Sunday Communion

He sat down next to me perfunctorily 

started talking a mile a minute,

I didn’t understand a word.

Young Mexican he offered me some weed,

referring to a pipe I had in my hand,

how he saw it blows me away, he was

a block away when I hid it in my hand…

my reputation precedes me?

I didn’t understand, I was naked, exposed,

transparent, obvious….disconcerting you bet…

it’s gotta be because I’m old.

That happened.

I’ll examine that experience and make adjustments 

to the machinery, the i robot trudging randomly 

from one scene to the next, the script predetermined.

Now I’m in a different realm.

Listening to The Rolling Stones.

Gotta be a reason that music meant so much to us

and still does.

I wish music on all of you, dancing in the streets,

alone in front of the mirror,

“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

joyful,

music that uplifts you…just a little.

I’m an idiot, dancing with my eyes closed

on the edge of a cliff.

When you get to the top of the rollercoaster

you know you’re going down.

Ask anyone who’s done cocaine.

Sorry to be topical,

sorry no one has taken my head as a trophy…

yet. 

(close enough to Halloween).

My words are coming Jackson Pollock,

I don’t mean nothin’ by it,

just gettin’ into the music…

a body can’t be blamed.

Act Three

 (there always has to be three

for the quantum circus)

Ahem, as I hadn’t said yet,

I’m poor, but I have some M&M’s.

I look at the children, and think:

“It’s the little things that count.”

“Shall I fly away in a balloon,

or smash my head against a brick wall?!”

(Chekhov)

I sold all my tools in Denver before I left

for Mexico….got probably 20c on the dollar,

if that, and I have a couple of tools here, now,

and a hunting knife I carry always in case

something happens. 

I was at a Fiesta on Church grounds, drunk,

sitting next to a senior, drunkenly talking,

not loud, weeping, opening and closing 

my knife.

Dumb ass.

The next thing I knew I was standing and there 

we’re seven policemen in front of me, 

just standing there.

I thought it was humorous…the tallest one was five-seven…

I thought: “the munchkins got me! I’m screwed!”

I counted them slowly while they watched…seven.

Then I counted myself…one.

They were smiling.

I silently handed over my knife and went home.

A perfect transaction.

Another holy moment.

Another beginning, another end?

I don’t call us human beings anymore,

I call us “continuities” not “souls”,

it’s obvious I think.

“The continuity of the discontinuity.”

is where I’ll say goodbye.

Sitting On Top Of The World

Sitting on top of the flurry 

about the clouds floating

ephemeral exquisite moment of time.

Can’t say time is one my side…

we look at each other warily.

In the moment is the only place I can be.

The past is so far behind, 

the future is a drop in the bucket.

Carpe diem was never like this.

It’s all a blessing from the lineage,

if one can look at it that way.

I have no choice because I am

singing my idiot songs,

bathing in light of the day.

The Grateful Dead is still alive in my heart,

music that echoes on down the line, 

the linear lives we purport to lead.

“I was born in the desert, raised in a lions den.”

You don’t have to tell me twice.

I’m ready, just give me the word,

just don’t say: “The bird is the word.”

…that’s my trigger word.

Just having fun here…I lost the point.

Maybe the word is the point,

but let’s not talk about that now.

The rest is just those plastic bubbles

after you’ve opened the package.

Sorry for the mess.

Extended Trosang Extended

How long does trauma last?

The karma of trauma, 

big ripples in the pond.

A tsunami leaves scars.

How long to get back on track?

Still vibrating from recent events.

I'll be kind and give myself more time.

A black butterfly greets me... 

I take that as a sign.

Into my coffee and cigarettes again,

watching them rebuilding the wall

that fell...scary the scar-y world.

One hopes one leaves without 

much baggage to carry forever.

There's a war for our souls, if

that's what you want to call them.

You call them "souls", I call them 

"continuities".

There's certainly a war, in any case.

Why are there wars, industrialized,

societal slaughter?

Certainly there's evil in the world...

I guess that's the only way.

Don't cry for us, Argentina, we all

go this way.

Meanwhile, it is a lovely day.

I can feel it, Dave...

there's still joy in my Mudville.

Life sucks, life's a struggle, that's 

what Buddha said.

That's all I needed to get my 

ass in gear, 

in the groove to nowhere.

Some things aren't important,

but they're interesting.

