where motion ceases

he walks the grid,
careful of where he steps.
–it quivers…
the point is to keep moving, as
content arises only where motion ceases.

to elaborate

to elaborate would be to yield to the multiplicity
which brought me near to here.
with all due respect,
I’ll walk  the rest of the passage alone,
knowing no concern for losing the way.

wrinkle his mind

wrinkle his mind in the nick of time:
imagination tries to smooth the convoluted universe,
while one Attempting finds the mountain of
understanding to be full of inviting slopes and moguls.
(at once head over heels,
ruined
and unconcerned.)

problems

he never has ‘problems’,
but didn’t realize it until
‘problems’ didn’t have him.

buddha bellies

buddha bellies empty of mind,
now able to hold all tastes before them.
buddha bellies full of Mind
teach us to indulge in the feast.
(such a short time before the tables are cleared.)

mid trip

balancing in mid trip —
that is the ironic,
yet equanimical,  
paradox of our Effort.

or

he laughs first thing.  hah! 
what counts is to be able
to laugh as the last thing…..

(note: in no way is it intended that this incautious declaration contravene or even slightly impugn those who insist on laughing first or  those who diligently strive to practice both laughing positions, although it is well understood that the latter practice is fraught with the possibility that the sedentary part of one’s mind will consider the more adventuresome part even more suspect.)

drifting motes

thoughts can shrink a world by grabbing
at drifting motes with sweaty palms and turning
the churning into the mud that cakes the mind.
but that glaze can be brittlized with enough internal heat…
cracked and sliding, the background separates–
a taking away toward clarity.

to chase

to chase a figure of speech is much like seeking a “better” way to follow your aim,
yet chasing only creates a chase. 
it’s not– ‘how would you recognize the quarry?’ 
but rather,  ’why do you acknowledge and sustain the hunter?

tromping

listen.
all is quiet out here, except
for  faux haiku ocasionally tromping in.
(where are slippers for its syllables?)

not even damp

without breaking the water,
I swim the pond
of no shores.
my backstroke leaves
behind all senses.

remaining self,
not even damp.

barely a distinction

the kids go in and out the dog door.
there is barely a distinction.
in here, out there.
it could be raining, but it is not.
their coming and going has no barriers.
consciousness likewise.
all is coming and going.

simplicity that eludes..

I have to say, it seems much more clear, precise and direct to speak of ‘climbing the one pointed mountain of serene effort and stepping off into the void of pure namelessness’, or ‘to resolutely have your nervous system walk the rocky road through illusion until one is able to turn the brain’s listening-to-itself-ability into a watching-the-speaking-part-ability, form bare attention, and see into the process that imprisons you and keeps you believing you are asleep’.  Yet..and yet,  it is simplicity that eludes the net of reason and begs another type of invasive consideration…

everywhere pineness.
yet the maples take no offense.

mouth the words as if they were a last meal, and taste, no consequence. 
only some small nourishment be one’s tangible aim, however transient.

inflatable words

tweaking the riff raff of his allusions,
now he, nay, his pen is pumped.
thus to dive once more into those
inflatable words. ..
damn the torpid, full speed ahead.

pulling taunt

he takes the archers stance,
pulling taunt while relaxed,
aiming without looking,
releasing without letting go. 
he does not miss.
everywhere his arrow could possibly be, the target lives.

barely a question

to discriminate or not?
it’s barely a question.
naturally, it appears obvious
until you find your acumen
is mere bias,
and acceptance has swallowed your dictionary.
(to differentiate between self and other
is way too formal an affair…)

lunchbox

as you pack the world in your lunchbox,
use your tongue for tasting, and not
for describing your meal

felling

the cry of PENCIL!  preceded
the felling of tall considerations. 
they noisily landed on the paper,
crushing any previously residing there.

all possible nuance

all fall I have walked
my yard, observing all
possible nuance.
not once did I remember
the summer mowing.
coolness cools, and
erases.

almost undressed

almost undressed.
one piece every few seconds.
pretty cool carpet-layer,
ever a maple though, still teaching
fall semester to whoever attends.

all fall

green leaves.
yellow and reds
arrive,

all fall.

