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

[Tai Shi]

Tom A! Thank you for your Poetry. Please give us more...
Gassho
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

Thank you two new posts. All are welcome and appreciated to post here your own thoughts and poems and stories about your journey to becoming a writer and whole person!

[Tai Shi]

If you feel that you are on your own way and perhaps need some rest or a little help from your friends here at Treeleaf Zendo your poetry and your thoughts will reach out and I hope you find a way or place to share your thoughts and explore your own poetry with us and even a discussion. Share with us please.

[Tai Shi]

Be Mindfull so Silently.

I sit before thinking, without
Morning rising sun
Drenched tangerine light
Wistful sages in their caves
Withstand late spring.
Yesterday in forests green
Trees, Douglas fur with sure
Understanding of life, rising
Through brown earth, all
Is as is, Knowledge of forest
Thick volunteering of mind
Seedlings populate mindfulness

Another treestand, days
Apart, a sunlight drenched
Sitting normally, no full
Days, only lament, crying
Heavy tears, humanity
Destroying yet another
Forest stand with anger,
Firmament undecided
Hericanes rip land, pull
Bark off Tree, 100 miles
An hour. Wind, sand slapping,
Grinding as tricks haus approach.

Away lumber trucks of divided
Wood stubs, death cut
Of trees, no other thought
We only wish for more
Trees, more tears decend
Like rain, with simple
Water and salt for meals
Of salt fiber, wonderment
How can this be, another
Tree ripped out of earth,
Sideways, forward, hither
Reminding me of deluge,
Noan day with army marches
Forth with bulldoser, tree
Crane pulling machines
Wood harvested, ripped
Out of earth, unkindly,
We pray stop this day.

Then we all can stop, let
More noise roll under, over
Torent like river ofend or not
We may practice mindfuness
We may sit quietly as doctor
Hacks our leg off, or therapy
Demands our ultimate
Attention, sit quietly
Let Shikantaza be.

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

How Precepts Began

Good drink morning decaff
Sauce with artificial sweetner
Arttificial ceeamer, neither
Can be called what they
Imitate, who should drink
GIVE what shy drenches
Daily pain without death
Will come eventually
To temple, temple devoid
Of man, woman, aged
One sixty-nine, the other
Seventy-two aching in pain
Such afforded Tai Shi, water
Kyousui, don't you know
We are in pain always look
Ahead to death which stalks
Our very essence our death
Imminant, falters, devides
Our limbs, as we cannot
Write anymore, what is sanctified.

Our days fong for rescue
No one comes, no one wishes
Life, everyone is what we know,
What we do with nothing,
With emptiness, dumped
Into night, old men fading
Bodies, with seeping blood, legs
Arms with blood, we are The Christ,
Jesus who says you will suffer
In the lake of fire, in the flames
Be Consumed, every part like
Lazerus who begged for even
Tourch of tongue, or is it

Buddha who offers kindness
Loving without heat, freedom
From torture, just ask shall
Be free, shall sholder messages
Of opposite, less sufering
Upon huts, fires, warmth over
Winter when rain drenched
Never we sing for warmth, we
Know what brings camp songs
With Shikantaza, August now,
In a few months, cold will
Come back. It always does
We sit beside fires, tell of lands
Where pagans, sacrifice, death
Through dear animals which we
Cannot abide, Buddha said
Practice Zazen, practice respect
For life, do not steal, then you will
Finally find this peace longed for..