The important things we tend 

to overlook, put on a shelf some 

where, until we think we have 

the time. 

Some of them are bombs on a timer.

Some of them aren't necessary for 

survival, only for understanding.

Ignorance is bliss to the uninitiated.

"You don't have to be crazy to live 

here/ work here but it works/helps".

You don't have to live here to be crazy...

but... that's what sense of humor is

all about.

Why "sense of humor"?

.. a sense of the sense of something.

Why not just "humor"?

What is humor?

Absurdity for sure... silliness 

provides a lot of laughs.

Humor is when the mind's logic flips,

like a clown mugging the camera close up.

Humor is ocean waves washing the 

mountain side of trauma, until 

the mountain is no more.

The Old Photographer

 He has everything he needs, he’s an artist, he don’t look back.

Artists are thieves of reality,

feeding on the feast of phenomena,

good, bad, happy, sad, in all kinds of weather.

He ignores everyday conventions to speak the truth.

He’ll take what he can get and ask for more.

Vajra ignorance 

very dangerous.

Extended Trosang

Extended Trosang during Don season…

I need to relax after two days of near

death experience if you know what I

mean:

a kid stepped on my glasses,

two of my teeth fell out,

 I couldn’t call the bank and wanted to

kill myself.

 I weathered that storm, once again in

the peaceful valley.

I don’t say I deserve it.

But I’m taking it.

Overcoming Is Underwhelming

It’s better to be free, in non thought,

senses open, attuned to phenomena.

You can’t get there from here if you’re 

not already there.

Waiting For The Firing Squad

I had a very nice coffee this morning

with cigarettes as I usually do.

Numb to what might come next,

I’ve thought it all through.

A reprieve is in the works, will it

get here in time?

Waiting for the execution has never 

been part of my plan.

Still, the time I have is glorious,

more so because I know my time is short.

I wonder what the last thing I will see

will be; a bird, a flower, a cloud?

Whatever it is I will take with me;

a message from Garcia I’ve acted on

from then until now.

The firing squad got bored and went home.

I was unceremoniously let out of my prison.

You never know what will happen until it happens.

Carpe Diem

 “Will I ever forget that precarious moment?

As i was standing on the third rail waiting for the 

next train to grind me into lifeless atoms various

absurd thoughts slyly crept into my highly sexed mind,”

e.e. cummings 

Close today…thinking of how I’d do it…emailed my friend 

who had helped another pal find the exit with a final cocktail…

he helped me find an alternative, a solution, enable me to go on.

He’s helped me a lot, the most generous man I ever knew.

I almost didn’t want his philanthropy this time…old and tired

of trying to make things work…he’s older than me…won’t be

around that much longer but said he still cares…that’s one.

Life is temporary any way you cut it…”eat healthy food, get

plenty of exercise, and die anyway.” Jim Fixx, who popularized 

jogging, died while jogging in Vermont…just a side note not

related but the irony is there.

Good to find out what life is for before the inevitable happens 

with a big surprise…I keep saying the same things…indicates

my tank is almost empty I guess…do my words have any value…

words are magic/powerful/change people’s minds for sure…

they also can be a virus as Burroughs wrote/like music can get

in your head/some words you always remember like what my

father said: “The truth is the most important thing.” thanks dad.

Lying in bed after today’s drama ready to sleep well/I will/get

up and do what needs to be done to continue for a while since

that’s what’s on my plate it seems…could have fooled me…

reality did a bit/why I’m on the edge/the Hindu yogi told me

that’s where I would die/today he was almost right.

“By this time,however,the flight of crows have ceased. I

withdrew my hand from the tennisracket.  All was over.

One brief convulsive octopus and our Hero folded his

umbrella.

It seemed too beautiful.” (cummings)

Where Are You Going?

Life is not a destination, it’s a journey.

“I am a verb.” as Bucky put it.

When you finally arrive, you’re back 

where you started; in the fresh gleam

of the open mind you had at birth.

Cusp #3

Survival?

Doesn’t seem to be much point

anymore, for me anyway, having

done what I needed to do the best

I can my whole life until now when

time has become limited and my

skills have diminished what good

it is to remain standing is questionable.

