaching, human
Development. Without simply
Accepted as teacher [emoji1812] of classical
Gave rhetoric students softness
Never thought of in teaching
Except I met a gay woman who
Trusted me to learn how to make
Softness and humanity better
By ridding the world powerful
Ms Fiditch tongue whiplash
To bind minds of first year students
So I learned love in classroom

Teachings which became my career
Until I was told I was old fashioned
That humanism had no place
Place in my classrooms at the U
Oh South Dakota. I then left
Began to write my training MFA
To correct with self as example
Of tyranny of supreme authority
Which I escaped. Married
Brilliant woman who fell in love
With me. We avoided running
Off and On June 12th 1982

The year I graduated from U
Of Iowa with my MA, EdS, there began 25 years of teaching
Institutions from University
To colleges. I provided
Soft learning and with light
Approach I forged a career learning
What I taught as I learned
I learned to be a human being
To place valuing people above
Grading to weed out stupid people
Advanced degrees were never
Again in doubt for students
Who were called stupid like
I had been called crazy. This
Llan for disability and social
Inhibitor Syndrome in early
College Educated, some
Administration had placed
Burden of college prep
On college teachers so educated
Now has created classroom
Teaching of Ms Fiditch all
Over again. I could offer no escape
As I have used my entire life
Like Socrates My methods, ideas
Became more questionable
So I decided to make my way into
Poetry for liberal arts and liberation

My thoughts become substantially
Even if I am only writing no eligible
Work now disability free money for
Thousands and thousand of dollars
Given to government to keep
Me bound to my heart and soul
My dreams made possible by
The love of my life. She taught
Me more about humanity
No Process can ever be as simple
As love and kindness can
Open any door. She became
Subject of my own mind when she
Instilled another approach to love
Me stronger than any administrator
She brought measure for measure
My own strength my own power
My own heart with Shikantaza
Opening doors I never knew
Well Done to me I was being blessed
Poet living life in Centuries Old
Value mode today new life
Never lost sight of reality even
Though it seems like a trap
Nestled in an easy chair now
I see why reading is so important
So essential for writers and poets
To maintain the traditions
Of scholarship passing on when
We can to our students the
Understanding and Responsibility
To Make Sure We survive as
Civilized People and Society human
To humanity, we must endure
Instead of pickups with political
Agendas or petroleum dealers.
There’s a reason all of this clear!

Gassho
sat/ lah


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[Onkai]

Thank you, Tai Shi, for commemorating Martin Luther King here. He was a hero.

Gassho, Onkai
Sat lah

[Tai Shi]

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

Education for Free

Martin, your sacrificed
Made you Buddha today
Ever after January 15th
May be carved forever
Out of stone your height
Unknown by your assassin's
Life he too cut short we
Remember him as murderer
Remember you as liberator.

You stood as Gandhi,
Stood as Thoreau, great
Great song in Jail, in "I have
A Dream," witnessed
"Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Malcolm X, lost in history,
Rose in your knowledge
Peace better way, Peace
As Buddha, you believed
In walking for peace,
Loving Kindness.

Your name has been
Dragged by uncaring
Masses through every
Mire as was Every great
Man as has The Buddha
Living for Loving Kindness.
May we long remember
Your sacrifice, on that "tree,"
There were like Thee,
You were one man made
Master in your own death
Master of your own life
As so many killed

Because their skin
Above blood as red
As any child or old man
As like my life when
I learned with massive
Quantities of transfusions
Infusions, like your spirit
Rise now I am a mortal being.
I could give my life, yet I am
Old, you never said your age
Nelson Mandela brought

Change, as did so many, You
39, Your Eternal Flame donated
By the Fire House which integrated
Into Atlanta life, you would see
So much change, you deserved
Earned PhD Boston University
Graduated in 1955 PhD
To lead The Bus Strike
Sparked by sweltering
Inquisition, By Rosa Parks,
You helped With The Civil
Rights Act, 1963, Voting
Rights Act, 1964.

