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

[Tai Shi]

Thirty Years a Maple

For me to talk endlessly
To make up stories about Time
After Time is to be like my maple
In my front yard. First,
How can I call it my maple?
Does not this being
Of red and yellow in fall,
Of bear limbs in winter,
Of pale green shoots in spring,
Of depth in itself, of deep
Green in summer does not
This great plant that adds
Rings of wood, of pith
Each year, of great
The wood of flesh does not
This being living for itself
Which is not for my own? Has
Not the beauty of twirling
Yellow seeds in spring
To populate the earth with maples,
Is this not its own life, its own
High regard, a consciousness
Not unlike any mammal upon the earth?
Gassho
lah/sat
"泰士" Tai Shi

無害無賠 (Mugai Mubai)

A Maverick dented in the passenger rear
Tail light missing, school parking lot clear

My daughter comes out. No sense of fear
I called the cops. "hit 'n' run dear"

Then we found the note illegible and sad
Illegible name illegible number, somebody's dad

Too poor for insurance or so they say
But $10,000 or 180 day jail stay!?

I wanted to protect them. I wanted. I tried
The system is not fair. I couldn't have lied

I just don't have $4,000 to spare
This could be the wake up call from their nightmare

Better hit my truck in a parking lot
Then to hurt someone and leave them without

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Tai Shi]

To Tell Father Love

It's 7:18 in my morning,
In other places, it is 7:18 PM,

Winter comes on in late November,
The day of Thanksgiving begins at midnight

Trees are bare; often, the sky is gray
My father is not himself, and I have come

To Love him, like brown leaves, his body
Will dissolve. his mind will remain in his book

Showing how to make a lift from motors
Witing of steel mesh, and metal pullies,

Margret hurting from severe arthritis
Who could not ascend stairs into her

Motor home, he designed handicapped
Elevator taking this person from the ground

He designed a shortwave two-way radio,
For Tiny Autos, published it in a magazine

In his high school teaching, he worked for
For four years, at Sierra College he taught

For twenty-four years, I watched him
Earn his bread and raise my brother

Until I was six, and my brother was four
Time is for me to step out of his shoes,

In 1999. I was declared legally disabled
From rheumatoid arthritis of the spine.

Technically my age crept on me
Thirty years before his body became weak,

He was eighty-eight when our bodies
Said we were like Autumn Trees, fall

Of our lives, and I said to him when he
Turned eighty-eight, Father I love you,

He did not respond, this way, a man
Said no strong emotion, yet important

It is for me to tell him before he dies.
He saw the child grow into manhood,

"Father I love you," he had allowed me
To learn to write my strong Poems,.

To publish books of poetry, neither
Did we make money writing but we taught

For our bread, for our homes, and times
Our children grew, I could say, "I love you."

Gassho
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

From Their Shoulders

Beautiful crest of new snow
Last Tuesday, a white crystal
Wine snow, land of daughter
She was born in Greeley
At the foot of Rockies, she knows
She returns to the land where
Parents became full adults
Sober parents graduated

Master of Poetry, worker
Of this government, father
Taught thought writing,
Literature of poets,
Americans, English, he
Had earned a Master of
Fine Arts, Master of Arts,
Specializing in teaching
To help earn a livelihood,
Mother giving her graduate
Master of Arts in Social
Security, anthropology helping VA
Veterans retire, they
Moved to Plains State
South Dakota, daughter
Went back to Colorado
At the foot of Rockies,
She earns her livelihood
In the steps of parents,
Father still writes poetry
Mother edits his third
what may be his final
Book, Called after his
Namesake Zen poetry
Big Verse, Ten Precepts
For Kindness. Then
There are many more
Than one hundred ten
Pages of life to live
By, this is his winter, his
Winter of life, such

The beauty of fall, summer,
Springtime, with each
Others living in their
Free and clear fall swamp
Land, reclaimed from
Prairie, the place to raise
Little girl, bright shining
BA, MFA, PhD she went

Beyond her parents who
Said she should
Grow from their shoulders
Not their bootstraps, they
Will pass away now she
Has mother's brilliance
Father's direction, even
Through, this said, she
Never would write poetry
Part of her living like
Father when she writes
Poetry. She's more, is to
Climb from their shoulders
She is and was the only
The child because mom, dad
Could have no more, they
Taught her to give back
Not to take so she
Allows her students to do
Need not to toil over three
Hours each night learning
Her Japanese poetry,
They may devote themselves
To others like Father in
His first college classes,
Subjects, so she has
Learned more of spring
With her PhD in Japanese
Literature, comp lit

