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ASHES TO DUST
The dolphin is born of the water, the man born of the fire and of the earth. The dolphin swims unrestrained, the man chooses to live in the city of Afterlife, focussed on impending rebirth. The dolphin stares up in wonder at the amassing clouds, the man curses the sky shielding him from heaven. The dolphin…
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FOR RENE
What is inconceivable about the universe is that it should be at all conceivable. — A. Einstein Cogito dice clatter against a corner of the universe, rolling the bones of a thousand generations ergo one slides into the black hole void a loser next player to the line sum boxcars stacked as cordwood the snake…
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HSIANG LIN’S MEANING OF THE COMING FROM THE WEST
You are certain the key is to sit, for that is what your teacher has told you, that is the practice set out for you. When you feel you have not attained your goal on the path, you assume it is because you have not sat still enough, long enough, deeply enough. A wise sage…
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SEOUL
Thursday night, and Planet Hollywood in Seoul is dead, more smiling staff than diners, the bar a well polished wasteland, no lines in the gift shop, the Penguin mask staring out over the almost empty dining room. As we leave, having consumed half a bottle of soju between us to the blare of the endless videos,…
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PERCEPTION
The sweep of the second hand, the minute hand is constant, each moment as long as the last, none longer, none shorter and yet I know that Einstein was right in noting that things unpleasant take forever, while all that is joyful passes quickly, even when the elapsed time is the same. What Albert didn’t…
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THIRD EYE, NEEDING GLASSES
You ask me what is the first thing I can remember, and seem surprised when I tell you memory is much like a Buddhist river, never the same twice. Memory is a stage and I am one to forget my lines, today it’s the window in the back of a Miami Beach bus amazed at…
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KINKA’S ANCIENT MIRROR
A river may rub a stone until it reflects the morning sun. A jeweler may polish it and facet it until it shatters the light in ten directions. A wise man knows it is still the same stone. A reflection on Shobogenzo Case 117
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MILES FROM HERE
Some say Miles said it’s the space between the notes – that’s where the music is. We heard him, we smiled, we anticipated the next note and the next. Outside my window a blue jay recites his morning prayer, the child’s laugh breaks the frozen sky and shivers the maple. Then all is silence –…
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DEFIANCE
The stone defies the flame, drawing it in unyielding, until it is licked by the snow of winter The page defies the words, denying them purchase, they are flat without eyes to see them the repose unbroken The barren earth defies the king who orders it fertile as sand swirls engulfing the palace tearing at its…
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FOR THIS MOMENT
The sea is calm today not the petulant child thrashing at the harbor leaving her stone tears in the sands. Perhaps it is the sun stroking her dappled skin or perhaps she is merely listening to the whispers of clouds sliding off into the horizon. We don’t question the sea, that is for Jonahs, and…
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an old writer and his words 