an old writer and his words

  • TANKA, TANKA, HAIKU

    The dawn sky arrivesvelvet blue on my fingersand the gathered birdshear the cobalt song of dayin this our private heaven On this sapphire nightstars search for the missing moonthe blue sky of dawnis still deeply in hidingfrom night’s moment of glory Oceans remembera time before we arrivedtheir once deep blueness

    Lou Faber

  • TIANHUANG’S “ESSENTIAL DHARMA GATE”

    When you askyour teacherfor directionsalong the pathhe will havenothing to say.When you realizethat in beingwith him, inthe silence, hehas given youthe greatest gift. A reflection on case 106 of Dogen’s True Dharma Eye koans (正法眼蔵)

    Lou Faber

  • GRANDMOTHER’S RULES

    My grandmother covered allher upholstered furniture in plasticthat stuck to your bare skin in summerand was always cold in winter.She said she did not wantto get the fabric stained, thatpeople could be easily cleanedjust like plastic slipcovers.I asked her why she did notcover the rug, an off-white plush,in plastic and she chuckled,“because, grandson, crumbsneed a…

    Lou Faber

  • BUFFET

    At first there is one, a sentinelbut for what isn’t clear. He isthe first of his kind we have seenin quite some time, so we stare.Soon a few, others appear,then five, ten, the number keepsgrowing and all in white as ifthis was a wedding and wedid not get the invitation.But we soon realize that thisis…

    Lou Faber

  • NO NOAH

    The rains have now begunand while they are not yet Biblicaland may never be, we know theyare simply a tease of whatis coming in the next days.Milton is a monster, they say,his reputation as impetuoushas already preceded him,and I am not one to argue finepoints with nature, she is fickleand always manages to win.So we…

    Lou Faber

  • SEDOKA

    The stream slows its flowpast the park bench, now unusedawaiting the first snowflakes. The trout swims downstream for the lake, where the water gently yields its fading warmth. First Published in Fireflies Light, Issue 30, October 2024 (Missouri Baptist University)https://www.mobap.edu/about-mbu/publications/fireflies-light/

    Lou Faber

  • BONE CHINA

    Mother loved her bone china.She went out of the way to insurethat her first husband bought a completeset for her, service for twelvenever mind she never had a tablethat could seat more than eightand then only then if you crowdedmismatched chairs together.She gave it to me after her secondmarriage finally dissolved, not onlybecause I was…

    Lou Faber

  • SHE WILL ARRIVE

    In this place and timeof year our hauntings comefrom the sea, she that usuallybewitches us can turn angryand unleash her spite and spittle,and she will not be sateduntil we all concede our impotence.She cares nothing for doors,goes through one and all thatimagine they stand in her way.We know she will come, not when,and in the…

    Lou Faber

  • THE HANDS AND EYES OF GREAT COMPASSION

    If you look for the dharmaand the path you areonly halfwayto what you seek.The eyes look outbut what looks inwhere the restof the dharmaand path lies? A reflection on case 105 of Dogen’s True Dharma Eye koans (正法眼蔵)

    Lou Faber

  • REFLECTIONS

    When I gaze into the mirrorI see an aging man that I knowshould not be me and yetI know that he could only be me.I want to know just what I didto fall into disfavor with the gods,why they stripped me ofthe immortality I knewI once had, now gone.I know there is no getting itback…

    Lou Faber