-
ARGOT
There is a languagespoken within a familythat no one outside speaks.It may sound familiarbut listen carefullyand learn otherwise.It is so with my brothereven though there arethick walls between usand yet, in a few wordsintentions are obvious.He keeps me farfrom a placeI’d just as soon not goand in her panicmy mother hears onlyour words and nottheir…
-
JIZO’S BUDDHISM 鐵笛倒吹 四十八
In setting along the pathdo you follow Hofukucovering your eyes so asnot to see evil, ears so as not to hear itand close your mindto wandering ideasor is Jizo’s pathyours as well? With eyes shut tightthe mind will still see,with ears covered soundwill echo, growing louderwith no hope of escape.With open eyeslight is reflected, with…
-
FIRST KISS
You ask me if I rememberwhen we first kissed, and then addand what was it really like for me. I know the answer you expect,and I am reluctant to tell youotherwise, but I have to be honest. It was moments after I left youat your door on our first date,having found my car finallyin the…
-
AND CUT
It is a sad fact of life that Floridahas disqualified itself as a movie setfor a vast number of filmsthat will now go before the cameraon the streets of some Canadian city. No one is making films aboutdrug runners coming ashore inteal and pink with a soundtrackby Jan Hammer, since the illicitdrug of the moment…
-
WAR
I have yet to wander the medieval battlefieldsof Europe and it increasingly seems I never will.I have visited my share of castles in Ireland and Scotland,but the acoustics there are not good, and I did nothear the anguished cry of soldiers falling in battle, I have seen rivers, quiet now, where the bloodof the vanquished…
-
ELEMENTARY
Each morning we stoodas the Principal intonedthe Pledge of Allegianceover the tinny PA system.One morning as we rose,hands over hearts,we noticed someonehad put up the Canadian flagin the holder over the door.The Principal threatenedto call all of our parentsunless the guilty partycame forward, and westruggled vainlyto swallow our giggles.No one came forwardand they foundthe Stars…
-
EXTINCTION
My granddaughter is intenselyconcerned with the growing lossof species, and rightly so, and Ishare her fears, though I feellargely powerless to do anything. She has the faith of youth, a beliefthat she and her peers can,with work, effect a lasting change,climb up the slippery slope whichwe have cast them down, and saveother species from a…
-
AUDITIONS DAILY
It should be easy, my friend said,to imagine yourself a characterin a novel you particularly like,like I’ve found myself in any numberof Tom Clancy novels, since I caneasily become a CIA agent, it fits me. I know I’d shoot myself in the footor worse, and I’d keep no secretsif you even threatened to torture me,and…
-
DAIJI’S INNER CULTURE 鐵笛倒吹 十語
Eyes can look withinand discover a boundless universebut the tongue alonecan speak only soundsthat go falseas they dance away unseen. The silence of zazenspeaks the dharma,the teisho is offered mutely. The space betweeneye and tongueis but three inchesor an unbridgeable void. A reflection on Case 15 of the Iron Flute Koans.
-
THE BEAST
Anger is an unruly beast,slinking around out of sight,bit always present on the periphery. What is remarkable is that anyone,anything might become its prey,and no one will know until the moment. But, and it is a significant but, whenit is a person who is the target,the lurking anger can be shunted aside if you simply…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
