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

[Koushi]

When I woke up this morning before getting ready for Jukai, I looked outside and it had snowed (rare this far south). The snow was fluttering in the wind and it was a lovely moment. After Jukai I wrote this:

The melting snow
Lifted from its branch
Carried by nature’s winds
This way, that way, yet—
No coming, no going
Each flake containing the universe

Gassho,
Koushi
STLaH

[btball]

I wrote a few pieces after the death of my oldest son.
i am still dealing with my grief
And the lessons of impermanence and attachment

This one is titled “Kalaidescope”

# Kaleidoscope
**By Brian Ball**

---

Understanding
A many-faceted,
Ever changing,
Kaleidoscope of a thing

At first
When he was a child
A view up close
Of his special soul
As beautiful, gentle and fragile
As a newborn butterfly
Fresh from its chrysalis

And then
Over time
He found his own way
In this world
And the focus became more distant
But on occasion
Shifts to a closer view

Found his own way?
Well, no
He struggled to find his own way
Dealing with pain and loss
Musing under a clear and starry night
On the meaning and purpose of existence

Giving love, friendship
Humor and wisdom
But always seeking the same
Not believing he'd found it
Although it was within his grasp

His love for others
Was like our cats
Panda, Aube and Ayaboo
Theirs for him
And his for them
Unconditional

And now
The view is through his friends
And I see his being
Through another lens
Of the kaleidoscope

My own view
Of my parents life
Is similarly kaleidoscopic
As I realize
They too saw me
Through their kaleidoscope
Not always focused on me
But on their myriad
Relationships and children

I was dismayed at first
By the reactions of others
I thought close to him
Some seemed cold
With no grief at all
While others
Appeared to grieve
As much as I

And then I realized
They each too
Have Their own
Kaleidoscope

Cold and distant?
No
Just each dealing,
in their own way
with the realization
That he's gone

[Shonin Risa Bear]

I have read aloud fifty of my poems on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHRH3Ul6SJZ0944aPPSEH4vDyh9jU3Wr8

gassho, sat, lah, shonin

[Jundo]

I have read aloud fifty of my poems on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHRH3Ul6SJZ0944aPPSEH4vDyh9jU3Wr8

gassho, sat, lah, shonin