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CASSIOPEIA
You sit on your self-made throneand stare at the night skyas clouds gatherand dissipate beneath you.Do you even recallwhy you were cast out,condemned to your cell so vastyet infinitely confining?Does your body rememberthe touch of his handthe crude hunterwho set you aflamewith a white heatthat paled the sun of summer?What do you imagineas tongues of…
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RINZAI’S REAL EYE 鐵笛倒吹 九十語
You say there area thousand waysof seeing this momentbut which is the real way?I respond there area thousand waysof seeing this momentbut which is the real way? You may take my place,you may lookthrough my eyes,but you will stillbe blindto this momentor that. A reflection on Case 95 of the Iron Flute Koans
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A PRAYER UNANSWERED
When I was a child, a Rabbi told methat I did have the ability,to be used sparingly always,to petition God for some good. I filed this away with other storiesfrom the Torah, pillars of salt,stone tablets, a flood worse thanthe one that filled our basement. At some point I needed something,recollections are fortunately vaguenow, and…
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MONOLOGUE
I would like nothing more thanto have a long conversation with the birds,that there is much they could tell me,much they know that I should understandbut I am the interloper here, and theyhave lost trust in my kind. I watch them closely, trying to discern what I can of their thoughts,but in a flash of wing,…
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WE ARE IN KANSAS, TOTO
In my dream, the worldwas at peace, and I was ridingacross Kansas on a unicycle, towingmy car, packed to the windows,my dog walking alongside urgingme to speed up because shewanted to visit South Dakota.I am due for a tricycle, Iremind the dog, “the gravemore likely,” she respondswith a sneer that teeters betweenlove and spite, always…
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READING LIST
A good friend, who we hadnot seen in COVID time, visitedand we smiled when we sawthat she was reading Heidi,catching up she said on a tooabbreviated childhood, onesacrificed to circumstance My grandson, soon enoughten, says he is readingBeowulf, though not the Heaneytranslation, so there are twomore books on my booksyou must read before you die…
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ZENGETSU SNAPS HIS FINGERS 鐵笛倒吹 八十七
When two students meetalong the road, eachacknowledges the otherwith the snap of fingers.When a student walks the Wayto who does he snap his fingersand who passes with a small bow? If you happen across a teacherand ask him the meaning of thiswill you bow or snapand how will you respondto the silencethat enfolds his answer.…
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FOUR VOWS
I can’t recall how many timesI’ve recited the four vows, howI strive to follow the eightfold path,and yet I do wander offbut never, I would add, intentionally. Just yesterday after morning sittingand the Gratitude ceremony,we gathered on in our ever more important Zoom worldtrying to tighten the threads of Sangha. It was light, joyous, and Iwithout…
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BEFORE YOU LEAP
She always told himthat he should, no must,“look before you leap.” He said he understoodand would do so, almostalways, he was after alla child and no promisecould be that absolute. When he came outof the anesthesia,his arm and legin a cast, he saw herscowling at him. “I did,” he said, “I did,I looked for quite…
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A SUMMER EVE
I can’t remember what year it was,or why I was in his apartment, halfsprawled across the sofa, my girlfriend sitting with his,or one of his, he had many,on the floor, listening to Inside Bert Somers, and thinkingthat was the last place on earthI intended to go that evening. I recall the wine was good, butthen anything a…
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an old writer and his words 