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NEWBORN
When you first pick her upshe is so much smallerthan you had imagined,fitting comfortably into the crookof an elbow, your handunder her knees.She raises a thin armand stares into andthen through youwith navy blue eyesthat you carry awayin your dreams.She is not fragile,that is the wrong wordfor her size beliesa strength she shareswith you, a…
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FIRST LOVE
The morning that I first loved youwas not the morning of the daythat I first told you that I loved you,fear needed a space to bridgeand an ocean served it well.It was not following the dayI first met you, saw you smile,heard you laugh, or perhapsit was and I didn’t notice.It was not the day…
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CASSIE
I looked for you last nightwhen the cloud slowly peeled backand the moon reluctantly went dark.Despite my presbyopia I foundyour throne lying in view, emptyand you nowhere to be seen, evenPersius said he never saw you leave.I truly miss you, Cassie and hopeyou will soon return for the starsare diminished by your absence.
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JOSHU’S CYPRESS TREE
Before the beginningof timewhat time was it?If you cannot answerthis simple koanyour answer is correct.In a drop of dewlies the universeall you must dois join it. A reflection on case 47 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)
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A FADED PHOTO
They stood side-by-sideas if frozen, adjacent butnot touching, two dollswhose hands were incapable of movement.They are expressionless, neitherstoic nor smiling as though the photographerwiped their faces free of expression.Grant Wood might have painted them,named his work Lithuanian Gothic.I want so to see the people behindthese facades, but I knowthat in 1934 a photograph wasa production,…
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ENCROACHMENT
Driving across the Sunshine Stateyou slowly realize the citrus groveshave fallen to the oppressive blightof growing communities, many gatedthat eke their way inland from the coasts.You still see the large cattle ranches,cows and bulls grazingwithin easy sight of the highway.You wonder if, in their solitude,they know their ultimate fateis the slaughterhouse and ifas they watch…
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TICK, TICK
Ignore what the physicists tell you,for truth defies their neat lawsand time accelerates as you age.Stop and consider that the timeyou have left, however much it is,will, per unit of their measure,grow increasingly shorteruntil, of course, you have none leftand then it will cease to matter.So it is best to get on with living.Put aside…
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A HAIKU
golden rice shootsunder Fuji’s eye –farmer stops for tea First published in To Live Here: A Haiku Anthology, Wee Sparrow Press, 2023 Sometimes good things come in the smallest packages. This is a wonderful, international collection of haiku by some amazing poets. You can find it here, it is well worth the purchase:https://www.amazon.com/Live-Here-Haiku-Anthology/dp/8409528169/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FVGMQCD12NUW&keywords=to+live+here+a+haiku+anthology&qid=1691607414&sprefix=to+live+here%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1
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SAVANNAH DREAMS
Slide between the sheetsexhausted after a day of walkingthe streets of this old city.This is a city of squares, statuestoo many to fully recall, eachone’s history unknown to most,and with the slowly falling rainto remain unknown to us.Despite its age and great beautythis is a tourist city, one whererestaurants don’t take reservationsknowing their tables will…
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TOKUSAN’S COMPLETION OF STUDY
Why do you struggleto not think, for not thinkingis the essence of thought.You cannot attainemptiness justas an open cylindercannot contain water.Just sit, just be,no words, no thought. A reflection on case 46 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)
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an old writer and his words 