Find that place
where sky and land
are joined together
and grasp it tightly.
It is like looking
deeply into a mirror,
what you see
is not at all you
but what it sees
is that it is you.
Do sky and earth
come apart when it
let’s its grasp free?
A reflection on case 78 of tDogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
First, read the syllabus
and buy the books we will read.
Note that I have carefully selected
works for which there are no Cliff Notes
or their equivalent, so if you were
counting on that consider yourself screwed.
When you write an essay, do not ever,
let me emphasize EVER, begin by saying
in my opinion, for if I wanted
an opinion on a great writer’s work
I would as soon stop and ask
my multigrain bagel what it thought,
although I admit its Everything cousin
did have some amazing insights into Hamlet.
Do not bother plagarizing quotes
from things you find on the internet,
for they will either be wrong or
you will have found them by using
Google or another search engine
and I discovered those when you
were still in diapers. And finally
if you ask for more time to write
a paper, I will give you a strong
recommendation to take my friend’s
Intermediate Composition class,
the one you tried to duck
by taking my class instead.
He knew it was time
to call it a career when
they handed him the list
of what he could not say,
what terms were verbotten,
what topics were off limits.
Once upon a time he watched
the fight over textbooks,
how they approached sensitive
subjects like race, war, equality,
but he could teach around
whatever strictures they
would ignorantly impose.
But now whole topics,
entire aspects of history
were off limits, and he knew
he would not be an educator
but merely an indoctrinator and he
wanted no part of that.
I never imagined that
the search would take so long
or be so difficult.
I never imagined
I had set off seeking
the Holy Grail.
It once was easy
I recalled, little searching
and plentiful enough.
Now, hours spent
actually wasted, I conceded
that it was futile
and went back deep
into time to bring forth
what I never imagined
would be so hard
to find, a good, intelligent
romantic comedy.
The quieter you become
the more you can hear.
— Baba Ram Dass
Orion lies over the wharf
staring at the moon, dangling
like an unyielding eye, barring sleep
while below the waves wash
onto the shore, licking the pilings
and tasting the sand, a calming roar
broken only by the barking
of the harbor seals.
It is not a night for hunting
the bear has fled over the horizon
preparing for the coming winter
and the hunter tires from the chase.
A gull nips at his heels, and plunges
back into the swells, he must be
content with the odd fish and scraps
from the strange ones who mass
on the wharf each day and retreat by night
until there is only the hunter
and the goddess and two young men
curled into the sand.
I stand on the balcony
and stare at the hunter
wishing that sleep would come,
that the white eye would blink,
but the waves wash in
and the harbor seals bark
and the stars beat
a slow retreat.
First publshed in Lighthouse Weekly, January 17, 2022
https://www.lighthouseweekly.com/post/geography-and-santa-cruz-wharf-september
We sat on our lanai last night
in our twin rockers, the cat
curled close by but carefully
removed from the rockers
and stared into the sky hoping
meteors would grace us
with their fleeting presence.
The moon did appear, shrouded
in thin clouds, spectral ghost
waxing slowly in hiding, but
the stars had fled this night,
fearing the rain that
the cloud mantle promised.
We never did see a meteor
but we know they will return
next year and the cat says
it is hardly worth interrupting
a good nap for a momentary
flash of light, and we just
touched hands and
retreated to bed.
Driving to the car dealer yesterday
for what I should have known
would be expensive service, not
because I hadn’t had my car
serviced in over a year, simply
because any trip to the dealer
for service is expensive, Q.E.D.,
I drove by Easy Street.
I thought of stopping, perhaps
looking for a small house
to keep for the occasional getaway,
I mean who doesn’t want
to live on Easy Street.
Sadly the homes were run down
and the neighborhood was
spotted with half empty
strip plazas, so I had to conclude
it iwould be hard to live on Easy Street.
The youngest child,
her mind uncluttered,
can answer any question
unburdened by words,
her answers rebound
across the universe.
If you stop struggling
to hear her, let
the silence surround
you both, you cannot
escape the answers
A reflection on case 84 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
The real question
in the final analysis
is not whether
New Age musicians
invented acupuncture
and massage although
there is an inextricable
linkage between them.
The real question is
why two healing
Asian modalities
choose that form
of aural torture while
the patient/victim
must lie still and accept
the pain inflicted
as the pleasure
is slowly delivered.
I had great plans
for the day, a simple project,
easy install said the instructions
and an hour in, nothing working.
Of course it was a weekend
so I called for help and
the professional worked
another two hours before
announcing nothing doing.
We concluded the product
was dead on arrival, as were
the plans I had made
for the bulk of thd day,
but there was the cost
of the service call, of course
at weekend surcharge rates,
to make the failure more painful.
an old writer and his words 