an old writer and his words

  • WHY, OH WHY

    He was awash in questions. What, he wanted to know, did they use to cut the mustard? A knife seemed excessive, or did they mean some lesser powdered spice. Why was the cat in the bag? How do you learn anything by bruising your hand on books? Do buckets cause foot infections that kill you?…

    Lou Faber

  • WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

    They can have sharp edgesthat wound on contact, some cutsso deep they leave lasting scars. They can get stuck in the throatuntil you feel you can no longerbreathe, no longer cry out for help. They can lie there, anaggregate always acretingand yet rejecting any meaning. Or they can, carefully chosenpresent great beauty, offerhope, promise freedom.…

    Lou Faber

  • CABERNET

    I should pause for a momentand mourn the plump orbsvinaceous in the morning sun,torn free, placed in basketsand carried off to be crushed.But the cabernet beckons,its first sip telling the taleof the California summer,the oak having long forgottenthe tree from which it was cut,and I watch as the sunreluctantly retreats,a flaming farewell, the promiseof a…

    Lou Faber

  • SURGERY

    Preparing it to undergothe knife, its core excised,stem cast aside, slicedthen cut into piecesI pause to consider thatthis pear was oncea blossom, a delicatewhite flower, its cranberryred anthes soon to turnblack, picked carefully,cradled into a bushel,by a knowing hand,washed, and gentlypacked for shipment.For me it was justplucking it from the binat the market, holdingit in…

    Lou Faber

  • KISO CUTS A SNAKE 正法眼蔵 四十三

    Snakes, like coins,have both head and tail.If I cut a snake in two,have I two snakes,or none at all?Walk carefullyfor the spadethat cuts the snakecan dig an inescapable abyss. A reflection on case 43 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • STAGED

    At the moment of your birthmy son, I grew suddenly older,mortality became a realitythat I could no longer avoid. You could not imagine this,and I doubt others could seebut I knew and the infinitecollapsed inside the event horizon. Your brother came later, butthat death was incremental,a single cut among thousands,a step on a path you…

    Lou Faber

  • GENTO’S AXE 鐵笛倒吹 八十二

    You sit before himan axe in his hand.He asks a question and saysif you answer I will cut offyour right hand,if you do not respondI will sever your left. There is no soundfrom the clock in the corneras you silently grab his axeand he smilesin deeply shared knowledge. A reflection on Case 82 of the…

    Lou Faber

  • TOZAN’S DHARMA BODIES 正法眼蔵 語十語

    If I ask you“does a circlehave both insideand outside,” what do you say.If you cut it intothree pieces, whichhas inside, which outsideand what of the third? A reflection on Case 55 of the True Dharma Eye (Shobogenzo) Koans

    Lou Faber

  • CUTTING THOUGHTS

    My wife pauses by the placardin the nature preserve and tells methat what I have been calling grassesare in fact a sedge known as sawgrass. She points out the warning thatit’s serrated on the edge and earnedits name from those who graspedit without knowing or thinking first. I feign listening but she knowsmy mind is…

    Lou Faber

  • BROKEN DAY

    Morning slowly encroaches on your dreams, eroding images despite your tightening grasp. Clear lines blur, become hazy and dissipate bleached by the first light creeping around the shades. The dreams do not care for they will arise again when they choose and this is for them a mere inconvenience. You are the loser here for…

    Lou Faber