an old writer and his words

  • ACROSS A BORDER

    I can only begin to imagine, vicariously,what it is like to cross the borderinto the land of deafness, hear all you knewfade and garble, need vision to seewhat a speaker is saying, wonder whysongs you thought you knew nowhave lyrics you do not recognize at all.My wife is on this journey and nowhas a cochlear…

    Lou Faber

  • IDENTIFYING WITH CAUSE AND EFFECT

    You offer to methat which I cannot take,I refuse to give youthe one thing you can accept.We each have nothingand give nothingand are happyfor the perfect gift. A reflection on Case 90 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • MAP STORE

    The bride walks down the aisletrailing a veil of tearsrolling in the dustof too many centuries,encrusting the virgin. Albert Einsteinpurchases a map of Taos. Bookkeeper hunchesover ledger sheetstallying night winds acrossthe frozen pond, logwedged in the ice. Douglas Macarthurpurchases a map of Hue. Monitors blare newsfrom other worlds, flickeringacross cups of half emptycoffee and cigarette…

    Lou Faber

  • LUNAR LUNCH

    Even as a child I wasreasonably certain thatthe moon wasn’t madeof green cheese as someof my friends said, becauseeven if it was cheese, Iwas sure it would be eitherRoquefort or Gorgonzola. No one had beento the moon back then,nothing had marred its surface,so we took the scientistson faith that it wassomething other than cheese. Now…

    Lou Faber

  • ISAN’S DO NOT BETRAY OTHERS 正法眼蔵 四十七

    If you fall, 20,000 armswill lift you up,when you sit10,000 join the Sangha.If you walk barefootin the snowI will put sockson my feet for you.If you hunger, Iwill give you an empty bowland this will beour shared dharma. A reflection on Case 47 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber