Tag: canadian poet

Poetry

Wild reflex

I am a wild animal
a structure is like a cage
I do not feel free in imagination
there is no longing to belong

I feel imprisoned by this other vision
I feel the enclosure around me
there was no escape
I must escape

I was once wild
the habits are hard to shake
the imprints are deep-rooted
though only small seedlings at surface
I am ruled by fear and concern
I long to run, having never learned

I am waiting to be released
like an animal waits
forgetting I have hands
forgetting I have keys

Poetry

Bloodroot

(Alternative title: Restless)

I’ll know spring is here
by the white-petalled flowers
like hiked high-waisted skirts
adorning leaf-green pelvises
emerging from a brown carpet of decay
leaves drained of their autumn exuberance
lazily revealing themselves
after winter’s white-blanketed sleep
then pushed aside without a peep
as through the beige come greener things
a trillium stalk and spotted trout lily
herb Robert and Virginia waterleaf
Virginia springbeauty and black raspberry
early blue cohosh and early meadow-rue
cut-leaved toothwort and my favourite, bloodroot

I’ll stop to pluck it from its orange tether
and snap the stem, a once small shoot
although it’s taken few weeks to grow
I rip it open and watch blood flow
this garish red unfit for skin
I smear on my wrists, as out, within
this little plant aglow with life
now bleeds as though clean cut by knife
and withering, dying in my hand
I toss it back to woods, to land
and with it, give a piece of me
a forest, springtime offering
a special elemental promise
thank you for appearing five
space, earth, water, wind and fire
in this time and in this wood
I’ll appear emptiness as I should
and until this winter fades away
with flowers in my mind, I’ll play

Tags bloodroot, canadian poet, Canadian poetry, Ontario wildflowers, plant identification, poem, Poetry, restless, seasons, seasons change, spring, wild flowers, winter, winter fever

Note Poetry

Renewed Determination

I’m going to keep doing the right thing.
No matter what.
Hardship does not make me give up. Sorrow does not equate to despair.
I am not a coward.
I will feel the pain and move forward.

Tags Buddhist Poetry, canadian poet, determination, free verse, good actions, happiness, hardship, moral discipline, patience, patient acceptance, poem, Poetry, renewed determination, renunciation, samsara, suffering, virtue

Poetry

I Win the Game

You lose by just remembering
You can’t forget your name
And even though you’ll try again
It’s really such a shame
You haven’t hope in high water
If you avoid this middle way
For never do I falter there
I win each time I play

It’s method tried and true
My guide has mapped easy escape
Yet, like so many, you’ll just ignore it
For sensual pleasures you’ll forsake
A win, a title, greatness
While striving for false fame
You’ll burn out, die, forgotten
While I beat you just the same

I win this round
I’ve won each match
All your little moves I catch
And it’s just no fun
To play in vain
For it’s far easier
To achieve my aim
Than for you to lose your stray

It’s like you don’t know how to play
And so I strive to let dogs stay
Where they sleep
I don’t say a peep
Never to blame
Rather my own mind tame
Because it’s not your fault you lose
I repeat, it’s just been a tasteless shame
And a waste of pure potential
If I’m the only one who beats the game

Tags canadian poet, creative writing, I lose, I lost, I win, life, poem, Poetry, remember, renunciation, spiritual path, the game

Poetry

Common Denominator

Intelligence and wisdom are rare
uncommon
problems and suffering are abundant
common

When taking stock of your own burdens
count what beasts find refuge in your flock
find the sum of your denominator
this path is carved from jagged rock

There is a division to set you free
based in what is always true
you can’t spell it without “m” and “e”
but it doesn’t exist without “you”

And if you feel this you is everlasting
you might wish for sweet release
but there’s only one place you find escape
in the depths of your mind . . . already at peace

Such a subtle inner destination
difficult without faith to find
absorbed in gross cessation
a very subtle wind will move a very subtle mind

Only a child dreams that death’s jaws
should be an automatic portal
to a supposed better place – or even an end

It would
be, could be
wiser to pretend
we are already happy
with strength to contend
showing a better character
moral discipline and restraint
with bravery and heart not feint
an honour for which all others thirst
and a mind that always puts others first

