Vocabulary Lesson

Outside the window,

The sun is out, the sky is grey,

It's pouring rain. Water spots cloud the glass.

Fullness and absence, make no sense to the wet bird

Shivering on the ledge in the snow, twisting its head to look at me

With one eye at time.

You insist,

You want to live in harmony,

You want to serve the highest good,

You want to stop suffering,

You want to be an instrument of change and justice,
You want to spread joy.

Waves of the sleepy cosmos meander, preoccupied, busily disengaged from the music of your desires.

Like an outgrown toy loosely held,

In the hand of a child falling deep under the waves of sleep,

Let them slip from your fingers,

Into the buffalo grass crowding the edge of the dusty road.

Hot or Cold

Thich Quan Duc abides

In caves, fields, mountains, streams.

Might burn yourself. Careful!

An Alligator Walks Into a Bar and Says . . .

Identity theft is no laughing matter.

Your precious gilt mask falls overboard into ancient pirates' hands.

In your dreams, you see it floating with the soggy wreckage of your ship.

You pick it up from the water; put it down on the sand. Embrace it, curse it.

Throw it away and watch as the green waves and white foam wash it back to shore.

Is it a mirror or window?

Either way: what do you see?

Trial of the Millennia

The trial of the millenia has come to an end.

A jury of your peers has reached a verdict.

Nothing is proved with certainty,

Yet your verdict is read by the foreman:

Convicted beyond a reasonable doubt and sentenced to death,

Or are you acquitted of all accusations and set free?

It's hard to hear above the clamor.

Either way,

With what will you pay your lawyer for completely abandoning your defense?

Practical Advice

When you are trying with all your might to succeed,

Are you trying to forgive?

When you are advancing up the steepest slope you've climbed,

Are you looking in the eyes of the fallen with respect and gratitude?

When you are taking a moment to admire the work you've done,

Do you remember that none of it belongs to you?

Don't Call This a Beginning

Whose bones will rattle when I pull the musty golden robe off this dried corpse?

Whose mother will cry when I steal her child's silver bell and sell it for whiskey?

Can you hear the crow cawing as she lands on the cadaver she gnaws for supper?

Listen carefully. She's calling your name.