Theirs is not to major
Theirs to conduct business
Fly to companies, cipher
In their foreign language,
Theirs is Elective, hers
Is a career in literature
Language, among Aspens,
Out among pines, peepers,,
Streams, parents gave
Extra, livelihood in her own
Beauty, Spring, Summer
Fall, Winter, Spring, white
These years of Colorado
She toils like her parents,
On what is not Cherokee
Land, or Mexican border,
She gives of herself, she
Is like Zen father, Retired
Soldiers, for her mother
These are these days
Of Poetry, mother editing
Father's third book, father
Writing from his heart, daughter
Finding her heart, their
Mutual AVMs prevented

Daughter from marriage
Poetry became her brain
Child, even at age thirty-five
Writing books, publishing
Dissertation, she is brilliant
Climbing in parent's winter
From shoulders, she knows
Brilliance, poetry, giving
Much still like Mother, mom
Who sewed Halloween
Costume, gave lunches
To childish wishes, they
Always be giving
Family, aspens, students
Greeley, Ft Collins, livelihood,
Lifted from Lakota, Nakota,
Dakota, never taking Denver,
Giving to Mexican livelihood,
May they always be Spring
Gratitude, Meditation,
On Gratitude, giving from
2014 to 2025, still all
Those years of writing
At age five, My Little
Book of Poetry, She
Was just like parents,
Except in Japanese,
Reading Korean and Spanish
She gives willingly to others,
She behaves
From their shoulders, they
Are old, soon will pass
Away, she will for Mourning

Give of grateful
Family, she will
Write books,
Climb in the Rockies,
Leaving Black Hills
To Dakota People
She will write
Teach for a living
Provide retirement
For her young
Students, hers
Is giving never
Taking from boot
Straps, she found
Generous flight
Like a flock of Birds
Like a flotilla of fish
Hers is Dogen
She does not
Know it, yet
Reads Dogen
In the Original,
She fulfills her
Parents scholarship
She gives from her heart,
Not her AVMs all over
Her body, this one
Thing she inherited
From parents, yet
She rose above
Her limits, like
Mom and Dad, as
They did this for their
Parents, surmise
Giving lives,

Living lives,
Snowy winters,
The reality of living,
In these Mountains,
On Prairie, in Denver,
In Hartford, South
Dakota, the little
Home not on Dakota
Native Land her Apartment
Not on Cherokee
Land, always giving
Always from
Shoulders, life
Ever after.

Gassho
lah/sat
Ubasoku

[Tai Shi]

We have here many poems, many types written from the heart, and our Sangha benefits, the community is such a beautiful place, so try your hand at any type of poetry here in this bright section. Any member may write here whether lay member or not, whether priest in training or priest, just any member your hand and see what you can write from your heart.
Gassho
lah/sat

[Tai Shi]

Summer Celebration

Verses long, short, in
Between other stuff,
Seedlings layered up.
No buds, yet no wisps
Onto head of round
Ethereal nothingness
My own flower, deep red,
My own mind which
You must touch,
Parts learned,

Wisdom recounting
Lost days, meanderings
Minimal invisible,
Plant petals, ovum,
Stamen, nothing
More than air, quarter
Four, Four in winds, music,
Notes grasping at earth,
Wandering space, melody
Of time signature growth,
Past what I took to find,
Beautiful red, white, lavender
Color there to be taken,
Another wild room, second
Willed best bed, upon

Mother of my children,
Reconstruction, those
Thoughts, growing
Equations. ciphering
Air, light, soil into soil, stood up,
Roses, many existing types,
Included on normal
Days down within growth,
With leaves from that
Flower of morning sun,
Photons, philanthropic
Holes, moles next to roots,
Waste, smell to fertilize
Life, burrowing mole

Through woody grasp,
Into more dirt, suckling
Moisture out of, under
Vines above water satisfied
Sap through it's veins
This tubular stem
Meanders through life,
Wisdom of warmth,
Of summer rose buds,
Blooming in space,
Buds unseen until white
Reunite pink over bush
Flowers on top of leaves,
Green bush, one third under
Earthen crust, loam
Decaying vegetation,
Mocking time for new
Growth, dandelions,

