• I WISH

    You probably imagine thatthe life of the poet is one of greatexcitement and adventure.There are moments that mightbe deemed exciting or adventurousbut those happen just as oftenin the lives of those who despise poetry.And believe me, poetry is not onlynot a career, it’s not a job unless yousit in some city square and offerto write…


  • FROM 1 TO 10

    Modern medicine has made great advancesbut there are still things that seemabsolutely, positively medieval.The chairs in the waiting roomborder on almost comfortable,but in the examining room,since you haven’t yet been invitedup onto the padded table,the chairs are utilitarian at best.And then the moment when the docasks about your pain leveland you eventually sort outwhen he…


  • COLOURS

    We hunted him as a stagacross his fields, trophywe called him red man,color of Ares, godssacrificed on our altar,his rivers run with his spirit.I am whitebereft of color,barren, a glarea desert stripped of life.It is I who wearCain’s mark, pluckedfrom the gardenthe sweet taste fadesmy lips are dry.You are blackan amalgam, greenof the grasses in…


  • ON THE WING

    From watching them in flightI know that great egrets flywith their hinge neck folded inwhile Sandhill cranes extend theirs. By listening carefully, I knowthe cry of the male limpkin, his lowerthan his female partner, whilethe cry of the hawk only creates fearin those who might be its prey, andthe male Cardinal showsinfinite patience calling outfor…


  • SOON

    They are coming for him and he is ready. He has been waiting for this moment for quite some time. It Isn’t what he wanted certainly, but now it isn’t something to fear. He knows that once they come, he will look back on it and regret the moments he spent being concerned. He will…


  • FUKETSU’S IRON OX

    If you ask your teacherto give you the Dharmawhat do you expect ?But what if youtake it from him,what will youleave him with?If you find ityourself, thenyou are his heir. A reflection on Case 29 of the Book of Eq uanimity ( 従容錄, Shōyōroku)


  • ANCESTRY

    It shouldn’t be so easy to forgetwhere your ancestors came from, whythey left their homes, traveled toa new place where they might not be welcomedbut took the chance for a better future or justto avoid the horrors of where they were.It is a part of your DNA, yours werethe” other” then, but yours came and…


  • OCULUS

    I avoid telling people that Iam going blind in my right eyefor they always seem surprisedas if it should look differentor worse, they say “but it mightnot happen,” when I knowthe only way that is truehis if I die sooner, not somethingI want and if I told them thatwould be something for which theywould fumble…


  • MARKING TIME

    Life Is of limited duration but wenever know what that duration isuntil the moment it ends, and thenwe have no reason to care.But as we age and that periodnecessarily shrinks, some pauseand wonder what’s left, wonderwhat they might have done differently,where they would be today if they had.But they don’t stop to consider thatevery moment…


  • ANOTHER EVENING SPENT

    I wonder if there are priestssitting on beds drinking Diet Cokeand contemplating the meaningof heaven, of sex,of indigestion from a burgerand fries with onionsin a bar, the angelscovering their ears from the dinof four pool tables,of slipping on the spilled Red Rock,while outside the traffic thinsand the neon blinksits message to the gods. First appeared…