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

[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


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[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

[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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Anthony]

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

Gassho,
Anthony, satlah

[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.

[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]

With
Starship

I left all for all who have written
Before we came to meet our lives
Together in our other worldly

Rhythm and verse which rolls
With thunder, into mountains
Enter Bodhisattva into likeness

Of thunder, into wisdom of ages
Twin ages, Mitt-re mighty listen
Twin brothers toward listening,

Another light performance, without
Notice life on Mars existed, mother
Earth will live as central position

With Sol, old sun with central light
As Elon Musk gives design to stars
Biggest Star Ship rise, as voyage

To essence central to human kind
With Buddha likeness infinitesimal
Limited never as humanity set forth

And they all said no, thus space limited
Never nothing, giving mother of recording
Each hour, what is your technique--less.

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Not Like Our Child

母親 Mother, you were my parent
Along with Dougie who was my brother,
We sank below this flood of filthy water,
With these rats and this scum, unbelief

When I tell this storey of destitute
People, they were us, we sank below
These rats, and scum, how did
Our dog Pokey, and our cat Tinker

Survive these swirling waters, I don't
Know, how the Bell did not Tolle when I
Sat Zazen, quite reach the foundation,
Waded out into gully, picked our

Cat Tinker, guided Pokey to rescue both
From swerling, then there was Buffer
The ferocious cat who picked that rat
Right of the winter, dirt and filth,

Rat into living room cat snapped
Its neck. I beat the rodent
With Broom handle; we through
That animal, dead as a doornail.

Moved to that house where Masons
Rented, again house with rats. I would
Hear them scurry up the ancient walls
Plaster on slats. I never saw one rodent

Our cats caught no animals up walls
Plaster, so I was not afraid, just heard
Animals up the hollow walls, plaster
Was to be seventeen, wait for college

If I would be accepted into The Little
Harvard of the Midwest, or I would
Be transported to University of Iowa,
I worked for shame magazine company

Collecting money to go to go to Grinnell
I left before I flunked out of
School to live with dad, called dad
From the start, he had visited once

To see our poverty, lack of bread,
White bread like dough, when I went
To Grinnell all I saw was food and dishes,
Delectable food, steak, halves of roast

Chicken I worked in rich kid's kitchen, heck,
My mother 母親 never bought our food,
We ate surplus food, commodities
Passed out to poor kids, to poor parents

Could not afford much except cornmeal
And Flour, pancakes, maple fake syrup
I lived with dad who I had not
Seen for ten years, sank into mystery

I returned from Europe, reapplied myself
At Grinnell College, must have been Waldo
Walker, dean of students, Nick Ryan both
Let me go back to school, no rats, poor

Cats became royalty of our family, Pokey died
Chasing First semester, pulled myself
Off Academic Probation, my GPA, 2.3, eventually
To graduate school because I pulled two

As, 2.87 at time of graduation, I sang
Of the Apple trees, the women I had known
At Grinnell College, TS Eliot, Wallace
Stevens, John Milton, Emily Dickinson "Who

Am I, to croke my name to an admiring bog,"
One F intro to math. To graduate school
Our years of therapy, made me mailable
Like gold MA, EdS 3.69, taught, MFA 3.9.

I became sober, we had our child, gifted child,
We grew up in poverty, we gave her,
Middle-class upbringing, outdid my misery
4.0 for her Middlebury, University of Iowa, 4,0+ MFA,

PhD at Washington University, St Louis,
Gifted, we marveled had raised gifted
Young Woman. Could we take credit, no!
Professor of Japanese, watch her Hooding.

Traveled to St Louis to see her hooding,
Honor, was Valedictorian High School,
Fulbright PhD, we lived in he evidenced
We found gold in her reality, focused life.

This is our story, I am seventy-two, she is
Sixty-nine, we still love each other, my
Spine, I sleep in Lay Z Boy for my back;
Sleeps in our bed, still love each to each.

Gassho
Tai Shi
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Such wonderful poetry!

