-
NOUS SOMMES ICI
The question, of course, is which is Frankenstein, which his monster a chicken and egg problem that invites debate, denies solution. They say, of course, it is you – We sent you Lafayette, never assuming quelle catastrophe would grow from our gift. Freedom doesn’t make you a God but somehow you never learned that too…
-
SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN 鐵笛倒吹 四十二
When you visit the Southern Mountain what will you say of its Northern brother? Returning northward what words will best describe the Southern peak? Answer carefully after much thought or remain silent, both choices are yours to select, as both mountains caress the passing clouds and reach out for the sun which neither may grasp.…
-
FUNYO PUNISHES THE SKY 鐵笛倒吹 三十二
If there are no clouds, punish the sky with your stick. If there is no sun punish the clouds with your stick. As you walk the Way both road and sky know your stick with each step. If you doze will you strike yourself with your stick or grab it away? A reflection on Case…
-
MAN OF GREAT STRENGTH 無門關 二十
From this place traverse a thousand paths visit the ten directions with unmoving feet and recount your tale with frozen tongue to we deaf quadriplegics. A reflection on case 20 of the Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate)
-
THE ONE-EYED MAN
He’s heard the expression “the silence is deafening” and he could never understand it. Today they studied his eyes, he staring into the the equipment, lights changing and flashing, they sitting, repeating “Blink.” Soon he understood what it was. to be “blinded by the light”, and while he waited for his eyes to undilate, he…
-
CHOSHA’S STOP ILLUSORY THINKING
Before life there is death, before death there is life. In life there is death, in death there is life, a worm cut in two, each half moves, in each a new worm or is there one worm. This I ask you, but answer or no answer both are full of Buddha nature. A reflection…
-
REAL TIME
Reality is clearly something to be avoided to be dressed up in tattery, tied in ribbons, perfumed, yet its fetid stench is always lurking in the background waiting to pierce your nostrils in an incautious moment until you retch and bring up the bile that marks the darker moments of your life, the kind that…
-
JIZO’S FLOWER
When you see a painting of a beautiful rose, how can you describe it. You must breathe deeply of its sweet fragrance Be careful, do not pierce your finger on its waiting thorns. The rose has withered into dust before your mouth is opened. A reflection on Case 76 of the Iron Flute Koans
-
OH, THE PLACES
“Every book is a picture book,” she says, with that certain wisdom the that comes from being seven, even though eight is far off on the horizon. “The difference with some,” she claims, “is that someone already drew all the lines and colored in the pictures.” She likes the books, she concludes, where she gets…
-
WORD
archetypes symbols arrayed arranged precise meanings elusive multiplicative hearer dependent no Carrollean wishes fortresses erected below the tide line await waves minor etchings Durer or trivial seen or ignored Lot cast either diamond or salt pillar eroded by rain adrift torn by tongues cast to ash. First appeared in Eureka Literary Magazine Vol. 5, No.…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
an old writer and his words 