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TAKING
You can take my sight,but my mind will still see what it must,and my fingers will become eyes.You can take my hearing,I will imagine what I must,and my eyes will become ears.You can take my tongue,but my body will shout what I must,and my hands will speak volumes.The only thing you cannot takeis my words,…
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A LESSON TO TEACH
This is what I would tell my sons:“You came from an ancient people,a heritage of poetsand tailors, or thievesand blasphemers,of callous menand slaughtered children.I would give you these books,written by God, some have said,although I am doubtfulbut driven by Erato, without doubt.” This is what I would tell my sons:“I didn’t go to war —there were so many…
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CHANGES
The finches are strugglingthis morning, searching the lawnfor the odd clover seed that’s yet to be reduced to dust by a summerwhere the rain has paintedour world with a palette of parchment, ochre, leaving uswandering an increasingly sepia world. We know that the rains will come again, that nature’s green will return, however briefly, beforewinter encases us all in…
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THE ROOM
It was a strange room,that much I recall, with heavyvelvet curtains coveringwhat should have been a window, and might once have been, but no longer. The only light was a bare bulbin the ceiling, casting a soft amber wash across the time worn oak floor,and once white walls. There was a chair, nondescriptand now long forgottenand a small…
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NANGAKU’s MIRROR CAST AS BUDDHA IMAGE
A wealthy man mayspend many lifetimeslooking in endless shopsfor a mirror castas a Buddha image.The poor man peers into a still pondand sees the entire universe. A reflection on Case 116 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
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ENSO
In the interstitial momentbetween birth and deatha universe comes into existence,something that never before existedand existed always, newand well-known, unseenand visible for eternity. Measure it wellfor it is incapable of measurement,and ends without warningand precisely on schedule.In the momentary breaththat marks the transit,we proceed nowhereand cannot return to where we began. Reprised from March 27,…
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IN HIS IMAGE
He said the assignment isan easy one for this class,write a piece, poem or story,your choice, but focused on a single metaphor. Oh,and to make it interesting,that metaphor should bethe last pet you owned orcurrently own, and if you’venever been blessed with a pet,use an ocelot or a lynx. How hard could it be, I thought,I…
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RUSHING IN
Step right up, don’t hang back,come and watch the fool perform for you.You know me, bedecked in motley emotionsworn like so many colorful rags,a suit of too many shades and hues,all displayed for your entertainment.See if you can find ten shades of angeras I prance around in front of you.Count the five flavors of tearsthat…
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THE TALK
She sat us down this morning for a heart to heart conversation. We had mentioned the neighbors’ new dog, their second, this one little smaller than a pony. She smiled at us, but we could tell it was a false smile, something was hiding about to be set free. “That is the problem with dogs,”…
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AFTER ALL
After all that has happened,after all of the changestumbling one upon another,after breathing again new air,after ceding fear to hopewhen I sit down to write itall I have at the endis a small glass of snowin the middle of July.
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an old writer and his words 