I know you have
a single question for which
an answer will enlighten you.
Neither Baso, Chizo nor Kai
are here so you are asking me.
The answer is simple:
cover your ears tightly
and listen while I speak
with closed mouth,
watch my feet dance
in joy as they do not move.
If the answer is not apparent,
ask Chizo, Baso and Kai
to speak from beyond the grave.
A reflection on case 6 of the Book of Equanimity Koans
Deep beneath the Arctic ice
the whale songs shimmer
in the harsh light
of a frozen sun.
We strive to hear them,
hear nothing, hear only
our thoughts echoing
through cavernous memories.
With thoughts of what was,
what we wish had been,
we are ambient noise
in a universe which
cradles hope, craves silence.
Dolphins dream of days
when the sea was theirs,
lives lived in a slow paradise
a world the land- bound
would never comprehend
even as they laid waste to it.
First published in Zephyr Review, Issue 1, May 2022
https://zephyrreview.com/issues/
Snakes, like coins,
have both head and tail.
If I cut a snake in two,
have I two snakes,
or none at all?
Walk carefully
for the spade
that cuts the snake
can dig an inescapable abyss.
A reflection on case 43 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
Follow the old fellow
walking over there, he
who cannot see
because it is too bright,
who cannot see
because it is too dark
who cannot see
above himself, below
behind or beside,
but traverses the path
with an unerring foot.
A reflection on Case 22 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
If you see the Buddha
you have certainly gone blind,
if you hear his words
you demonstrate your deafness.
Nansen will grow old,
hearing and vision will fade
and he will sit and shout
in a sun warmed rain.
A reflection on Case 34 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) Koans
Three times the master’s question
three times the student’s response
each time, the same answer
each time the master shrinks
as answer surpasses question.
There is no master
there is no student
there is only the lamp
in two sets of hands.
A reflection on case 11 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) koans.
I am mystic, thief, madman,
all that, considerably more,
never begging, always taken
what is arrayed before me
favor curried, passage guaranteed
coins gathered, stored so there
are none to cover the eyes or pay
the ferryman’s wages.
I can turn wine to water
and hide fish in the midst
of loaves, the trick is
to distract you so the order
is reversed, a sleight unseen.
I am truly the prodigal son
vaudevillian and fall guy
and the spikes are a bitch
but the view is something to behold.
First Published in AGON Journal, Issue 0, 2021
I stooped and spoke
to a stone, asking the question.
I was here before you arrived
and I will be her long after you leave.
I held the sand in my hand
warm from the sun, asking the question.
I came after your arrived
and I will leave long before you are gone.
I held the winter wind on the tip
of a finger, asking the question.
I am not here now
and I have never been here.
I touched the waters
to my lips, asking the question.
I was above you when you came
and I will be below you when you go.
I saw the flames dance
before me, asking the question.
You were ashes once
and you shall be ashes again.
I stood mired in the clay
clinging to my legs, asking the question.
It is of me you were formed
and it is to me you will return.
I sat at the foot of God
blinding light, asking the question.
You cried to me at birth
and you will cry to me at death.
First Published in The Poet: Faith Vol. 1, Spring 2021
https://www.thepoetmagazine.org/spring-2021—faith
He says he is waiting patiently
for the arrival of heaven on earth.
He is not sure what that will be like
and the descriptions he has seen
are too fantastical to be believed,
all clouds and angels and music
He is hoping the things he loves
most will be available in heaven,
a good Alfredo sauce and German
chocolate cake, for two, but
heaven should be Starbucks-free,
since he will be able to drink
espresso at any hour, for you have
no need of sleep in heaven.
Until that moment comes, he will
sit for hours in the neighborhood
Starbucks because of its free wifi
and search for the best top ten
lists of ways to avoid hell and where
you can get wifi and
a good decaf espresso.
I should stand on the shore
take up a great shell
and blow a trumpet song
to the whales who stay
always just beyond sight.
I have no shore
on which to stand
and had I one, I lack
the skill to pluck
a song from a shell
and so the whales
I imagine offshore
must listen carefully
to the song I cast
deep within my dreams.
an old writer and his words 