No one gets out of here alive, as Jim

Morrison said, but who listened? Who

heard those words? Jim set an example 

by living fast and dying young. Like all

the prophets of the Sixties he was killed

too soon. Everyone that was too good

and spoke too loud in the last fifty years

was removed slowly or quickly. No room

for art in a dictatorship because it makes

people think. 

That’s why Disney is failing, why all the

talk show hosts tell the same unfunny

jokes, why all the MSM stations tell the

same skewed stories word for word, why

the Communist politicians say the 

opposite of the truth. 

Time Now

Old.

Time seems so fast.

The great thing about brainwashing is, these days,

you meet someone, and, in a couple of minutes,

you realize whether or not it’s worth talking to them.

Matty Gaskar, the renowned Sicilian poet, was putting 

the final touches on his Magnum Opus: “What Happened?”

an epic poem paralleling the great oral epics of Homer

and Twain. At his age, he’d probably be better off gazing

at a television set flipping channels rather than trying to 

write a tome of vast meaning, but Matty didn’t know the 

meaning of the word “quit”… because he didn’t speak 

English. He was at the acne of his profession…..a pimple 

on the face of literature.

He went to the refrigerator to get some milk. The expiration 

date on the carton was 532 B.C….there was a photo of a

boy on the back, with words in hieroglyphics that read:

“Have you seen this pharaoh?” The milk had gone bad.

Things were changing in the world so rapidly, he couldn’t 

keep up anymore…that milk was still good in 1955.

Time was funny like that…each day felt like a thousand

years.

Equanimity

We are not all created equal. 

Some are born geniuses, 

some are born with birth defects,

cerebral palsy, etc..

The equality in the Declaration 

of Independence means only we

are equal in the eyes of the law.

For a Buddhist, equanimity is a better word.

Equanimity means treating all sentient beings

equally; friends, lovers, enemies, animals.

Attachment to dear ones always leaves us

disappointed, at least at the time of death.

Hatred of others, as one enlightened guy said

is like “seeing one’s own dirty face in the mirror”.

Attachment, positive or negative, destroys our

peace of mind and only creates suffering for

ourselves and others.

It’s not that we should let anyone run us over.

Stopping evil beings from their evil, whatever

it takes, is compassion…it prevents those beings

from causing more trouble for the world.

Buddha himself, in one of his former lives it’s said,

killed a sea captain who was about to kill a bunch

of Bodhisattvas on his ship. Buddha killed him and

saved them.

A mind free of conflicting emotions sees right from

wrong and acts accordingly, otherwise we’re at the

mercy of this and that because of the karma we create

that blows us hither and thither like straw in the wind.

That doesn’t sound so good, does it?

Why do we insist on creating problems for ourselves and others?

They say a word to the wise is sufficient.

Wisdom only comes from seeing things clearly.

“Be precise, see clearly, know what is.”

This is said to be how confidence arises,

not being swayed by the things of the world.

That’s the way it is, my children, I’m not 

making anything up…it’s all been said the same

way for two and a half millennia.

If we treat each other with kindness and compassion 

rather than anger, envy and arrogance, we’re getting 

somewhere, somewhere we should know to want to be.

It’s the Garden we arose from.

What do you think about that, I wonder.

Wake up and smell the gnosis.

Chaos Is Opportunity

I Ching, hexagram 49:

Revolution/molting…

“On your own day you are believed.”

“Precise timing, inner authenticity and

clarity precedes outer action.”

“Abolishment of outdated structures 

to establish a new legitimate order that

better serves the present context.”

“Once the time comes act fully and

without hesitation.”

I can’t think of a better way to describe 

the precise moment we find ourselves in.

Get back, JoJo, to the Republic where you

once belonged.

Go home.

We’re still in the fog of war.

There’s never been a moment in history 

where the path to the future, either way,

was as clear.

Brainwashed minions want to destroy the world.

Get back, Loretta.

Boo!

I lost a tooth that will be repaired.

Fortuitously, it's part of my costume today.

Use what you have, as someone might say.

I look at reality and know I'm not pretty,

but we all have to go with what we got.

My name today is Pumpkinhead, or Jack-

O-Lantern if you prefer.

Life is worth celebrating in any case.

Turn your lemons into lemonade.

For Hiromi

Looking at photos of the tea house you and Jack shared,
the beautiful emptiness of the spaces without you two,
yet you both are there in the beauty and placement of
just-so-ness of the wood, the art, the plants, the rocks
outside, as if it too was living, breathing, waiting for 
both of you to appear.