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Some notes on my poetry. I do not seek to obscure. I write no hidden meaning. When I speak of sexuality, I only restate what psychologists agree, that personality is neither all man or all woman, but each of us is a combination of both, and even neutral have elements of female an male, and almost all agree, flowers are both female and male with pistal and ovum. So are human beings elements of both man and woman though some are more masculine or some feminine. The second long poem deals with divorce, my mother ending their marriage after only 13 years. My wife and I have chosen to be loyal to each other in life and death. Since our first meeting January 7, 1980, we both have had no other, and now we grow old together, whereas my father had three wives, two died and one divorced. My brother also divorced three wives, and I see some men take advantage of women, and more often it is men who take advantage, and even physically hurt their wives. my mother had two husbands, one divorced, second true until she died at 68. It is more important for me to remain loyal to my wife and Marajorie is derived from Latin to Spanish, "Pearl." I regard Marjorie as a prescious pearl. Family to us is ultimate. Our daughter, and we chose to have one child, so our daughter has earned her PhD with highest honors, Dr. Laurel Ann Taylor, and she will be in September Associate Professor of Japanese, and she is full time tenure track position at the University of Denver, a fine liberal arts university, but I chose to attain less, and her mother worked for the government for 32 years, and is and was a superior mind like our daughter. I gave our daughter direction of literature, as she will be Professor of Japanese, and her mother was quality control officer for the United States, Sioux Falls Veterans Regional Administration, a position equalivant to Lutenant Colneral in the Armey, G.S. 12.8 when she retired, and had worked here way from G.S. 5, typist, eauning BA cutural anthropology with 4.0, highest distintion MA with 3.95. and my best degree was the MFA in creative writing/poetry with 3.9 GPA. BA English literature, Ma English, EdS higher education. I rose to position of Professor in my last year teaching for The University of South Dakota though I was par-time.. I did for two years atain continuing contract at a college in Nebraska. Most often please look for literal meanings in my poetry; yet, making use of stanza, rime, metter, and metaphor, simile, and all the sound conventions of poetry. Look for conventions of poetry, and obvious meanings, and I strive for beauty. One more note. I have two debiliting life-long diseases. Ankylosing Spondylitis a serious form of arthritis, and bipolar disorder, a moderat to serious mental illness. My mental illness is completly under control, and I breath easily. For 37 years I have had no alcoholic drink not one drop. For 22 years I have had no smoke or no tobacco, nor any illeagal drugs for almost 38 years. I did regulate pain of arthritis with large doses of legal doctor prescribed narcotics; then, I chose not to use most narcotics keeping a small dose of minimal narcotic. doctor prescribed, because I sometimes suffer level 9 pain. This is all that you need to know my father's name is Lenard E Taylor, and my English name is Charles E Taylor, My mother was Dorothy Viola Hoffman'and I have published under both Charles E Taylor and Charles Taylor. I was named from both grandfathers' names. That is all the truth you need to know concerning my poetry. Just rember--there is no hidden meaning in my poetry.
Gassho
sat/lah
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

To all members, those who post, those who read, those who contemplate, thank you. Our Poetry Bord, Big and Little, a success, thank you all for posting!!!
Gassho
Yes Tai Shi.

[Tai Shi]

May we...

How great as a rain
Cloud fills with droplets
Who would know this
Miriad garden of plants, flow
Of great fish, great flock
Of birds, we gather in
Wanting nothing great
Poems written by many
Women and men, may
We never rest from poetry.
Thank you all, may
We never rest from poetry.

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Any member, those without Jukai, thise with Jukai, with equinimity come here and write your poetry, any poetry. All are welcome, all may with care and peace,lovingly, come to be and see. Do not throw stones, Oh, do not kill others, but bring solemnity and grace. Be with all of us, all can see, all may write with thee!

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Essence of Stability

When one seeks to turn the river
One inserts one finger into eddy
Of water, one hand into currrent
Only. Nothing happens so owner
Gets excited, "Why did not river
Turn with my will? Why do I sit
Lividly with whole hand in current
Expecting this water to change?"

Nothing so pushes will of water,
Even with dam can no water turn
Damed up, the whole rainbow; message
Becoes forgotton like air in storms. Storm
Is water is made into gas, gasses are
Compounded yet different, why
Different, molecules of vapor, of life
Mingle together, inert gasses.

Nitrogen supports Oxygen supports
Water into gasses, oh where is river
If water becomes one with air,
What can become of anger if water
Becomes H2O, hydrogen is one part
Proton one part neuton supports
Life supports Volitle Hydyogen, too
Hydrogen can be single building

Block of created matter, matter
Become complex, for cannot water
Be sait? Composed of more atoms,
One atom glides to water, water
Becomes collection of atoms,
Proton with neutron, with charged
Particle positing charge between
Layers of particles, what more is said?

Anger slips away in holding into breaking
Slowly into Rainbow, into colored energy
Promise of new substance, of end of storm
What becames of anger if all disapates
To energy, to likeness of human face
Changing to matter, anger matters
Not when it disapates into what becomes
Of all, of water, ait, and salt, blood turns

River to humanity, to smile from energy,
Turned on side of emotion turns energy,
Turns matter, from matter becomes
Human blood, tissue with brain, brain,
To hand, all tissue, all from Proton, Neuton,
Chaged electron energy, matter energy
Combining solid, where did anger go
Into air, live in Sangha, uncharge stability?