To figure out what’s common
to the denominator of your life
you just have to find a wisdom mirror
and let go of mindmade strife

The quality we wish to see
is already present –
it’s just buried beneath
aeons of bad habits . . .
and misguided familiarity

divide it out
for there is no
/me

Tags advice, attachment, Buddhism, canadian poet, Canadian poetry, common Denominator, common problems, intelligence, Poetry, renunciation, resources, responsibility, samsara, speaker, valentines day, wisdom

Poetry

Bitter Beauty

Winter’s hues
of pinks and blues
have brought me to my knees

Wind’s frosty bite
stings day and night
burned alive by blistering breeze

New fallen snow
rainbowed with sun’s glow
illuminates the deadened trees

Rare beauty appears
just once here in years –
so savour this vicious freeze

Tags beauty, canadian poet, Canadian poetry, cold, creative writing, frost, Impermanence, niagara winter, rhyme, seasons, simple poem, st. catharines, suffering, temporary, weather, wind, winter, winter landscape

Poetry

déjà vu

lying cramped in the tub
feeling like I’ve done this not hundreds
but infinite times before
floating here in scented water salted
overly concerned with eight unavoidable concerns
actually caring to be incensed or insulted!
tossed about violently and needlessly by eight winds!
anyway, words are received meaninglessly, buoyant on the sea
of a soured mind, like mine

if I observe for even a moment
I bear witness: I exist so foolishly
perfumed, smelling sweet as a rose
but still rotting with refusal to diffuse
the subtle self-cherishing arising
I see delusions and try to oppose
the inappropriate attention
hooking my senses
guiding me toward inappropriate action
easy to engage for a moment of mild enjoyment

but how much sweeter the treat of her
if you bank with interest for later delight
collected faster with correct imagination
using wise discrimination to do right
saving a virtuous treasure for
an auspicious time, devoid kryptonite
unknown to a non-clairvoyant,
powerful but ignorant mind, like mine

still, I accept that the merit must ripen and
I can find the fruits faster, not by cheating,
but by pure intention and
multiplying with imagination for
immeasurables and always remembering
the tub is the nature of suffering
changing, and misunderstood

Tags bathtime, beginingless lives, beginningless time, Buddhist Poetry, canadian poet, changing suffering, déjà vu, karma, poem, Poetry, samsara, suffering, unforgetting world

Poetry

Break the Chain

I no longer wish to meet those
who make me regret my virtue
of course, I can’t excuse my own forfeit of mind
and I never would regret virtuous intention
even when challenged!

Instead, I see clearly that in samsara
there exists no real happiness, no good reputation
no wealth, no status, no good condition
not only failure, misery, and criticism
not only lowly status and painful position
but always departing from what we love
and too often meeting what we hate!

So if i have any regret, it’s saved
for actions throwing me lower than the grave
then I purify completely in three more steps
with reliance, opponent force and firm promise
never again laying claim to hateful mind
never again to drink addictive poisons
never again to grasp, to crave
never again to begin again
the beginningless cycle of suffering
this lifetime I break the chain!

I will die without regret
having used every momently wisely
a cause-creator, achieving true happiness

Buddhism Philosophy Poetry

New Year’s Promise

If you put your hand in fire
And you feel the burn of flame
Although the pain is karma
You must pull your hand away

When others appear to hurt us
We do so much the same
Although appearance cannot harm us
We still turn and walk away

Now I love and cherish others
To purify these seeds of pain
I will practice taking and giving
And pray and all beings do the same

Tags 2025, 2026, Buddhism, Buddhist Poetry, canadian poet, Canadian poetry, four powers, new years, poem, Poetry, promise, purification, resolution, secret mantra, taking and giving

Good Fortune Poetry

For You, Alone

This path is for you, alone
and lonely though it seems
that’s just mistaken awareness
that perceives inherent dreams

For though no self is separate
as ordinary we can’t conceive
the pure joy of our existence
what we gain, all beings achieve

Tags bodhichitta, bodhisattva's way of life, Buddhism, buddhist path, Buddhist Poetry, canadian poet, delusion, encouragement, loneliness, mind, no separation, overcoming delusions, Poetry, realization, refuge, very subtle mind