Samurai Spirit

I only became good at what I wanted to.

Acting was the first thing, I started in high school.

Later on, I did some professional theater,

and got good reviews in the media.

I started the Buddhist path and became a plumber

around the same time.

The Buddhist path goes on forever.

My mind is not the same as when I began.

Enlightenment is no longer the carrot it once was.

Plumbing was the hardest thing I learned to do.

After a decade or so, it became automatic, I knew

what to do, or, I should say, my body knew.

I became like a Samurai, cutting down enemies effortlessly.

I taught Buddhism for over ten years.

I was a bad teacher at first, but I kept at it.

Eventually I started getting compliments.

I was never good at making money,

it didn’t interest me.

Now that death approaches, it matters less

than before.

I live in Mexico but never learned Spanish.

It never seemed a necessity.

We get good at what we persist in.

It could be anything;

skateboarding,

flying a plane,

being aggressive or lazy,

making balloon animals.

Choose wisely what you put

your time into.

If it’s something you want to do,

never give up.

If you want to do something, 

start now.

If not now, when?

I would say, if you want to know the truth,

read everything you can…it’s there somewhere.

That’s what I did when I was young, when my mind

was furiously thinking.

Gradually, everything began to make sense to me,

even why so many people are confused,

why they turn to fixed beliefs for security,

why they gain the world and lose their souls.

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.

That’s karma in the womb.

It continues into life.

Those who look around to find the truth

for themselves have done so before.

Nature then nurture.

Sometimes reading something someone 

wrote saves a lot of time.

Things Get Clear When You’re Cornered

On the battlefield,

protesting ICE and getting shot,

three bananas and a peanut butter

and jelly sandwich as food for the day,

the interview for the job,

the intervention by your family.

The consequences of one’s actions are inevitable.

Will good triumph over evil?

Is that the overwhelming question?

Or is it that the Q. F. S. will come about, 

(Charley Ward/Simon Parks) to save us?

(Clif High says that’s a scam).

“What’s good is bad, what’s bad is good,

you’ll find out when you reach the top

you’re on the bottom.” Dylan

We live in a time of uncertainty,

so much so that common sense

is obscured by the fog of war,

a war for our minds for which

uncertainty is the weapon.

Are space aliens real?

Is the Right right?

Are Progressives progressive?

Will there be World War Three?

In uncertainty, anything’s a possibility.

They throw in words/names you recognize 

to give you a last straw to cling to.

“It would be so much easier 

if you would just believe.”

Blue Sky

 Blue sky reigns over the world,

crystal clarity of things as they are.

It's a simple observation.

Why complicate what's in front of you?

Yes we do, oh yes we do.

All the songs were sung about it,

don't you see?

Nothing's new, nothing's new.

It's always the same old whatever 

you get up to.

You're welcome, don't mention it.

My public service is beating the obvious 

into the ground.

Warhol's Campbell soup can,

American Gothic,

Dali's melting watches

same as this man walking in front of me.

Life is art,

if you see it that way.

My life is a fart in a windstorm,

it's my heart on my sleeve.

It's obvious to everyone.

It's why I'm ignored

like history.

Cute Day

Lots of smiles and Buenos Dias…

not thinking about the universe…

oops.

Rainy season ended with two nights

of wind, knocking out the lights….

the winds are always the tell.

A man, chunky strong, pink shirt,

black pants, grudgingly gives a gruff

howdy, obviously engaged in causes

and conditions,

not that there’s anything wrong with that.

He’s just another universe waiting to be discovered…

oops.

There’s so much I don’t know,

so much I forgot,

but not the big pieces…

I have a few good brain cells left.

Is that why everything seems so simple anymore?

Might as well could be.

And so it goes.

We’re already here, so it seems ludicrous 

that we’d try to get there, since we can’t anyway.

Put that in your Rococo algorithm 

and elaborate 

and characterize

or, like me,

slowly slide through the space maze

enjoying the journey 

repetition is how we learn.

Fresh Start

You can always start over

‘til it’s over.

Today can be the day it all comes together,

why the señorita is singing as she walks,

what the old grumps in the coffee house

are discussing,

why it feels good to have a new book, 

fresh paper to write on.

The little things add up to the Big Picture.