Life hesitated

he used to say, “stand back, fool!”
when he thought only he could hear.
but Life hesitated, turned, and looked around,
slaying all foolishness.

ready pressure

I found ready pressure.
forget the description.
it worked
by not letting it work.
there is a good lesson here:
     know what evades and releases the stress.
     then stomp on it, break it into several places.
     then enjoy the stress.
     it bears you gifts from afar.

cascading

cascading words tumble on to the page;
he could just as well catch them with his mouth,
but how could he take his name off his mouth?

some simple handle

he says ‘he’ or ‘I’ throughout the travelogue,
but it isn’t himself that is spoken of.
     we take some simple handle, such as a pronoun,
     and forget it is just that.
                    and soon it’s carrying the weight of the earth.

all are compliant

the lines are long, but all are compliant.
no mere flu shots here, all injections are free.
a daily dosage of word and image–
the jones fixed till next time.
they leave contented
with practiced frowns.

I had to turn away.

someone asked if I can cook.
I had to turn away and giggle.
I see only food.  I be only oven.

significance

significance is a can opener.
unlocks, decontainerizes.
there is stuff here, and I am here
with that stuff, and I know I am
here with that stuff.
all is a significant presentation,
that computer speaker, that lamp,
that lady bug, that roach, that coffee
cu-excuse me, there is something
with extra significance that begs
attention….

things don’t

things don’t smell
as strong in the cold.
is it my nose or
are fragrances water soluble
and ice up on the way?

the same trick..

ever noticed those cheap, extra thin
restaurant napkins?
they are embossed with little bumps
to make them feel thicker.
actually, because of the bumps,
they are ‘thicker’…
seems like my mind plays the same trick…

tossing

he once believed in the evolution of the spirit;
but his galapagos remained islands, surrounded by tossing see.
he now strives to leave behind all that is defined–
to recognize no limning beaches–
now wetted from the calming sea.

without

common sense.
uncommon sense.
without,
you’d still be looking
up at average.

one’s internal constituencies

it is those ubiquitous voting irregularities
that continually maintain
one’s internal constituencies,
(not suppress them).

if the grass grabs your ankle

no particular value in the paradoxical.
if the grass grabs your ankle,
it simply shows you acknowledge
you and grass and all you’s and all grasses.
relative stuff in front of us is our only source
of the absolute.
we are stuck when we expect everything to
mean something.
it means, but not anything particular.
stuff just stuffs, more than plenty
for most of us.

ever

what you see,
is not what you get.
ever.

nothing amiss

there is nothing amiss.
even lightning must recharge.

‘thus it is’

‘thus it is.’
a summary and conclusion
surprisingly found at many
beginnings we encounter.
(it gives rise to doubting our
preferred sequence of investigation–
first unfold, then reach the
middle of that process of you.)

or pick anything
that can’t be figured out.
and decide that figuring
it out is more important
than anything else.

find the burn uncaused by sun.
the wet, by rain.

the crowded room

the scene:  a crowded room.
you sit down next to some guy,
hardly noticing.
then most others gradually move on
and you are suddenly left
uncomfortably near to this guy.
you both want to move, but
that would be weird, so there
you sit, almost breathing on
each other….
now take him somewhere else.
maybe to your place–
practically speaking, you got
to enter the room of your thoughts.
but if you hang around too long,
as you, (just as per the Universal
Law of Bus Travel) one of them–
the smelliest and most gabby,
will end up in breathing distance.

greyhound, leave your thinking to us,
cause we own your seat.

stuff

stuff out there is
not imaginary,
but without the soup of mind
holding it up,
it would irretrievably fall.

the waterfall

in the darkness
I see the waterfall.
each rush and splash
lights the night,
each spray rainbows
my vision, as I mix
all senses to one.
and send that one
away.

the cloud of mind

we all sometimes ‘know’
the cloud of universal mind
that envelopes man.
do you not also intake
its breath?

plasticity

plasticity.
neuron genesis.
associational enhancement.
synapses are strengthened if they
happen to fire simultaneously
with another.
life’s mechanism for biochemical
reward for the new,
the many, and the few….

unencumbered by good taste

my back alley restaurant has
the most basic faire.
served to palates
unencumbered by good taste.
24/7 of three-square moments.

an uncommon glue

on occasion
an uncommon glue
momentarily holds together
what our attention splits apart.
instead of pieces in the wake of
our looking over,
we are left with a simple seeing,
intact, and
looking back at us.

