an old writer and his words

  • UMMON’S SOUNDS AND SHAPES

    What is the soundof enlightenment?What is the colorof nirvana?How do youperceive enlightenmentand see nirvana?A sound maybring enlightenmentif you do not hear it,a color may leadyou to nirvanaif you do not see it. A reflection on Case 82 of the Book of Equanimity, Shoyoroku 従容錄

    Lou Faber

  • THREE HAIKU

    in truly livingtime should be of no matterthere is only now the great egret knowsthat the sky is a sanctumdenied to humans still dreaming of flightmy feet sink ever deeperin the mud of life

    Lou Faber

  • BOTH AND NEITHER

    We are both master and slaveand reverberating between rolescan be exhausting and exhilarating,on occasion both simultaneously.It seems we are always strivingto catch up to technology, that itis outpacing us and that the racemay soon enough be lost.We say that we cannot live withoutthese technologies and while theymay do things faster and more simplythey do so…

    Lou Faber

  • LUNA

    Today is your dayand for a few momentsyou will take center stageand he will face intoyour shadow, youwill be all we can see,he struggling to peek outunaccustomed to a lesser role.So often you shied awayfrom his glare, as if hewould consume you,how you would often fleehis approach, returningonly after he had departed.But it was alwaysyour…

    Lou Faber

  • BUENOS AIRES ON THE GENESEE

    If this were Buenos Aires, if I were Borges, it would all make a great deal of sense. A man, older, and older still if you look closely, walks into an elegant hotel bar. A jazz quintet is playing, straight up, trumpet, piano, guitar, stand up bass, drum kit. The older man is wearing white…

    Lou Faber

  • DEAR SIR OR MADAM

    Dear politician:I received what seemedlike a stream of emails from youthis week and I would like youto stop sending them, but of courseyour unsubscribe link doesn’t work.I trust you got it from the same peoplethat fail to wire the Close Door buttonson nearly every elevator I have ridden.Please know you are wastingyour time seeking money…

    Lou Faber

  • WOLFGANG

    I suppose it will sound odd, butthere was a time when, in additionto the Rock and Folk music I loved,classical music was a key partof my life and helped make me whatI am today: a now retired attorney.And not just any classical music,although I loved many of the masters,Beethoven, Schubert, Bach, others,(sorry Mahler, Shostokovich butlines…

    Lou Faber

  • GENSHA COMES TO THE PROVINCE

    When you siton the cushiondo not let your mindcompare this zazento yesterday’s orimagine tomorrow’s.Those are the thoughtsof a fool for yesterdayand tomorrow are,in this moment,only illusions. A reflection on Case 81 of the Book of Equanimity, Shoyoroku 従容錄

    Lou Faber

  • THREE HAIKU

    With every breathdeath is a moment closerand so is rebirth this unknown riveris not the one I stepped inone minute ago birth is terminalpromising unknown minutesdeath is a rebirth

    Lou Faber

  • HISTORY

    When he said he wanted to be a historianeven his parents laughed at him, remindinghim that “there’s no money to be madein history unless you want to be a teacher,and you are so much better than that.”He knew they wanted him to becomea doctor, or failing that, at least a lawyer.Few were surprised when, in…

    Lou Faber