That’s why Eliot wrote:

“Oh, do not ask ‘what is it?’

Let us go and pay our visit.”

“For once, then, something.” Frost

For once seeing something without description,

The Teeth Mother Naked At Last,

the aforementioned seniorita,

the next guapo caballero,

it’s all ordinary magic.

It’s a big world,

it’s a small world,

it’s an unfathomable universe

though some have actually seen it.

Since the mind doesn’t die and we have forever,

might as well could start enjoying the ride.

It’s happening now, within you and without you.

It’s wabi-sabi natural perfection throughout 

the Whole Megillah, are some words.

Sooner or later it’s your turn,

whether you like it or not.

Life could be a dance,

or you could live it as if someone has a contract 

out on you.

That’s a pretty heavy line to end on.

Good thing it doesn’t have to end.

In The Maze

It’s amazing when you’re in it,

you can’t really see it.

It takes an aerial view,

a panoramic perspective to have

any idea.

We’ve been in it our whole lives.

Few have gotten out in one piece.

I’ve seen the pattern my whole life.

Sometimes I’m in it, 

sometimes I’m not.

How can that be?

It depends on what you see.

When you examine it closely,

it’s not really there,

even though it always seems to be;

smoke and mirrors in the funhouse.

Outside of the maze is the real world,

the trees and the greenery and so on,

Arthur C. Clark: “The City And The Stars.”

a beautiful world without borders that has

never not been there.

I’m looking at it now, 

the only time it’s available,

outside our so important pipe dreams.

If there were no problems, no solutions 

would be possible.

The mind needs to play/the play of the mind

in order to evolve.

A couch potato is not going anywhere.

It’s doubtful he knows where he is.

“I’m Sorry.” Patsy Cline

It is sad.

It’s also wonderful we could have a clue

at all.

Telephone Poem

Hello?

Who is this?

Isn't that the ultimate question?

When you answer the phone,

shouldn't your question be

"Who is that?" or, "What is that?"

I'm asking.

What is that is more interesting.

Who is a complicated abstract mess,

wouldn't you agree?

I could tell you my whole life story,

and still you would have no idea of

why I was standing in front of you.

I didn't get your name...all I hear

is some heavy breathing...you must

be someone from my wife's side of 

the family.

Who Knows?

My friend was pissed because I used emojis.

He thought they exhibit a decline in intellect.

What can I say?

My intellect isn't what it used to be.

As long as no bugers are hanging from my nose,

I'm doing pretty well for me.

What's new?

December third might be an interesting day.

Most people I know are nervous with anticipation,

though none of us know what is going to happen.

Lots of ideas floating around, more so because 

of the uncertainty.

I live in a country no one pays much attention to.

It's not like the big three: The U.S.A., China and

Russia, in the middle of tamasha, World War three.

I get to be anonymous in obscurity, lucky me.

Fame has ruined lots of lives: Kerouac, Malcolm 

Lowry, Sixties rock stars, the list goes on.

I'm a small fish in a little pond, or is it an aquarium?

I wouldn't mind if I was a pet.

I just wish the aliens would take better care of me.

Classless Society

That's what the Socialists want.

(Socialism is always Communism Lite).

If you look at the Socialists in America,

you see how they practice their beliefs.

They have no class.

Their aesthetic is purple hair,

faces full of metal,

tattoos everywhere.

Not the kind of people I would want 

to be seen with in public.

They wouldn't like me either.

I'm a normal, well adjusted citizen,

not only interested in making a display.

I do wear colorful clothes, 

not a sandwich board proclaiming 

the end of the world, solely an invite 

for interested, descriminating strangers.

I'm an actor, a poet, that's why I do it.

I don't wonder about their motives, I know.

They have no idea what they're doing,

lost in the maze of misunderstanding,

trapped in the soap opera of delusion,

wasting their lives in meaningless,

trivial behavior. 

a sign of the dark age

we all find ourselves in.

Note on the kerfuffle at SNL

Don't look at me.

You couldn't possibly comprehend,

understand or fathom me.

I am perfect and have no pain.

Your eyes have no right to see.

The Three Types Of Suffering

Hey, I'm a Buddhist... what do you expect?

The suffering of conditioned existence.

The suffering of change.

The suffering of suffering (the pain of pain).

Most people don't know the pain of conditioned 

existence.

