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BALLET OF THE GODS
Once they pierced your heelsto hobble you, bound upfeet and ankles to lashyou to the earth, there weren’tangels then, no wings, just the painof toes crushed inward,the silent agony of motion,a cruel joke played by godsstarved for entertainment.But Terpsichore, hearingErato’s song, set them freebrought them to a pointe,allowed them to take winglessflight, and toes became…
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FOUR ZEN HAIKU
myself is no selfno self is universalinfinite being emptiness surroundsall forms are illusorythis is samadhi compassion aboundsalways out of your sightuntil you live it dharmas teach nothingcontain infinite knowledgejust stop looking
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REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM
Gertrude Stein saidpoetry is vocabulary,or so Simic reported it,but in that casewhat do we makeof Haiku, wherea poem at maximumcan use onlyseventeen words. Perhaps, if wefollow Levi-Strausshaiku is not poetrybut art, for all artis reductionand there is littleyou can doto reducea haiku further.
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SANSHO’S GOLDEN FISH 正法眼蔵 語十二
Ask a question,if you get no responseis the question goodor is it foolish,is the teacher fooled,or simply too busy to answer.Be careful or youwill be trappeddeep within the net. A reflection on Case 52 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
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RETURNING
The Great Egrets swoop low,make a slow banking turnand alight in the leafless tree. They sit imagining water,the wetland they knewa month or so ago, nowmore a mud flat all waitingfor the rainy season’s arrival. They leave as night approaches,the once wetland suddenlyagain silent, and we areleft to dream of the flocksof ibis, herons and…
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PHOTOGRAPHY
“Trying to explain photography and its art may be more difficult than explaining particle physics.” That was his opinion, and one he deeply held and shared freely to all who would listen or could not escape him. “After all,” he said, “you can draw pictures to illustrate particle physics, and far too many have done…
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FROM THE ASHES
I would like to go backto the days when,after a fire reduceda commericial buildingto charred rubble,the onlookers andthe gawkers wonderedif it was an angrycustomer or employee,or sloppiness orpoor maintenance. Now, we watchas the fire marshalscomb through the ashesand the rubble, lookingnot only for the sourceof the flames but alsothe accelerant, alwayswondering as we dojust how…
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MASKING
The Air Force shaved our heads, was itbecause of the heat of a San Antoniosummer or that we’ll all look equally like fools,and easier for Sarge to maintain unitcohesiveness in his rag tag bandof semi-successful Army avoiders. Now we all wear masks and assumewe all look equally foolish, knowingthe virus cares nothing for cohesiveness,and normal…
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THE LANGUAGE OF ZEN
The greatest problemwith our languagein the practice of zazencan seem insurmountable. We are lovers of tenses,a dozen to choose from,one spawning offspring,time ever important to us. In zen, on the cushionthere is no past, no future,perfect or otherwise, norour friend the conditional. We strive to always bein the moment, there is nowand nothing else, and…
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REGARDING HISTORY
We stand aroundin the shadowof the Coliseumstaring atthe Roman Forumimagining lifein the timeof the emperor. Fast forwardtwo or threemillennia,and imaginethe facesof those staringat the ruinsof our civilization if we have notdestroyed alllife by then.
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an old writer and his words 