Friday March 13th
brings an ostentatious snow
one more winter show
Categories
Renewal of Winter
Tag: Canadian poetry
(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
Categories
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
Categories
Karmic Enjoyment
it’s a beautiful night
I label, I grasp
still, I appreciate
nice temporary conditions
with childlike delight
(especially in winter)
knowing the cause of this peaceful mind
is not this appearance
but an action, long passed
now the effect blooms
in the garden of good conditions
no external wish granted
just joyful disposition
for winter never could bring happiness
what is this effortless arising
so easy, so pure
it’s the mind of renunciation
samsara’s cure
for the only reason I now have delight
is Dharma given kindly
which I recall tonight
Categories
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
Categories
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
It is said
they tasted the earth
and found it sweet
and that was the birth
of attachment to the food we eat
Attachment to the forms we see
to sounds we hear, scents we smell
to the tactile sensations felt
the gods betrayed us, every one
to attach a pleasurable feeling
to a non-existent tongue
Attachment, hatred
suffering, madness
all parts of the mind
love, compassion
equanimity, gladness
in only virtue will you find
everlasting happiness
Categories
A note from the caterpillar
The caterpillar is nice to visit
… in a way
He smokes his pipe
and blows his opinions
in your face
whether or not you’ve asked for it
But how much more you enjoy Alice
pretty and naive, a human even
quiet and observant, stupid even
(What would it be like?)
The girl and ‘pillar
both approach the end of a cycle transitioning, evolving
but one appears an ugly ascension
better left ignored
the other’s gracelessness is hidden
within, ignored
I am not Alice, a girl
secretive or demanding
wishing for non-blond understanding
I have never been lured
by a white rabbit or a rabbit hole
afternoon naps are not really my thing
and I’m awakening from my daydreams
I am the caterpillar
before it’s eaten by the bird
never to say a butterfly word or whisper
no kisses, no gratuity, no drinks
only brief passers pausing
for wisdom, absurd
or for entertainment to enlightenment
as I age to a disgraceful degree, resisting
before acknowledging
I’ll never fly
I’ll never be seen as
Alice
the caterpillar says goodbye
Categories
Late October
I love hearing the trees talk
sometimes the high branches speak
and the low branches listen
sometimes the east whispers to the west which gives silence in response
sometimes they all chatter at once
I lie in the sun, watching, listening
I dread the coming winter’s quiet
absent leafy voices,
instead violent creaks
disturb the silence, as do
small explosions,
breaking branches, piercing snow
crunching, snapping
deadened, hollowed,
muffled, no water flows
I wish that it would not come soon
but winter’s here in just one moon
Categories
beginningless rebirths, abridged
you see me as a girl when
I have been your mother
you see me mother, after
I have been your child
you see me enemy after
I have been your friend
you see me a beginning after
I’ve been each and every end
only you don’t see the continuum
you don’t see what it’s for
you don’t see the “big picture”
you beg for common sense once more
you see me as a girl
you take me as a lover
you feel each pleasure new
and each pain rediscover
next you’ll meet me as your foe
and know my torture’s art
you’ll beg to be without me
while wishes ripen to never part
the cruelest joke of samsara
the wish-granter, genie, jewel
all worldly prayers do cometh true
with just timing making us the fool
you see me as a girl
radiant, free, and open
and you, overcome with envy,
how you wish to see me broken
by running toward temptation,
grasping at the self, and craving
we lose the possibility of salvation
with such constant misbehaving
how can we overcome our loathing
and refrain from touching skin?
for in heated hate-filled love embrace
I’ll remember you were once my twin
you see me as a girl
when I have been your mother
I have been your sister, father, uncle
yes, I have been your brother
I have been a loyal lab
and I a miser, cheat, and thief
I’ve rested in eternal peace
only to wake with new belief
seeing inner demons, outer
giving unending evil toments
with such cyclic suffering for all,
how can bodhichitta remain dormant?
you see me as a girl
you take me as a lover
you feel each raw sensation new
and rare laughter rediscover
how ’bout we call it quits
and cease identifying this mind
’cause ordinary doesn’t cut it
when extraordinary’s been defined
I don’t know about your view, but
mine says this pleasure garden’s rotting
my time here is running out
and my tell-tale heart is clotting
so don’t see me as a girl
goddamn it! – don’t take me as a lover
because incest is against the law
and I have been your mother
just as sure, you have been mine
some aeons or some years ago
for we’ve done all there is to do
in all the worlds there are to know
so let’s grow bored and say no more
and escape with little wits we’ve left
we’ve done it all … oh countless times before!
now let us create cause for happiness!
The Halfwit Writer 