For them it's like an eyelash in the eye.

For a Buddhist, it's like having a piece of wood 

on the eye... we're professionals.

Lucky us.

The pain of change is easily illustrated.

You get what you want, then you lose it.

Pain of pain is that on top of pain is more pain.

For example, on top of the fact I'm running out 

of money, I have no electricity and the modem 

got fried.

I won't dwell on the subject.

It's just good to know reality 

so you won't be surprised when it happens.

Don't shoot the messenger.

That would be painful.

Coda for Jack

I kept thinking of Jack all day.

I wanted to...he was in my mind

and I wanted to keep him there.

Two things happed yesterday, 

before I heard about Jack, were

different.

One was that I cleaned my kitchen,

a rarity.

I'm pretty wabi-sabi about my life.

I don't mind a little filth, since I was 

a plumber, and it never bothered me.

When I woke and saw the kitchen clean,

I thought of Jack.

The other was an old stone wall across

from where I habitually sit, have coffee,

and write, fell down.

It had wanted to do that for a long time.

The phenomenal world is poetry.

Jack's life is poetry.

Usually, I'm the one that writes the poem.

In these instances, Jack wrote one for me.

Odds And Ends

What are the chances (odds) that we’ll end up

where we want to be?

Only your actuary knows for sure.

Can mathematics tell us where we want/need

to go?

Can it tell us how we’ll feel when we get there,

that it’s actually what we wanted?

Would we even know?

There’s always uncertainty because nothing

is ever cut and dry.

The only thing we can be sure of is change.

If there was a goal, and we reached it, what then?

Set more goals?

That’s the futility of: “It’s turtles, all the way down.”

If you wait, immovable in one spot, 

the world will come around…

there’s a pretty good chance, not that we’ll reach 

our destination, but that, at least,

another bus will come, or that, unexpectedly,

we’ll discover ourselves where we should be.

The Passing Of My Friend, Jack Convery

I met Jack in Vermont at Trungpa’s meditation

center, worked with him years later at Gampo 

Abbey in Nova Scotia, spent a few weeks with

him in Kyoto at his tea house/dojo, where he

taught chado, as a ranking teacher of the 

Urasenke tea school. Jack was a man of great

heart and authenticity. He was an embodiment 

of the Shambhala aesthetic of first thought, best

thought, natural basic goodness and clarity.

Ode For Jack

When I got to Kyoto, you honored me with a feast,

and the Maiko, apprentice geisha, who danced for

us in a way so that you could sense hundreds

of years embedded in the display, ancientness 

present in the moment, the tears and joys of a 

civilization condensed into movement that was

simple yet conveyed genuine vastness and wisdom.

It was your world I found myself in those days,

your Shambhala household of ordinary magic,

which it undeniably was, vivid, splendid and yet

mundane, as if every day could be heaven on earth.

That’s what I saw and knew when I was there, the

true meaning of being a warrior, not to conquer or

control, simply to be open and brave enough

to see things as they are and act accordingly with

kindness knowing we are all together in this 

floating world we share for an ephemeral spark

of time.

The Best Poem Ever Written

So much truth has been lost in antiquity,

obscured by the degenerate time we are in.

To give some context, one could think of the

best poem ever written like that joke that

Monty Python portrayed as been lethal, and

was broadcast to the enemy to defeat them.

There are references to the poem throughout 

ancient literature and commentary. There was

said to be a copy of the poem in the library of 

Alexandria. Rumor has it that that was the real

reason the library was burned to the ground.

People appreciate poetry because they find

images, ideas, perspectives about life in them

that ring true to them…it might be just one line,

one image that resonates in their being, but

even such a small connection is sometimes 

enough to change one’s view of life in a profound 

way.

The best poem ever written, as far as what we know 

about it, was much more powerful. It’s said that it

had been held as a tight secret in Tibetan monasteries,

and in certain Jain and Hindu temples. Only those

that had advanced on their paths even had a chance

to be allowed to read it. 

We know some things about it through testimony.

