p

Upon the blooming plum twig
a warbler
wipes his muddy feet

Issa (trans. by Nanao Sakaki)

q

Beauty is not worth thinking about; what's important is your mind.
You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head.
Garrison Kiellor

p

This week a poem from one in our group:

Credo

 

What is greatness

if not the shedding

of lesser stuff,

if not the daring

to be alone

 

Content simply

to play,

fool around

with divine mischief?

 

A burst here

a sigh there

scribbleing

slow and fast

and lingering

long enough

for all

to join the fun,

the  wonder

 

 

 

Nancy Knowles

from Syzygy (2005)

q

Fear grows out of the things we think; it lives in our minds.
Compassion grows out of the things we are, and lives in our hearts.
Barbara Garrison

p

Some People

Some people
ascend out of our life, some people
enter our life,
uninvited and sit down,
some people
calmly walk by, some people
give you a rose,
or buy you a new car,
some people
stand so close to you, some people,
you've entirely forgotten
some people, some people
are actually you,
some people
you've never seen at all, some people
eat asparagus, some people
are children,
some people climb up on the roof,
sit down at table,
lie around in hammocks, take walks with their red
umbrella,
some people look at you,
some people have never noticed you at all, some people
want to take your hand, some people
die during the night,
some people are other people, some people are you, some people
don't exist,
some people do.

 

 Robert Bly 

q

If you would make a man happy, do not add to his possessions but
subtract from the sum of his desires.
Seneca

p

Hiding in a Drop of Water

It is early morning and death has forgotten us for
A while. Darkness owns the house but I am alive.
I am ready to praise all the great musicians.

Whatever happens to me will also happen to you.
Surely you must have realized this from hearing
The way the strings cry out no matter who hits them.

From the great oak trees in the yard in October
Leaves fall for hours each day. Every night
A thousand wrinkled faces look up at the stars.

Still we know that at any second the soul can stand
Up and start across the desert, as when Rabia ended up
Riding on a resurrected donkey toward the Meeting.

It is this reaching toward the Kaaba that keeps us glad.
It is this way of hiding inside a drop of water
That lets the hidden face become visible to everyone.

Gautama said that when the Great Ferris Wheel
Stops turning you will still be way up
There swinging in your seat and laughing.

Robert Bly