deposited in your nooks

our friend taught
with force.
time to re-collect
that pressure
deposited in all
your nooks and crannies.

odor of growth

missed the garbage truck today.
more broadly, it’s either all
garbage or none of it is.
well, except for the smell–
I take that back.
there’s the odor of growth to all life,
some just more attached
to one’s nosy parts.

unexpected germination

the blossoms are delightful,
emerging from unexpected germination.
subtle prodding barely needed–
soon walking on their own,
and tending garden.

we all were sown long ago,
once sprouted, history of time
in the ground stays buried.

I speak of not two

I speak of not two.
more than, alas,
mostly follows.

Life’s rudeness

wanna put down yer heavy load?
some would say Life’s rudeness is a gift.
actually two in one—for it also
provides an ever-present scale
for frequent remindings of just how
much you think you ‘carry’ around…

rather

each morning
mind starts right up.
(rather it be my truck.)

stop

stop,
go,
know
when
to.

quivering

another evening bright.
filled not with meaning
but by connected surface tension,
quivering.

scosh

this stark crispness…
one’s vision is allowed
to wrap around things
just a scosh bit more.

interesting, this sight is separating,
the remainder is connecting.
(just more foreground saying
hi! to the background).

soaking wet appreciation

heavy rain.
dry creek beds
come to life.
only difference from my creek–
soaking wet appreciation required to see.

if you must dream

if you must dream,
dream only high enough
to clear the ground.

why waste imagined energy
the same way you waste energy for
real mental jumping?

dive deep

“what are you going to say next?”
a most extraordinary koan.
dive deep, but don’t swim after the words.

less is carried

less is carried.
more room left for
everyone else’s stuff,
if they could but choose to
place it on
these dusty shelves.

commit

we do.
we don’t.
no standing between.
commit, then attend to it.
no matter if by body or will
(as if there were a difference.)

all known sources

knowledge=ignorance
may be Orwellian, but
there are benefits to a
dog shedding fur not
fully appreciated by sofas.

what’s more welcoming a
greeting than, “all of what
you know is incorrect.”
suspect all known sources,
particularly the very local
big brother.

vaporous

what keeps the mind in place?
so vaporous and fluid,
yet it clings tight to its tangled web.
–a concept trying to climb a shadow
out of its own stickiness.

obviously

“obviously”–
overheard frequently, means
‘my chemicals are momentarily stable
in this particular arrangement’.

life is obvious
w/o the chemical veil
folks call reality.

noise in your head

now step back:  remember, all these words are but noise in your head.
the reality always seems over there, till you step closer.

claim?

I think it all started when we
first had stuff to park-horses,
carts, sleds, dugouts, cars.
we had to claim a space not
our own as we walk away.
 
it’s the space we carry around,
that never really gets claimed.

B movie aesthetics

he treated life to nothing more.
nor to nothing less.
to expect anything different
requires willing suspension of disbelief.
(he’s grateful for life’s uncertainties,
and it’s B movie aesthetics.)

variegated footprints

from behind, he deftly slipped up on austerity,
spray cans fanning color all over,
variegated footprints across the page.
still, though, a lentitudinous pace.

colorful army of one, confounding all foibles…

these pages lie

these pages lie
here not for rest,
but, like old banana leaves,
could provide surprising
slip to rigid legs.
no tranquility offered, only
views of hidden contradictions so
that a new passion for balance is
gleaned.
grow one arm longer that the other,
it will straighten your gait.

clever notification

my cat has taken to walking
on the piano keys to say it wants out.

even clever notification–that one
wants ‘out’–works, but not often.
remember that open mouth
waiting on the flying chicken,
oh, and the countless religious gestures
I didn’t mention.

just another

‘gotcha last’, just another
fleet footed memory
tagging along.

staying in place

the gravel on our road
is a touchy subject.
it doesn’t want to stay in
place like it should.
then again, we too are
supposed to stay in place.

intentionally haphazard

instead of a focused mentation
coupled with sweeping vision,
how bout desultory attention
amid tight sight?
intentionally haphazard, yet
comprehensively embracing.

weeds

weeds,
out of place
tenaciousness.