It’s said that few people could read it all the way 

through. The first part of the poem, from what we 

know, is like running a verbal gauntlet, by which

one’s ego, all of one’s ideas and opinions about 

the nature of reality, were stripped away shockingly 

and uncompromisingly. That part of the poem was

hard enough to read. The second part of the poem

described reality as it truly is. The effect of reading

that part of the poem is illustrated by a story:

Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to Tibet,

had a consort named Yeshe Sogyal. They were both

recognized as enlightened beings. Yeshe Sogyal

asked Padmasambhava to show her the nature of

the universe, the vast array of world systems and

dimensions. He said: “I’ll only show you a part of

it.” He did so, and the experience for her was such

that she fainted. The effect of reading the second 

part of the poem in question was said to be equally 

intense.

You can see why the poem was hidden from most

people, even most practitioners of the various schools.

The possibility that the poem even ever existed in

these places is in doubt. There’s more proof that Jesus

traveled to India and became a yogic adept than there

is for the poem’s existence. 

There have been a few intrepid scholar adventurers 

that spent years searching for the poem. Some of them

claim to have found a line or two hidden in obscure,

ancient texts. Those that have and talked about it agree 

on one point: those that think they know reality or believe 

in this or that explanation of it are lost.

Disco

The dance floor,

the killing floor,

it’s all a dance of life and death.

My name is Dancer of Patience…

is that an oxymoron?

Never the less, I continue in the

linear timeline, other dimensions 

obscured by the limits of perception.

I’m governed by the vehicle I inhabit.

At least, I get to see in color.

I have the wherewithal to follow a path

to awakening, however much I’ve succeeded 

in seeing the world clearly.

How’s about you?

I wonder what they do with their lives.

I’ve seen some of them walking down the street.

The ones I know say hello, the others might smile

or nod…after all, this is Mexico.

People are friendly if one is not an Ugly American.

America is ugly right now…I’m glad I’m not there 

to share the chaos and ambiguity.

Change is the bane of the sheeple.

Wake up, it’s time to die, and be reborn into

a Golden Age?

Impossible to see right now because of the fog of war.

So I continue, precariously walking a tightrope until

the end of my days.

Plenty of people to thank, no one to blame.

I got where I am because of the help of others.

Don’t we all?

I was smart enough to not get caught in the traps of men,

a major victory, but it didn’t leave me much wiggle room.

There’s no rest in life, whether you’re good or wicked.

Things happen, one after the other, until the end.

I haven’t worked a job for over twenty years.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy…unfortunately,

there’s no money in writing poetry…it’s my auto-da-fe.

Don’t cry for me, Argentina, it’s a waste of tears.

It’s getting better all the time.

I hope I’m finished before the finish line.

If not, there’s still the continuity of the discontinuity,

if you can make heads or tails of that.

My way of thinking is not original.

It comes from what all the masters said already.

I’m just repeating what I’ve learned from them to be true.

So, children, I hope you find your way through the morass

to a sunny day, sitting on the sidewalk.

I would welcome you sitting next to me.

I have a friend to laugh with about the foolishness 

of a world that doesn’t see.

Soon it may, and, at first, the repercussions won’t be pretty.

I may not live to see a newer, kinder world…that’s ok with me.

Moses didn’t get to the Promised Land, not that I’m a prophet.

I’m a mere Polonius, waiting for the stab through the arras.

Frankly, the whole thing is a pain in the ass, with occasional 

colorful balloons of delight. I’m what you call a cheap date.

I’m only continuing to sing in my chains, like the sea.

Tendrel

Actions have consequences.

Is that too hard to understand?

Good actions have good consequences,

bad actions the opposite.

It's true on a quantum level, since 

the mind doesn't die.

"What goes around comes around",

you've heard it all before.

The truth is not a mystery.

"500,000 halos outshined the mud

and history. We washed and drank

in God's tears of joy. And for once,

and for everyone, the truth was not 

still a mystery." Jimi Hendrix 

Karma is the momentum of our 

actions carried throughout our lives.

We can change our karma by

changing our actions;

going to rehab 

learning to meditate

getting that degree

reconciling with an enemy.

We're only trapped in karma 

if we cannot see.

In order to see, we have to look.

Aye, there's the rub.

Blinders are for horses.

We can do better than that.

The world is waiting for us 

to wake up.

We get all the prompts we need 

from nature 

from accidents that aren't 

accidental

from all the poets and visionaries 

from a child's smile.

The world is our lover.

Don't be shy.

What’s Up Monkey Boys?

Humans have possibilities,

being born as an animal not so much.

In fact, as a human, one can get enlightened.

Animals, not so much.

