Quantum Smile

 

When the Buddha held up a flower,

one disciple smiled. 

Buddha gave that monk the transmission.

 

What was transmitted?

 

A smile as manifestation of the innate

state of human goodness,

which is enlightenment,

which continues to this day.

Smiles work both ways.

Back To Normal

Back to normal after Christmas…

no more celebrating just because

everyone else is celebrating.

 

Celebrations rise and wane as a tide,

and we´re back to a bare, sandy beach.

 

¨I hope you took some photographs.¨

 

Postpartum, a lone piece of driftwood

worn smooth, indifferent to the next wave.

Coda

 Life condensed into a simple living space,

a simple routine.

It all boils down to this: 

after life’s adventures and dramas,

accomplishments and failures

have evaporated into time, leaving

a remnant of withered old man

in delicious dubious denouement.

Things That Matter

 1. Death before dishonor.

 2. Pizza before the hot wings.

 

3a.  Flowers before coitus

 

3b. ¨Always…always wait for your

       brother to die before you sleep

       with his wife.¨ (Hunter)

Christmas In Tepoztlan

 

 

The pueblo is closed.

The tiendas are shuttered.

The kiosks are covered.

It´s the Santa clause of the

social contract invoked

around the world.

 

Santa, a demi-god of materialism,

represents the joy of possession.

A pagan symbol that stole Xmas

from Christians, who earlier stole

it from earlier pagans.

 

Not that anyone is confused about it.

Merry Christmas!!

 

What is reality?

Is it what we think about it,

or something else?

When things seem different

than you thought they were,

what is your reaction?

How do you deal with

new information?
How did you deal when you

found Santa wasn´t real?

(Leave alone Christmas…

for now).

 

There´s a psychological

homeostasis in humans that

resists change in the norm.

It´s called ego, and it´s

continuously checking to make

sure things are OK, in relationship

to itself.

 

It repels challenges to its authority,

embraces enhancements to itself,

and ignores everything it can.

 

This is your so called reality: a

costume badly fitted to misinformed

prejudices and sketchy understanding.

 

Reality, my ass.

Out Of The Void

 

 

Out of the void comes words:

¨In the beginning was the Word.¨

 

We all came out of that void

between our mothers´ legs.

Is it some kind of portal?

It might as well could be.

And, it´s wonderful, portable

and sturdy.

We might be grateful we had

something to emerge from.

 

Vast, dark, impenetrable, yet

where would we be without it?

 

What´s really going to

bake your noodle is

we never really left.

¨Don´t scare the straight people.¨

 

 

People change, usually, only when

they have to…like when they get

hit by a car.

Some people live scared stiff lives.

Don't scare the straight people…

they can´t be scared straight.

The waking dead are already here,

everywhere,

blank faces, cementing their legacies,

their reputations, life plans into a

personalized rut.

Occasionally, one of them walks out

the door, never to return.

They are best left to draw

their own conclusions…

they can't handle the truth.

A Thousand Clowns

 

 

I come from a long line of

clowns,

comedians,

provocative Zen Masters

Tibetan Crazy Wisdom monks.

I know that because whenever

I meet one of them I feel like

I´m talking to myself.

 

There is no wrong place to look

for humor…everything´s fair game

because…….

…everything just is.

Rules are helpful but imaginary

and made to be broken…like, maybe:

¨Man will never fly.¨

 

If there was no slap stick

there would be no schtick at all.

 

Why does intelligence have to evolve?

Is it a simple matter of matter autonomically,

continuously organizing itself towards

further complexity?

 

And how did a poem about humor slide

into philosophy?

 

You got me! (Honk! Honk!)

New Notebook

 

Replaceable pages in an embossed leather jacket…

whip me beat me make me write bad checks.

More than the likes of me is used to, but I´ll

China shop my way through these pure sheets,

shattering illusions, breaking conventions and

young girls hearts…

Such large pages, an imposing volume of

blankness just asking for trouble.

Samsara

 

¨This will never work.¨

Much of the time it does…

…for a while…

Ozymandias…

la la la.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

¨I seem to keep saying the same

things, over and over.¨ Trungpa

We students of his were pretty thick.

But a little understanding is better

than nothing.

In our world, no understanding seems

to be the rule rather than the exception.

Hunting The Muse

 

Impossible

to predict

inspiration,

which is why

intuition is always a surprise.

 

You might meet someone´s eyes

across a crowded room.

 

You might recognize that everything

you knew was wrong.

Progress

 

 

Now that I´m old and don´t do very much,

I get into a whole lot less trouble.

 

Like all young people I was frisky and

curious and did lots of things…

some things weren´t so good for me.

 

I can now see the probable outcomes

of familiar types of situations that arise.

 

Now, like old, stale jokes told at a bar

full of regulars, situations that arise

have numbers…

 

…a woman flirts with me…that´s a 333…

not many of those lately…

 

…political discussions are 113…I try to

end them as soon as I see them…

you get the picture.

 

Still, every flower is new, fresh and lovely.

A smile on any face is timeless.

Blue Sky

 

Obviously unfathomable

metaphor for mind

synonym for space.

Look around you, then,

look up at the blue sky.

Notice the difference?

Flash on blue sky when

complications of life

get the better of you.

Skies are always blue

above the storm.

¨It´s blue skies

from now on.¨

Big Dud

 

The universe is the aftermath

of the Big Bang…evolution,

human history all are aftermath,

remnants of a catastrophic

accident that separated matter

and energy and spawned duality,

creating hamburgers and mobile

homes all in the name of intelligence

to make our lives better,

to evolve to a higher state,

just numbly never getting there,

and missing the fact that

we never really were anywhere

at all.