July 17th, 2015

I.

When moving about life

the emptiness awaits our signal

to forge ahead or retreat

The emptiness is given

and taken without regard

for our planning

We must have the patience

to remain steady

when the winds of fate

are tearing at the sails -

We must remember to stay

at our own center

II.

Life is full and unreasonable;

it dashes about madly

it never takes "no" for an answer

It clings to even

the most desolate areas

rooting in, finding water

It's a cleverness matched in us

only by our resiliency to love,

as necessary as water

We scramble, reach forward,

stretch out tendrils, looking

for the source that sustains

III.

There is pleasure in knowing,

pleasure in mystery -

it folds in upon itself, one

after the other

Like waking and sleeping.

We want to believe

in a pure world,

an ideal world

By we are forced to use

worn pieces, mended,

re-woven, full of the

marks of time

We live among old customs,

constantly weaving the

threads of tradition

with fibers just discovered

IV.

I want to feel like

ancient stone,

with a river flowing

over me

With the sun forever

passing overhead,

without thoughts

or feelings

Just the elements:

cold rock, icy water

warm air, the breeze

moving through all things

I want the clarity

of having no questions

Just observing

and breathing

July 12th, 2015

I.

How to become an impossible matrix

How to dance on over

the impossible barriers

How to electrify

the gap in self-knowing

To become a vibrant lantern,

an oasis of calm revelation

II.

I would like the forest in my heart

I would like to uncover the peace

embedded in its subtle sounds

Bird calls and wind through leaves

Reminding me that the world

is not always

what people make it out to be

III.

The pattern that gets uncovered is part

of a life-long principle:

do not move into the payment phase

until you have seen results

Wait until you see

how well it has been cooked,

whether the seasoning is balanced

whether the flavors clash

Wait until you taste the moment

before you pass any judgment

Let it fall upon you

Like a cloak of sky

IV.

Do not wait for the earth to carry you forth

Rather, begin to stride in the direction

your heart leads

Do not cover your windows with complaints

Rather, keep them clear, open even,

to the fresh breeze

Do not expect the world to uncover for you

what only you can see

in the depths of your heart-chambers

Your secrets, your fears and hopes

cannot be buried, and cannot be answered

by anything outside

V.

Everything is in motion

life uncovers itself

develops namelessly

Only we ask questions

where there is no answer

Oh, but what we find

in the questions

July 11th, 2015

I.

The unbearable light

The infinite theorum

Behind an unburied passion

Is it fake light that cracks my skull?

Or the real stuff?

God knows I only want

the real stuff

Thoughts to when I was a child,

before there was a war in my head

Not particularly useful

Except to remember that there has been

quite a journey

II.

I fought my way

out of the belly of the beast

Pulled my body out

over his tongue, forced

open his jaw, squirmed

through his teeth

Now I don't even think

of those scars

They're just a part of who I am,

part of how I grew

like how my hair

grows in swirls

III.

Do not take me to be easily fooled

by a clever composition:

it is the wild night that sustains me

Do I want to be drawn forth by carriages

of blood and fire? Sure. Better than a

corny-looking automobile

Better than accepting some

mass-produced fate

I want the fathomless depths

precariously under my feet

I want to fall into something

that has never been imagined

IV.

There is a soft light

in the night sky

it exists beyond love

beyond what humans call

eternity

Full of ancient principles

the earth spins and spawns

every degree of life

somewhere in the jungle

a predator waits quietly

for its prey

the light turns endlessly in the sky

human hearts fill with sorrow and joy

hands reach out for something to love

Three Keys

In the water, there are three
separate keys: one for self-worth,
one for the happiness of others,
and one for dedication

They look fragmented through
the ripples in the water
but when picked up, they are
clearly whole

When you hold one, it is as if
something is drawn out of the air,
a power becomes manifest
out of nowhere

They do not open any box
rather, they wait submerged
for a bold hand to plunge, grab,
and lift them into the light

You Are Anything but Alone

On this earth,
it is important to remember
you are anything but alone,
that green buds sprout

each season,
that quarreling with
yourself is inevitable,
but that some part of you

is greater than that,
the part you find
in the forest, or near
the ocean - in the wild.

You will find
that the heart is constantly
growing larger, more than
you could have ever imagined

To Remember Everything

Sometimes when I wake
I wonder how such time has passed
How the years have come and gone
and filled me with memories

They become part of me
in ways I notice - and in some I don't
I pray that I become a little wiser
Or at least less foolish

To live without my memories
I might feel free and without worry
but that would only be a part,
just a fraction of who I am

I want live here in the moment
without being afraid of all that's past
I want to remember everything
and allow it to settle peacefully

What the Spirit Wants

What the spirit wants
is to be noticed, like the
rising sun or like the
hovering moon

The spirit wants us
to pause, and for a moment
become absorbed
in the eternal tension

The spirit wants us
to remember the fragility
and the promise of life
So that we reach out

with a gentle touch.
The spirit wants us to know
we are not alone, that centuries
of passion are watching

The Old King of Misery

The Old King of Misery
was the hardest to tame
he swept up strange thoughts
and mixed them with fire

Like a key without a lock
he shimmered in the mind's eye
creating ghosts of himself
in every corner

His fall began slowly, in the belly
with the knowledge of a universal
seed, one that blossoms out of
compassion

Flowers grew to surpass those
apparitions, the roots spread,
and that rude fear was replaced
by an ancient strength

A Bird Over Water

We have but one fragile life
One opportunity to tell the secrets
of the soul, But like a bird
gliding over the water

We are caught in the momentum,
everyday navigating the peaks
of the waves, the shifting breeze
and the glare of the sun

A bird gliding over the water
tells us its secrets discretely,
in a pure rhythm, somehow giving life
to the world around it

It dances with the elements -
if it knows sorrow, it does not let on
It moves naturally and with determination,
full of its own spirit

What if heaven is inescapable,

a place to go to within the mind?

What if it lingers there, burning

while we are otherwise distracted?

I want a long hook to pull me from the stage

so that, from the sidelines,

I can simply watch the world

in all of it's splendor

I know I contain some grand kernel,

an essence of the earth, as do all humans

Perhaps that's why I yearn to speak

in ways I don't quite understand

Perhaps that's why wordless currents

swirl within me

causing me to speak about paradise

as a great unfolding conversation

Something in the body knows

when the spirit wears thin,

when hope appears to be

caught in the wires

Something in the body

is a messenger to the unknown

it travels through the night

and in the morning whispers to us,

in a voice too small to hear

without being magnified. We must

reach out our hands

and be very quiet

We must listen for that

singular point

where the unknown comes into contact

with our inspiration

What is believing?
Is it a hollow shell
for us to put stuff in?
Is it an Apache helicopter,
hovering over the blue ocean?

Nothing is more sacred
than the sting of a wasp
It is immediate and inescapable
while the rest of the sensual world
can be shrugged off

I want a bandage
over whatever eye urges me
to see beyond

I want to see the most immediate things
most clearly
I want the fog of the future
and the formulaic conditions
to be burned away
in the light of the sun