As a human, one can be obsessed by many things.

In that way, they are not much different from animals.

Just something to ponder

on your bus ride

on your coffee break

when you’re stuck in traffic 

just before you fall asleep.

Just something I sometimes think about,

having studied Buddhism for many years,

it’s become part of me, the way I see.

What do you see besides what the little voices 

in your head tell about you what’s going on?

Cool and cloudy today…I brought my umbrella 

but there were only a few drops from the buildings.

There’s no magic in words, incantations, but there

is in music and poetry, sound in general, in the

bluster of the politician, not in the speech, in authentic 

presence, if you’ve ever seen such a thing.

There’s magic in the way people walk down the street.

There’s magic in the man slumped in a doorway, 

clutching a bag with a bottle, half awake.

There’s magic in the stray dogs chilling in the market.

You have to know what to look for, or, at least,

how to look.

Look out is good advice.

Written To Gagaku

The day starts as any other…

leaves on the maple trees blaze red

a while longer.

A courier will arrive today

with a message from the West.

There will be storms later.

A spinach empanada, a delicacy 

I bought in the shop in town,

and a potato cake will be breakfast.

I wonder if my friend, Chado Master,

is having tea in his dojo now?

I’m delighted to think of him.

Waiting/not waiting for the flower girl,

the Executioner, the dog’s bark in the backyard,

the maple leaves starting to fall.

I wonder, is it time to watch

Apocalypse Now again?

Yes.

Fortunate Son

It ain't me.

I ain't the way they wanted 

me to be.

Fortunate in having a human body

to figure it out for myself.

It all depends on how you see it.

The poets and writers showed me 

that nobody else knew either,

that joy of life is all you got 

sometimes if you were lucky,

and all the shit that happens 

trying to get there.

I didn't fall for the Carny's spiel.

I never trusted the politician's 

frozen smile.

I only trust the sun and the rain,

children's bright faces in the dawn,

meditation that leads me on the path,

the wisdom lineage to which I aspire.

Things get very clear when you're 

cornered, not lost in myriad possiblies 

of a world that really doesn't care.

I never gave myself to that,

to a dream,

to a Xanadu I couldn't reach.

As for you, I have no advice, except 

figure it out for yourself, or, let 

someone tell you what it is, are

your options.

Good luck with that, and, 

as encouragement,

know that many have found the way.

I'm fortunate that I'm living and not

in pain, that I've learned and keep 

learning, that I can still laugh until 

my stomach hurts, that I've helped

more than I've harmed. Maudlin, 

maybe, but, who's counting?

The Road Less Traveled

I took the road less traveled...

one of many such roads.

I didn't know where I was going,

I just knew where I didn't want to be.

I was as successful as many... 

not so much... but at least I was free.

Now I am an unknown man in a

foreign country, precisely where I

want to be...

I didn't realize that for years.

You never know, but if you're open 

to the world you might find out.

Lead with your senses, not the little 

voices in your head.

If you pay heed to all the garbage

that's out there, you'll never get 

anywhere.

If Musk had listened to his doubters 

he wouldn't be a trillionaire.

If Buddha had opened a shop in the 

market instead of sitting under the tree.

he wouldn't have become enlightened.

If I had gone to Law School as my father 

wanted, I would have shot myself in the 

head by now.

It's possible to see the future, or, at least,

the possible timelines.

One has to trust oneself.

One has to know that one has the perfect 

tool between one's ears.

A good Craftsman never blames his tools.

Within You And Without You

 Breathing connects our inner experience

to the outer world. What we call “me” is

the fluid movement between the two.

It occurs quickly, expeditiously enough

to seem continuously real, like a movie.

Life goes on within you as the interface

of sense perceptions, including the mind

itself, with what the mind perceives, the

mind as the creator/interfacer/interpreter,

and without you/“there is no you, there is

only That.” (Yoda?)

Life drinks and goes home.

Taking Stock

I can pee normally for the first time

in a year…I can see without cataracts…

the power of the little thoughts in my

head that caused me to brake my car

unexpectedly is gone…I can walk I 

can walk I can walk…my budget seems 

to be working like a tightrope walker…

if I don’t move too much people don’t 

notice me/I’m like a faded poster for

a circus adding a splash of color to the

street…a mimeless street magician of

ordinary magic/it’s the least I can do.