Tai Shi
Deep, Deep bows
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

New Space Race

They planted cherry blossoms,
Hundreds of Trees, silk poetry
Three hundred not enough
Spring gift to Americans
Decades after they conducted
War, wars, wars, World to end
All Wars in France, Now Plumb
Village, beauty where trenches
Filled with gas, experiments gas
Geniva decided never gas again
Poor Hitler had been gassed do
Any remember cruelty to Jews
Why Jews, why Jews, we now
Remember nothing, German people
Japanese people spread harmony,
First to die in Ukraine, who
Knew Russian tyranny, why Ukraine
Why Ukraine, gassed, bombed,
After big World War came together
Formed Republic, so Russia sat
On Continent, where grudge sat

Then peacefully fought back
Little nation no Tyranny, no
Spitefulness, no Tyranny, peace
Guarded by Americas, Brittish,
All of Europe, Germany, Japan
Wanted no World War, filtered
Drones, then water, food, children
Why another gathering, China
Mongolia, All Slavic peoples

To define Yugoslavia, Tyranny
Given to Finland, others,
Netherlands to defend
Right to Christianity, Zazen
Japan not tolerated, why
No more war, nothing
To remember, gas chambers
Fear of Russia, dare say Putin
Vladimir, we never call him
By first name, just like
Adolf seasoning, never
To bring back, fear victory
Thirty more million,
How many with A bomb
Second, Japan surrendered
Peace, Peace, Peace Train
Another great war to avoid
Until Russia targets Americans
With horror, stop this killing
Mame for life, sound
Weapons, deadly computer
Viruses, both sides, China
Jumped on board

Navel battles, biggest
Sailing into US air
Force to strike precision
Space race, to moon,
Strike precision, to moon
Wild space race conducted
With Star Ships, first
Heavy booster, perfected
Slowly to form moon
Colony, reality with water
Found at poles, of course
At South Pole, will
We pollute another
Army in space, thousands
Of Satellites circle Earth
How can rockets avoid
Each Other, orbiters
Space Stations Russia
This anomaly, why fight,
Why fight, madness,
Chinese building own
Space Stations, Chinese
Super Power cannot
Fathom space, Europe
On Board, for humans
Japanese Astronauts
Whim becoming reality
Space race for colony
To our biggest orbiter
Our Mood Tides, what

Will become of Engineers
Who design largest
Rockets in History?
Tyranny death, not,
Be avoided with secret
Army in space, Space
Force seems anomaly,
Why do we all race
To destroy Harmony?
Destroy destiny, destroy
What could be near miracle
Miracle beats ancient
Pyramids, Pol Pot disturbing
Stopped this disharmony
Edy Amin disharmony
Stopped, why not moon
Disharmony? Take
No Atomic weapons
To space, disturb
Harmony orbit each
Other Who will be first,
Big heavy transporters
Eventually making fuel
On Martian Colony,
What comes of disharmony
Space harmonies, why?
Another field of dreams
Disturbed again war
In our Space Suits,
Who gets there first?

Gassho
Where is Zen
sat/lah
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

Peace Dove

Yes doves are Noah's
Gift to end rath of his God,
Let not today
Foreget Pandas. Eagles.
Lions, tigers, mountain lions
In North America, great herds
of Buffalo, let us not
Forget urge of Monarch Butterflies
Which in one season or two
Come close to extinction
Then Hide; for leather shoes,
Turtle soup, delicates
Taste buds in New York
Where rich may taste
Who buy Japanese beef bred
On beer, Kobi nostalgia
Avarices, to the extinction
Of Asians. we begin to realize
If human kind cannot change,
Time illuminates change, beauty,
Bringing back butterflies
Frogs, even Desert Monsters,

Dragons in captivity, death,
In Tibet, white Snow
Leopard, black bringer
Of Dawn, great, movement,
Golden clouds, crystal ponds,
Manifestations,
Of Humanity trying
To contain peaceful
Balance, maintain now
Electric cars; transformation
Of power will change us
Back to another willful
Earth with reverence
Food to eat again
Life in another reality,
Wisdom of these Buddhas,
Of valleys in forbidden
Thoughts, another day
Another way of peaceful
Coexistence, life together
Tribute in tenacity.

Let one more spring
Bring with each one
Each single Dharma
Teaching of Zen; cause
Some effect, mountains
Into Kingdoms rise, fall
Into another planetary
Form, Stars explode
To form other stars.
Species wither away
More as birds fall to earth
Upcoming valleys divided
Selves, righted reality
Universal painful change
Into life reborn
Of writhing death
Symptoms --caused
To witness another
Universal truth.

Gassho
sat/lah