Gaswsho
Deepest bows
Good yes to all
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

One Leans of Priests

My anger swells to listen to what?
To no one, leave me choices
"NO," I shout, where is life? Not here?
Where there is Priestly garments? There
I sit, Oh, shoved into darkness? There

What became of meanining?
There Douglas Fur, let me know?
What became of Tree leaves? Needles
Of Trees, Leaf into Sangha, where
Treeleaf can spring from one branch

Many needles, from Trees all alive,
Leafing edge, coming together
Let us sing in choior, let us ring
Free. Sing into dark from lightest
Sky when we sing anger leaves

From mind of community, no lingering
Argument, so be from sips, my lips
Drink water, fountain slakes all tongues
Thirsty mouths sing praises of Love,
"How do I change?" Is not rebirth present

Like death into life, like life into life
Into more life? Rebirth into birth
Hear voices of babies, where we
Can see anger--be it nothing to seek
Food, singing just says where are we

Consuming supper? What can we eat?
Anger is sought to seek where
Is supper, Sangha feeds with long
Handle of Loving Kindness, enough
Around, anger to Loving Kindness.

Loving Kindness for not Anger,
Foment no sea of anger rather life
Trees of Loving Kindness, I was leaf
Wrong to lift my hand in word, not
To fit Words to no Loving Kindness

We sing together the great Spring
Of being to twelve parts, from more
Or less? Or six or eight? oh explain how
Anger is duality, so turn over round
Leaf to Kindness our Buddhist reality

One side from color to color, all green
In Lotus Sutra. All may attain, flower
Of Bodhisatva, all may gain wisdom
Of Buddhahood through Loving Kindness
Kindness is our religion--as one choir!

Gassho
sat/lah

[Kokuu]

One side from color to color, all green
In Lotus Sutra. All may attain, flower
Of Bodhisatva, all may gain wisdom
Of Buddhahood through Loving Kindness
Kindness is our religion--as one choir!

That's lovely, Tai Shi!

Gassho
Kokuu

[Tai Shi]

When Tradition Abandoned.

What becomes of tradition
For ordinary people, how
Can we slip into practice
When tradution is expelled
From little peons, please
Look at meaning of "peon,"
How do we fathom even
With education to understand

How wicked we are, if we carry
Lice, if we openly disregard
Normal behavior, our
Country be impoverished,
I was entirely poor as a boy
Yet I became beautiful
Spread joy and beauty
Then became one expelled
From beauty from flowers
Of night from Ango, from
Jukai, my Jukai was true

Undertaking of Precepts,
No one to see equality
Among members
Of Zendo, I begin
To search where my
Own Wisdom, my own
Freedom to practice
Buddhism, to feel Loving
Kindness, Always free
From night of Loving
Kindness, I am expelled
As my Friend who saved
Me, the only man I have loved
In many years of Kindness
I yet follow, the open
Monestary is not fair,
Nor is it delight
As in Lotus Sutra
Which declares we
Are equal, we are equal
Or not, I resign my
Ubasoku, yet feel
My linage, linage
When one was fair.
So I begin my search.

Gassho
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

Queen

In any garden
Adorning all gracious flowers
There blooms snap dragons
Which bear bells of shape
Male parts, shunts of Power
Snaps of gonads familiar
To all, yet sap of dragon's oval
Ovum inside flower of richest
Female, Again we find in both
Male with female, loop

Of feminine shape in life
Everpresent male disguised
As most masculinity.
Necessary Feminine with each
To Each gone as seperate
Indiferance of desire.
Together lives! In weeping vial
All desend, Imparting seed

Answering other's need
Power, never simalarities
Proliferated out of likeness,
Inseminated, germinating
Flowers. Aparting, strength,
Stem. Best blooming buds, all
Whichi night never havested.
Motion's beautiful irregularity.
Bugs devouring, colors gone,

Pestel never strong enough
Irregular Queen of all emptiness.
Whatgarden ever alone
Without grasshopper eating
Every bud, germinating
Necter in meadows
Never presume

Rare soil, smell
Apart, together, raised
In familiar gardens
Man of woman, spectacular.
Breeding bright blades of color
In earthen toil from creativity,
Disguised bright humanity
Planted rows, giving,

Soil pollenation,
Something germinating
Sometimes not ever touched
Never enslaved,
Eternal Pain, flame
Deep inside for both.

Tai Shi, one of my best,
Charles E Taylor
Hopefully

[Tai Shi]

We have all learned valuable lessons which could be turned into poetry. Look inside for your valuable lessons, there you will surely find gems of love and frustration, even hate which can be turned and dulled by the open heart of a poem, as one great man said, poetry is the overflow of strong feelings, (emotions) recolected in tranquility (or remembered in verse.). Try your hand twice, three times, You just might find a passion you could enjoy for life, and make poems in the silence of your heart, Open your feelings to the caves of solitude, be alone with your verses, in a journal, or a notebook. Give your soul to a path, to sorrow or joy, Poetry is negative caapability. Then you will be never really be alone again because these gems will be mounted into pages of glory.

Gassho Tai Shi
sat today/ lent a hand