Into soil, taproot,
Cut through. Comes back
Into rock breaking
Asunder another lava
Flow, partial vine, then
Another, quick now or miss
Speedy, one, two, three,
Puff of seed, into air, drifting
Into blue Oxygen, gas
Of substance, of matter,
Nestled above slender
Stem, tube of white sap
All stops atop roof
In floating grass to sprout
Again like rose hips,
Flowers have in common
Root, fine petals, engines
Of seed, news of next year,
Creating sugar from sun
Light to grow buds, blooms,
Simple life, self-contained,
Complex, year after year
After Year, sinking down,
Standing, sitting tall upon
Earth, soil, decaying plants
Into rotting leaves of grass,
Good Smell, green to brown,
An end in itself. We celebrate
Flowers of summer, seed of fall
Days, winter cold, spring seed
Another celebration! Summer.

Gassho
lah/sat

Tai Shi
Charles E Taylor

I Fear No Star

When night falls
Against night sky
Clouds chase below wind,

Storm brews, we have
Sat Zazen, relief
Soars below moon, eye
Earl King Swept Away


Of Storm on this way
I walked afraid of mist
The Earl king spews words

From my pen, south two
Separate hurricanes dropped
Salt beach on shore at night

Fall, uncased for days
Above shore, hills imaginary,
Cloak of wind Earl king's

Magic gnome, we have
Walked alone, we have been
Earl king's raft, river bone

We revolve, circle around
Star, never pilot high
Planet of sky, day, Night

Gone into clouds nigh
Another sediment swept
Before storm of Earl king

Child in his or her arms apart
Starlight peaks beneath
Sky, momentarily gone

Again, child fear not
Earl King; will not fly
You home into his clouds.

Believe parent's embrace
Life of Eye of Magic Sun System
Tree to sing another song.

Question...Who is Earl King?

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Tai Shi]

I Fear No Star

When night falls
Against night sky
Clouds chase below wind,

Storm brews, we have
Sat Zazen, relief
Soars below moon, eye
Earl King Swept Away


Of Storm on this way
I walked afraid of mist
The Earl king spews words

From my pen, south two
Separate hurricanes dropped
Salt beach on shore at night

Fall, uncased for days
Above shore, hills imaginary,
Cloak of wind Earl king's

Magic gnome, we have
Walked alone, we have been
Earl king's raft, river bone

We revolve, circle around
Star, never pilot high
Planet of sky, day, Night

Gone into clouds nigh
Another sediment swept
Before storm of Earl king

Child in his or her arms apart
Starlight peaks beneath
Sky, momentarily gone

Again, child fear not
Earl King; will not fly
You home into his clouds.

Believe parent's embrace
Life of Eye of Magic Sun System
Tree to sing another song.

[Tai Shi]

Matt, yes I take pictures and i enjoyed your poem. should we begin discussing not misusing sex.
gassho
lah/sat

Fall...
who can dress for it?
more light than last year
needles sewing pine needles
washed dishes, asian lady beetles
all the lights on, and a hot shower
tap tapping away, my computer powered
the sun’s gift stored, untouched by jolts—
not even a flicker from my 12.9 volts.

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Seth Van Raemdonck]

Autumn in Belgium…
Beautiful walks in the forest, and even a small poem

Gassho,
Seth

Autumn Finally Here

Red across our little street
Glimmers in this tree, maple
Yellow, behind must be also
Maple, where is cold
Air, no autumn on record
Wafted 93 degrees Fahrenheit,
Fairweather is like the boat of air,
Single mountain North America,

In this state of no return, Dakota
Sky, Nebraska why left behind,
Iowa, my new beginning, my life.
Winter will royal into our plains
Town, so believe the soft breeze!
It will only last an hour of your
Life.

Gassho
lah/sat

That paints such a beautiful picture... Do you ever take pictures?

_/\_
matt

[Tai Shi]

Matt Johnson, I bought this book.
Gassho
lah/sat

[Tai Shi]

Autumn Finally Here

Red across our little street
Glimmers in this tree, maple
Yellow, behind must be also
Maple, where is cold
Air, no autumn on record
Wafted 93 degrees Fahrenheit,
Fairweather is like the boat of air,
Single mountain North America,

In this state of no return, Dakota
Sky, Nebraska why left behind,
Iowa, my new beginning, my life.
Winter will royal into our plains
Town, so believe the soft breeze!
It will only last an hour of your
Life.

Gassho
lah/sat

A new book
An old man lights the way
To Neverland.

Gassho,
J
sat/lah
IMG_2087.jpg

I love Kaz!

_/\_
matt