THE BIG CHOICE

THE BIG CHOICE

Time to realise
that fundamental question
your inner voice asks
will never be “Yes or no?”
But rather “Now or later?”

LODESTAR

LODESTAR

It’s not just out there that there’s weather
There’s changeable weather here inside too
Heard tell they’re one and the same anyway
Beneath this sogenannten inside/outside slop
In which case all bets’re off or else ill judged
N this moment’s snap’s not the last’s or next’s
N any original thought’s worth no more than
What pads out a thousand mindless quotings

PILGRIMS

PILGRIMS

Coming and going
Without going anywhere
Time an illusion
Space likewise passing the time
Our home is not made by hand

Not The Real Thing

NOT THE REAL THING

Fearful egoistical manifestation
Engenders armorial inflation
Leads to superfluous titivation

Over time astute observation
Advises timely disintegration
For eventual emancipation

TO WHOM IS HOME?

TO WHOM IS HOME?

I am
Am I not?
I am

And wander
And wonder
And wander

And wonder
Who wanders
And wonders

And wanders
And wonders
Who wonders who wanders

And wonders
Who wonders
Who wanders who wonders …

And wonder
Who wonders who wonders
And wonder who wonders

And wonders
And wanders
And is

A LOCUM I

A LOCUM I

I’m not sure
That we aren’t
Everywhere
All the time
Just not paying
Due attention
At the moment
With so much going on
And so forth

DISAMBIGUATION

DISAMBIGUATION

Content or else left discontented.
Full of content or else empty; open to
A blossoming in contentedness.

Void and avoid after all cousins;
It’s all about words and worlds
give or take a letter or two.

“You should stop words and letters,”
Says Dogen, “and learn to withdraw
and reflect on yourself.

“When you do so
your body and mind will naturally fall away,
and your original Buddha nature will appear.”

LEAF

LEAF

This leaf in my path
It was not there yesterday
Which of us has changed?

Books are made from trees
Who is it recognises
That books have leaves too?

Wind blows through all things
Leaves, paths, books, trees, observers
Who causes the wind?

DREAD AFFLICTION

DREAD AFFLICTION

Overthinking
One terrible affliction
Thinking gets enmeshed
Goes blind lost in emotion
Pure intuition cut adrift
Time to let go

Return
Remain
Release
Relax

Sit still as silence
Thirty minutes and reboot
Duly calm readdress the issue
If caterwauling chitcat reinvades
Stop – take ten deep breaths
Ten – one after the other

Give yourself a hug or two
Tap your baton a time or two
For you are conductor here
Call the players to order
And issue your order
Da capo – Da capo

Return
Remain
Release
Relax

And et cetera

THE ONE AND ALL

THE ONE AND ALL

In the end
Words are simply tools
Which we use
To express
Or (let’s admit it) obscure
Our experience