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Saturday, June 25, 2016

Pathya Vat

The Pathya Vat is a Cambodian verse form, consisting of four lines of four syllables each, where lines two and three rhyme. When a poem consists of more than one stanza, the last line of the previous stanza rhymes with the second and third lines of the following one.

Ben Says
To gain a friend,
a new someone,
just anyone,
Take a favor.
It matters not
what’s your flavor,
what you savor.
Just let it be.
Just let it in
and you will see.
It’s so easy
to gain a friend.

Winston Nhat Hanh
Listen for a
mindfulness bell.
Your lungs will swell,
In time you’ll tell.
If you think you’re
going through hell,
then mind me well,
just keep going.

Practicing
Meditation:
A choice that’s great,
better than hate.
Don’t you think so?
Allow sadness,
go with the flow,
let worry go,
simple as that.

Forgive yourself.
Sit on your mat,
Zen Bureacrat.
Just mind your breath.

One Thing


Craving freedom
from painful emotions,
but suffering exists.
All Buddhists know this,
at home, across oceans
Feeling helpless,
alone,
doing nothing.
Would it help if
I alone
did just one thing?
So I write,
stay mindful,
light one candle,
give my friends
the love they deserve.
I fall short, of course,
but this is my path

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

My God and my Bod Both Love a Little Humor

I’m getting around
in a used body now,
recently found
it’s when, not how,
that matters.
We’re just passing through,
a few times like new,
usually in tatters.
All things ephemeral,
they come and they go,
it’s a good thing, in general,
to think this, to know
that if we would be happy,
to prosper, to thrive,
it’s best to be joyful
about being simply alive.
We all want to live
as long as we might,
to keep keeping on,
to fight the good fight,
and continue with chances
to come up to bat,
but we don’t like what happens
to a body which does that.
It’s all over too soon,
in a flash, in a blink,
and none of us has
as much time as we think.
As for me, I think,
before my last bow,
I’ll aim to be present
In the here and the now,
And what will I think
as I lay down to rest?
I hope when I’m gone,
I’ ll be less of a pest.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Putting Togethe a Week

No alcohol crossed my lips,
and I stayed away from chips,
eating mostly vegan food,
which helped elevate my mood.
Daytime protocols I kept,
as more peacefully I slept.
Enjoyed my first art class.
It really was a blast.
Spent a day at a monastery,
which left me feeling very
calm, in fine mental health,
not bottom, nor middle, but serene top shelf.
So there’s your weekly total, a pretty decent score,
I liked it a lot. Please, sir, may I have more?

Sunday, June 12, 2016

He;s Nothing at All

Perhaps it was once
handsome, his face,
long before
his present disgrace.
The thinning hair,
perhaps once blond
before grasping hands
reached too far beyond.
His peacock soul,
his sparrow’s brain,
his eyes of coal,
to us so plain.
Evil, not madness,
from those eyes
poison, not cure,
from those lies.
False prophets before
have called this way,
come to me,
we’ll rule the day.
Don’t drink that kool-aid,
put down that glass,
taste not the pourings
of a pompous ass.
The fool’s excuse
is worse than his crime,
this is Our moment,
this is Our time.
Know yourself,
follow your heart,
but don’t just sit there,
we each play a part.
We can’t hide reason,
Our faith must be shown,
there’s no blaming others
if Our future is blown.
No ass-eared fool
should block Our goals
for the sake of Our children,
for the love of their souls.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Intent

I seek a
non-anxious presence
in an anxious world,
trying to remove
the trying, with
effortless effort.
I can read the
invisible ink.
Clearly, love and light
and good are real
in the world,
tangible enough
to do battle
with evil.
Like the ink,
invisible,
but present
nonetheless,
reaching inside,
warming and shaping,
even healing.
Anyone afraid
can doubt this.
It takes courage
to drop the safety
that we think
we created,
to put away
the armor
and become soft

and vulnerable.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Hump Day Haiku

when the moon was hung,
what was left for Him to do?
Oh look, a rainbow.

An Ovillejo

Rainy Days and Fun Days

The clouds curtain the sun.
Oh what fun.

It could bring joy, it might bring pain.
Let it rain.

Oh please, have it fall, let it drop,
Never stop.

Into mud puddles we’ll kerplop.
We can be as children at play,
soaked and laughing throughout the day.

Oh what fun, let it rain, never stop.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Haiku X Seven


Dry season is here
There’s smoke on the horizon
We must mend the roof

Still snow on the peaks
Summer thirsts for its melting
Let’s clean the windows

The Navels are eaten
Valencia’s not yet ripe
What of the apples?

Red flowers open
Pomegranates in waiting
I must make sun tea

Pink roses whisper
Bougainvillas scream color
Pastels still enchant

Spring’s flowers soon fade
Summer blooms remain hidden
Seedlings need water

Epi’s bloom briefly
Cactus flowers much the same
I must call my Friends

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

No Doubt

Hexaverse:  A poem containing stanzas of 5 lines, then 4 lines, then 3 lines, then 2 lines, ending with one word. The syllables in each stanza correspond to the number of lines, i.e. 5 in each line in the first stanza, 4 in the second stanza and so on. This form may contain more than five stanzas.


No Doubt

Go slowly, be kind,
for everyone you
meet is fighting a
hard battle, struggling
between heart and mind.

There are two ways
in this world that
we can know things,
heart, and heart-mind.

Each moment,
we get to
start out fresh.

Hoping,
Trusting.


Self.