You stood with those
Who built for Malala built
To School in The Middle
East, for Moslem girls
To read and write, you
From Boston University,
Brought change for children

Would to College, died for
Men who hauled garbage
From Witnessed table
Wealthy as did I.
I was a sanitation worker
Two summers as scab
Labor, at $3.85 I earned
More than my college paid
Me, a poor kid, in the kitchen
Scrub pans for wealthy Whitman's
College, I worked with Black
Women students to study American

Fiction to 1890, where there
Were no Black women writers
No Black men, no color except
White Hawthorne who fought
For Hester with her red A.
We studied all his short stories
All his novels, all the symbols
Of religious tyranny for which
You were free by Ebeneezer.

Tai Shi
sat/lah
Gassho
Deep Bows

[Tai Shi]

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

Meian, May I Get Your Name Right

Brother was a little boy, all his life
He has been growing up, now man
I was forced to grow at seven

I became Mama's little man, I
Have changed, I am responsible when 16,
Was still little. Man, through college, little

Man received the only F, denied understanding
I ever received because I was neglected,
Did not know how to be this man,

I did not know, then why father had abandoned
Me, I found him Because young people
Rainbow coalition of Black Panthers

Working in soup kitchen Panthers to find father
In California, teacher, I wanted to teach in college
To be like him. I ran to Mountains, Sierra

Nevada High Sierra, Donner, Tahoe, Rocklin,
Colfax B replace F, I gave up little boy, became
This man, began to teach in California, like dad,

His was Electronics, Math at Sierra College,
My GPA poetry Worthy of manhood, help with,
My father by other poets I determined not to neglect

Grinnell College U of Iowa, CSU, we married realized
Mother never belonged with father, both remarried
My new wife and me, solemn friends beautifully,

Vowed All for our lives there for each other
Then to Colorado where I truly grew, came to know
Her sacrifice of true man. gave what she wanted

Gave up intoxicants, worked for my bread, we had
Our child, I gave her poetry, MFA, became Pearl Poet,
I was meant to be. Wanted to be, could be

College, universities, had gone, finished
My degrees in spite of dyslexia I have worked
Published more than 65 poems meant to be poet,

Finally all came to me, I learned computers, to love
Her, Realized sacrifice mother first gave me poetry,
I Found in Sylvia Plath, mental illness, not so,

Worthy, for Marjorie she gave me, her songs
Of poetry, I gave my brother, in Pandemic his credit
As man, his children fatherhood, to be never bitter,

Finally brought himself into life he gave from his heart
To children into his life, gifts of love, care, understanding
From my essence, from poetry, gifts kindness learned

Of Life in song eternally, love greatest value
What they wanted for gifts, with his life, my heart,
Became reverently for them, finally for others,

Not money but sacrifice to charities, poor life turned
Loyal to Americans, Indigenous People, hats, clothing
Gloves, mittens, scarves, thirty or more

Forty dollars of my money to my brother, Deb, Ian
Taylor kids. Kids to Pine Ridge, photos to people
Who never experienced gifts of beauty, works of care.

Now My grown brother's birthday January 24th
He is 69, I shall give, love kindness fellowship,
I'm still big brother at 72, forty plus dollars,

For meals for children, little girl. Adopted ones
As grandpa, her brother, my nephew his family
Children. May I recognize now so become love

Men as we live with women, Alexandra, Deborah ,
Marjorie, women great in Sangha, all women we
Deserve women who can give always gift for women

Not demanding what is not freely, knowingly, given
This year brother turns 69, for me, he is grown with up
Son I was 60 when I knew gratitude, freely given

To daughter, Loving Kindness, manhood. I give to Meian,
Her right to her name, Onkai right To be Teacher and our Sangha,
May they have their birthright of name they chose, more

To be Priest, sister, care giver. I never want you to undergo
Pain, I never had sister, may I give you what I would give
All of you sisterhood, respect, care education, Dharma all

RIGHTS! Fruitfully in sovereign fullness, as women everywhere
Desire to work hard with sisters, brothers, kindred, families
At Treeleaf to embrace the Lotus Sutra with gratitude.