precipices of mind

forsake all advice that is not as
boundless as its subject.
abundant truth even found by stumbles.
(sotto voce, that’s stumbling toward precipices of mind.)

pikers

we complain about
distraction without.
hah, pikers in comparison.

only dirt

ants found on the high peak.
vistas at hand; still,
only dirt comes into their view.

without ceremony

tea without ceremony.
herbal concoctions
pour themselves.
the cup never fills,
all tastes, sagely infused.

sorta out of kilter

a satisfaction in fixing;
lots of apparent brokens–
almost would be better
if we really were.
(it’s the sorta out of kilter
stuff that’s most troubling.)

reclaim

consider ‘opposites converging’
this way–they all have short term
leases from life and occasionally
life needs the reclaim the space for
a little special fun…

echoes

tiny echoes of chemical silence
glad-handing life one synapse at a time.

curtain of mind

head straight into this world, now.
step off your current distraction.
if poised in your movement, the
curtain of mind parts.
stepping through and turning,
you see there was no curtain, no
distraction, and no you to be hesitating.

mandelbrotian

 

someone said “ain’t”
is a contraction for
“ain’t not”– a
mandelbrotian, tail
chasing, loopy is-ness.

this is the sort of
jewel in the grass
that will keep nibbling
for days.

rare visit

rare visit from crane.
pond, always open
for lunch.

dancing in molasses

dancing in molasses,
even fingers stuck,
at least above,
the roof still off.

gads, only complaints
crawl forth.
must be attracted to the
sweetness.

variety

how little we understand variety.
far less than what we have access to
serves us amply as diverseness.

small curbs

on small curbs do big feet trip.
perhaps, best for some of us
to use handicap ramp.

rearranging

nothing more important
than rearranging,
if that is all you can do
at the moment.

the three pines

my friends,
the three pines.
must grow
on their own.

walk about

this effort is not special.
being ordinary is not inferior.
but being able to walk about in your mind
while unattached to such notions
increases the endorphin grease that
augments your internal slipperiness–
and helps pry loose any holding nails.

prelude

when you’re floating
in a local river, you don’t
go any faster than
that crap around you.
you want to get outta there,
somewhere, anywhere, and you hate
your predicament.

all just a prelude to drowning–
he never saw there wasn’t any crap.

sort of like

another similarity,
as if you were expecting
something else? anyway, this
is sort of like programming,
you’re optimistic, it’s sorta
working, then you find a bug.
but you are sure it’s the very last one.
…..right.

unnoticed

cell phone,
easy for words.
though smooth path,
many stumbles
yet unnoticed.

savor the pressure

becoming-is the train.
always moving on, but
you feel stuck in mid car,
can’t advance, can’t go
back, and can’t stay
cause the conductor
wants a ticket….
savor the pressure,
make up your response
each click of the rails.

obverse

you speculate the hidden.
now to know the obverse.
it can be, because of
a certain fungibility.
that which oppresses,
releases.
that which hides,
reveals.
1^st, look up obverse.
it is so described because
of where you are standing.

big time togetherness,
without the time.

life’s insistency

trapped birds still flying….
covey feeding on median,
all take off with passing car.
all return only to flee again
moments later, again and again.
life, tireless in its insistency.

what propels your lift offs?

ponders

wasp sucking down  nectar
at the red filling station.
hummingbird ponders–
share, ignore, or
test my bottom lip?

cactus shade

cactus shade.
all it would give away,
without
ouch.

more pleasing

I always loved questions,
but the divorce was even more pleasing.

leap into being

much talk of not looking away, but
looking inward is not much better.
mind sees in a plane as far as you wish.
to profitably look up is an off switch
to looking.
to keep that switch on for a micro more
is the great leap into being.
you are still looking with ‘your’ eyes,
but you are finally looking at the real
underlayment, the foundation of self.

masks

rain masks the sound
of the distant traffic.
is the hiding in my yard,
my ears or my mind?

the swinging gate

asleep, one is disappointed
with things as they are.
unmindful, one always looks someplace else.
yet,
there is no hindrance before you.
you are already through,
the swinging gate
hits your heel.

passwords

so many passwords accumulated,
as if they protected something
worth protecting.
of course, one would be so fortunate
if the mind was only feebly guarded
by such clever spellings.