an old writer and his words

  • GENSHA’S BLANK LETTER 正法眼蔵 四十八

    If you wish to find the Wayfollow the signs that read“This Is Not the Path” orat least some of them.If you ask me directionsI will hand you a blank sheetand ask you whatdoes it contain.You may say it is voidand you would be correct,or you may say itis a thousand dharma textsand you would be…

    Lou Faber

  • FELIS CATUS

    She says just think of it,when the cat is twentyyou’ll be 87 and I’ll be 92. I never thought of itquite that way, of the catbeing twenty, I mean. My cats all diedin their teens, and thoughI missed them terribly, I assumed it wasjust their time, just howlong they should live. I’ve now thought of…

    Lou Faber

  • HAIKU

    I picked up a bookoff the shelf this morningone hundred haiku it was like sitting downa word starved man, tiredof searching for an alwaysdenied sustenance, and herelaid out before me, a repastof the sweetest grapes,bits of sugar caressinga tongue grown usedto the often bitternessof ill-considered prose. As midday approachedI knew that this was a mealto…

    Lou Faber

  • MELODY

    I sing a shattered songof someone else’s youththe melody forgottenthe words faded into oddsyllables heard in my dreams.The coyote stands at the edgeof a gully staring at meand wondering why I slipfrom the hogan throughthe hole punchedin the back wallslinking awayin the encroaching dark.The priest, his saffron robespulled tight around his legsin the morning chill,stares…

    Lou Faber

  • THE GIRL COMES OUT 無門關 四十二

    She sits undisturbedShakyamuni by her side.You can wave at her, shewill pay you no mind. You cannot grasp her mindand maintain a holdon your own, you will growdeaf from the chatterbut a child can curlat her feet and shewill stroke his foreheadin perfect Samadhi. A reflection on case 42 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) koans.

    Lou Faber

  • AN E-TALE

    I have been repeatedly toldby many that in this hyper-electronic age, the best way, ifnit the only way, for the little guyto buy and sell is online. I’m not one to argue soI decided to try it, and quicklylearned that Amazon hadcornered the market on salesso Craigslist was my best hope. I also learned that…

    Lou Faber

  • STRANGE NIGHT

    It was a most unusual nightin the city, and a surprising numberof its residents took note of thatwhich in itself was unusual. By 2:00 A.M., those awake andthose who had awakenedstrained to hear it, but therewas nothing at all, no sounds to which they had becomeso accustomed, and some imaginedthey had been transportedfrom the city…

    Lou Faber

  • POETS GATHER

    One deep and abiding beauty of dreamsis that it is entirely logical forMarina Tsvetaeva to be engagedIn an animated discussion withCorso and Ginsberg where none willacknowledge that the world theywrote and imagined is a total mess. Over in the corner, Mandelstam andReznikoff have agreed that for eternityevery game of chess they play willresult in a…

    Lou Faber

  • MIRROR IMAGE

    Each morning when I lookinto the mirror I imagineI see me, but of course thatis impossible, for in that momentonly the mirror sees meand I see the mirror. How deluded I must beto assume that I look at alllike the mirror, but it is,I know, just such delusionsthat enable my sense of self,and that is…

    Lou Faber

  • TWO MONKS ROLL UP THE BLINDS 無門關 二十六

    Both are askedto bring more lightinto the hall. Together eachrolls up his shade.One’s action is gainone’s action is loss there is only one shadethere is only one light. aA reflection on case 26 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) koans.

    Lou Faber