All to be Professionals, this rightfully yours. As I am Ubasoku
I have Read Sylvia Plath wept for you all sisters, common
Malady. You are all my sisters, as my dearest friends

This brilliant mind, Zen Teacher, Marjorie, Pearl Priest,
You have Highest Honers Priesthood, 4.0 at Iowa, brilliant
Hardest worker. MA for profession. MFA without intoxication,

She taught me to embrace love, give her love willingly
Our child, daughter to be responsible, caring, grandmotherly
Proven as our Child at March 27, 2024 accomplished dream

Professor Of Japanese, I watch Meian strives for Priesthood,
She received what Sylvia never had, a caring Sangha,
Meian, may we ever give your all your intellectual recegonition.

Great grand daughter, or sister, you have my respect,
Friend Onkai great ocean of love. The right to freedom.
You may study sit study become like Kokuu. deep

Strong, enlightened; this is what one works for,
You will find in much study, much sitting this tradition
Many there for this, strength in mindfulness; believing self.

Great Gassho, Deep Bows, Silence is greatest gift,
It's a calling, decision of the heart, your heart, find
Gassho. Charles Elgwyn Taylor. find your own depth.

Tai Shi, Kind Poet
sat/lah, Gassho

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[Tai Shi]

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

i


Surprise Ending

Winter love gone so lingers gratefully,
Beneath trees Given to Marjorie
My Priest, I am hers in old age, in white
Drifts of snow, Ubasoku, her support
On High Plains, abandoned farm houses,

We still live as couple after more than forty,
Years. Our love games have become
Poetry and foot slides, pacing, Heaven
Where you look out, not up.

Placing pain patches ache
I present without shirt my back, my front
Lovingly. We speak harshest in spring
Like apples of trees falling in September,
Our backyard gardens of the moon
To each other we are old couple

All day long, one easily
To each other, we play at our
Pokemon go just to be ourselves.
We are an old couple beneath trees
Still waters with each, she abides
Me. Although her eyes weaken year
After year, we are still seeing

Each other like that first game we played
Of pool in 1980, January 7th, we sang
In our orchard of love. Remembered
First teaching Contract, game of love sports,
One class of Rhetoric one oh one,
Floor beginning, English, Philosophy,
Anthropology students at Iowa our

University. Much to our dismayed
Sorrow, Professor Emeritus Bill Clark
Our Friend advocate, sovereignty
Understanding, had fallen, killed
In freak accident, I was disappointed
He knew nothing of my MFA. Done
Same year he died braking his skull.
They bought him his grave--wine glasses
We never use today.



II


Same Come My Old Age

Marjorie bought me walker try try
To know of poetry She said, "You must
Use your walker we are children of poetry
You will fall like Professor Clark

Only thing to remind me of you
Will be your poetry, too soon your ashes
Fallen from trees of paradise, We will not
Sing together like birds at end of our winter
In our Maple trees in front of our little

Home that we own, “free and clear."
Money saved in our old age, money
For things that are never to be. I use
My walker, Know that I care!
I stay my course chosen like one

I am hers eternally, like song birds
In our maple trees enjoying sight
Of poetry, our little home, grown
Our daughter to Denver, Profess like me.

Gone like melody, like us in our
Eternity; we may not see her end.
We gave her good life, beginning
Rockies, Mountains she returns to,

We leave with knowledge I have not
Fallen beneath our maple trees--
That daughter started her work found
Pleasing or difficult to see

Life that she dreamed of, will know
In her own eternity, Buddha heaven
Of good befalls us all three, this
Is my hope, my wish, there is no
Wish I have harder, not relaxed

I know we have tried hardest, as is.
Parents could be, as can be, as is.
Know there is no certainty because
Walker or no walker, I might fall.
She might never last Professing,

Might know death wrong, whether
By tumors, or in pounding her head against
Climbing Longs Peak in mighty Rockies
Front Range gone there never return, gone

Never to be, never decided her life
In ashes before she is old be
Old, and like her own poetry
Produced as I am me in my old age.

Charles Tai Shi
sat/lah
Great Gassho