an old writer and his words

  • TAI YRA MANO MOTINA (THIS IS MY MOTHER)

    It’s odd how your stature has grown as I dream of you occasionally staring at your yearbook picture. It was only four years ago that I knew you existed, but hadn’t the faintest idea of who you were, anything about your life, why you gave me up, and, therefore who it was I might have…

    Lou Faber

  • EVENTIDE

    The sky is the leaden gray that denies the sun and threatens the moon’s arrival. It presses down on the roofs of the tallest buildings, wraps them in a depression those on the street below feel without need of looking up. This is a teasing sky, a drop here, there, until we know we are…

    Lou Faber

  • INFINITY

    A three year old can easily understand that a full cup can hold nothing  but an empty cup has an infinite capacity.

    Lou Faber

  • INSTRUCTIONS FOR WALKING MEDITATION (KINHIN)

    You should walk slowly, measure each step, insure your foot is in deep contact with the earth before giving its partner freedom, only to fall victim, in turn, to gravity.  Steady your pace until it merges into your breath and the silence deafens you.

    Lou Faber

  • WHO IS HE? 無門關 四十語

    Sitting with Shakya and Maitreya in the utter stillness of early morning you each strain to hear the master’s voice. Do not take up Shakya’s bow or attempt to mount Maitreya’s horse Do not engage Hoen in discussion but look inward, hand your bow to Maitreya, the reins to Shakya. There is only one horse,…

    Lou Faber

  • THE SAD LIFE OF THE WRITER

    She says, “you suffer from scriptor interruptus, which makes her laugh, and she says you have to have a thought to be interrupted and we both know it has been a long while since you’ve been there, but keep holding the pen, you never know what might come out.”

    Lou Faber

  • A BUDDHA SPEAKS

    A three year old can easily understand that a full cup can hold nothing more but an empty cup has an infinite capacity.

    Lou Faber

  • COFFEE ROASTING

    They dance defiantly denying gravity as they tumble through the air. They cede their color reluctantly, Now a beige, but soon a defiant chocolate-brown, milk turning slowly dark. They entice you, their perfume perhaps too strong for some, but it draws you in and you cannot help but imagine how the thought of them will…

    Lou Faber

  • LUNA BECKONS

    The perigee moon hangs heavily over the city, clinging to the horizon as though it wishes to flee deep into the night, turning away the attention in inevitably draws. We are pulled toward it by some deeply felt force that we know we dare not question, for we must honor the moon’s secrets as we…

    Lou Faber

  • YANGSHAN’S “DHARMA POSITIONS”

    This word no longer exists. This moment is now history. Dead stars shine brightly in a midnight sky. The Buddha has a thousand names and will answer to none of them. Why do you keep calling him? A reflection on Case 14 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber