ARTS: Big and Little Poetry--free verse, any verse.

[Tai Shi]

Shokai means first time.
Together we see Shi poetry
Calm Tai, mystify not
First time, let me learn
To sit with you
First Time, this is another
First time beautiful morning
I sit first time this morning
Because I wear rakusu
I see first time, I see
I smile like autumn haze.
Yes, mouth makes oval smile.
Gassho
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

The editor I read was wrong Yasunari Kawabata, Nobel Prize 1968, is not the only Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature but two others. The list was confusing because one of these men became a British Citizen. I missed a third writer Kenzaburo Oe, books A Personal Matter, The Silent City, more, contemporary novelist, I have only read Kawabata Snow Country, and this I found emotionally and artistically moving. Kokuu correct me if I am wrong and I will check for the British Citizen. I believe Kazuo Ishiguro, and was Knighted Sir Kazuo Ishiguro. His notable works include fiction. Britain claims him, and what I see are books written in English. His wife appears British. Notably start with His book, Never Let Me Go. Japan Nobel Prize Winners are predominately fiction.
Gassho
sat/ lah
Gassho
sat/ lah

[Kokuu]

Hi Tai Shi

Yes, Kazuo Ishiguro was knighted in 2018. Although he was born in Nagasaki, Japan, he moved to the UK with his parents when he was five so considers himself English.

In the same year as he was knighted, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd Class, Gold and Silver Star by the Japanese government.

Gassho
Kokuu

[Tai Shi]

Konuu

My friend, a priest,
says his name Kokuu
Kokujin meaning
Black man
He tells me Kokuu
Meaning stone face
One volume important
Reasons not one meaning
Kioshi meaning
Popularity, Koku
In Japanese song
Anime, mocvies
Story teller,
Koku in Kanji
I have less learning
He is a place,
Point in time
AS pronoun
Koko means literally
Something close
To speaker two
Kanji close together
The other meaning
Place, literally
Means place in Japanese
He is placed in time
Kokuu only part
Of place immovable
Stone face place
Not easily shaken
A face for all time
My dear friend
Finds this old
Old man a friend
Supportive of this
His new priesthood,
He is immobile,
Quietly in stone
Encouraging
He deserves place
Of teacher, as
I am poet my
English
Name means strong
Man, I am found man
Supporting Koko,
Kokuu, friend,
teacher, Hakkari
Hakkan province
In Turkey international
Reserved for Kurds,
Iranian or KURD,
Strong man in Japan
Strong immovable
Passive not in Haiku
Light in verse, more
Than light in China.
He travels glove throughout
Europe with Zoom
Verses reserved
For disabled friends
Like Kurds misunderstood
Like me Tai Shi
Calm Poetry, he taught
Me steadfastness, alert
At old age I will live
To see my sleeping
Friend become literature,
All disabilities, all races
For all time.

Gassho
Tai Shi

[Kokuu]

That's lovely. Tai Shi!

[Tai Shi]

Fatherhood

Do I know Japanese?
Most only Goodbye,
Kanji, wistfully
I see daughter,
PhD she gave up
Classes at Famous
Japanese University
To finish writing longest
Writing! For me my
Research into writing
Into Journals, Chi Square
I found young students
Came to like Journal
Writing. Daughter may
Delve into chapbooks
Lost in Bird chatter,
In twitter, in faceless
Books of Japanese poetry,
Laughing into lost
Obscurity. I know
So little of her book,
Of Japanese literature,
Written by women
In solemnity, in wistful
Wonderment with wind
Gone with flowers into sun,
Sunrise it is my homeland
Bright surgery remembered
To augment my fatherhood
To daughter becoming famous,
Or is it for girls' obscurity?

Gassho
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

This Dove

Flies on wings of living
Silver, discenting
Heaven caught flight,
Into glorius invisable air,
Smootrh glides bird,
Whose spirit this bird
Whelms us beyond,
over, under, melodious
Tones of air, tomes declare,
Fire discharged as rare
Dance upon wings upward
Upward, so wings Poet,
Singing into night, in dark
Dance remain still in air,
Let dust be left below,
Above intoicantss, CO2
Made CO what to do?
What to do, but dance
Above clouds, above dense
Air, filled with particulate,
Stench lasted only
So hight, then disapated,
Spellbound, raptureous,
Beginning, let us be let
Us but see, let us see.

Gassho
Tai Shi
say/lah

[Kokuu]

A student of Zen
has to be fierce
a sword that splits hairs
into shimmering moonlight
let buddhas and patriarchs come
cut them in two on the spot
a wooden horse neighs in the clouds
a carp of the mountain bleds
return to the towering cliffs a hero
step right through the Huating moonlight

~ Stonehouse (1272-1352), translation by Red Pine from 'Stonehouse's Poems for Zen Monks'


Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Tai Shi]

Red Pine is a great winner of The Pen award of London, translation. Our daughter is a runner up for her Novella Translation, for her MFA thesis, Japanese to English. She is beginning to be paid for her translations, and at the end or her PhD Japanese literatiure, comp lit. However, I wish she were not too proud but to drop by and see Jundo when in Japan, her excuses, no time.
Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Blizzards in Years

In so many words,
Snow laden clouds at 50 below F,
Wind chill 40 mph and two feet
Of snow. Blizzard winds night down
Shoots of cold flame; last week
Saw death or fairing cattle, farmers
Placed blankets on backs of animals.
Still someday the death.


We saw the week before Christmas the worst weather in decades. Fifty below F wind chill in many places in the Upper Midwestern USA broke records since recorded weather, snow blowing down from Canadian plains where in many a day there even lower as to see, as much as two feet as we saw to four feet drifts around our neighborhood, then this week snow melt as temtrature rose yesterday, and day before to 40 degrees above 0 degrees F, and snow melted both creating treachous roads and damaged cars. There were many weather related deaths; So much for gunfire, and even children die. There was a time that professor with MA on my committee sought to block my MFA creative writing poetry. Professor at my university, and I know she fought to give me passing in my comprehensives, and stole my poem to make herself better than poets like me. Our daughter's was in translation actually better than one A; in Calligraphy and translation daughter was told to go on for her PhD and earned money for her poetry translations telling me she did not like poetry she wrote for her workshop, and I was to be told to teach in Commmunity College. There were no jobs for me, none except I wrote to 523 applications; blind applications I sent to many universities where nothing was, not advertised. My wife says ancient history. Why Dwell in empty halls? My explanations belabored go on to infintesimy. Is there such a word for "Infinaty" where records broke in Buffallo, New York. This too is poetry.
Gassho
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

This was His gift.

From his daughter
For his birthday,
When she Arrived
Investment Home

Allows one to rent
Or own homes
For 100 dollars,

Yield at three
Point two percent
Per year.
When they bought

At Five point five percent,
If his mother, his origin
Had opening
To their Home

She would have thought,
His Silent grace Greatest
Life in mother's poetry,

As an old man
His at 71, greatest hope
Little girl in elementary

The other child
For Patty Brown...
His Book of poetry

His wife, his Marjorie,
Meaning pearl,
Brought about shadows

Love cannot get
Angry at a child

Or child's mother
About shadow change
In his heart, in his life

Departed to a home
Brought silently in good,

She leads
Him out of anger

To live her life,
In old age without games

Of daughter's poetry,
Which he taught
When she loved her mother,
And loved his poetry.

Gassho
sat/ lah
Tai Shi

[Tokan]

Tai Shi

As Ever you are infinitely productive, I bow to your efforts to bring light to the world

Tokan (satlah)

[Tai Shi]

leon, I simply love you, as teacher poet to nurese poet, and please write add implant enfolded words of love, allow your brilliant voice to sing in words again. May you ever be in this old man's heart.
Gassho
sat/lah

[Shōnin Risa Bear]

Entropy. Cartilage has vanished from between
long leg bones, and I have become
dependent; may I have some help please
with these pants, these socks, this clacking

knee brace, this burgeoning heaped skunkish
laundry full of everything that leapt from
the spoon onto my clothing, this tea welling up
somehow from my cup's brim to spread across

the tidal flat of my shaking hand and fill
the sea cave of my sleeve? Huh, and if
last night's frost has subsided enough,
perhaps even with such a day's beginning

I can hope to step into these two unmatched
clogs and shamble on, past undone chores,
gathering up my left-hand stick and my right-
hand stick, and walk the dog. There is no dog;

what he left behind lies there: that small
basaltic stupa, littered with seasonal
offerings -- lately, deadnettles that wilt
in such hurry. But I call to him anyway;

he loved these walks so, that I feel obliged,
knee brace and all, to retrace our kinhin route
each weekday Armageddon fails to materialize.
Oaks throw shade; in summer I seek them,

in winter avoid. This is a ritual. As when I sit,
as when I chant, I know, even when tongue tied,
or falling asleep, or feeling my knee brace loosen and drop
just as I stagger into the ditch to avoid a truck,

that ritual is a kind of living being, made up of
my life and also the lives of all who participate
in some way, such as: "are you going to 'walk
the dog?'" Yes. "Have you got some water and

your phone?" Yes. "Okay; if you're not back
in an hour, I'll come looking for you." I bobbled
the Heart Sutra this morning, as I always do,
but this little exchange of hearts is itself

the Middle Way. Along the road, taking tiny
steps, tinier every year, I stop
to watch a robin angling for its worm.
The little dog that isn't there

wags his universe of tail.



gassho
ds sat but mostly slept

[Meian]

Entropy. Cartilage has vanished from between
long leg bones, and I have become
dependent; may I have some help please
with these pants, these socks, this clacking

knee brace, this burgeoning heaped skunkish
laundry full of everything that leapt from
the spoon onto my clothing, this tea welling up
somehow from my cup's brim to spread across

the tidal flat of my shaking hand and fill
the sea cave of my sleeve? Huh, and if
last night's frost has subsided enough,
perhaps even with such a day's beginning

I can hope to step into these two unmatched
clogs and shamble on, past undone chores,
gathering up my left-hand stick and my right-
hand stick, and walk the dog. There is no dog;

what he left behind lies there: that small
basaltic stupa, littered with seasonal
offerings -- lately, deadnettles that wilt
in such hurry. But I call to him anyway;

he loved these walks so, that I feel obliged,
knee brace and all, to retrace our kinhin route
each weekday Armageddon fails to materialize.
Oaks throw shade; in summer I seek them,

in winter avoid. This is a ritual. As when I sit,
as when I chant, I know, even when tongue tied,
or falling asleep, or feeling my knee brace loosen and drop
just as I stagger into the ditch to avoid a truck,

that ritual is a kind of living being, made up of
my life and also the lives of all who participate
in some way, such as: "are you going to 'walk
the dog?'" Yes. "Have you got some water and

your phone?" Yes. "Okay; if you're not back
in an hour, I'll come looking for you." I bobbled
the Heart Sutra this morning, as I always do,
but this little exchange of hearts is itself

the Middle Way. Along the road, taking tiny
steps, tinier every year, I stop
to watch a robin angling for its worm.
The little dog that isn't there

wags his universe of tail.



gassho
ds sat but mostly slept

Gassho2 stlh

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Tai Shi]

Jar of Open Space

So much depended upon
Data data data, siting
Just sit, sit twenty minutes,
Savoring completion,
Furnace become instant roar,
Calm, I sit open mind,
Pain throbs through

Stanza of bright light,
On this page became words
Star dust satiating coming
My after life when pain
Will dissipate amonting one

Black of galaxies
Of endless signature
Disabled curved spine
Gone into simple yoke
Of Yearning down, five

Million years to travel
Back to Sun exploding
Out then back to ball
Of neutron substance
Realizing my future

Birth beyond curved
Bone cartilage gristle
Sinew into dissipation
Relieved at last my
Wisdom gone to nought

Thru nothing keyhole,
Star someday washing
Every pain all away
Belief all shattered, gone
To some distant nothing

My, my, my duka into
Eternal coming black
Toy relief of sitting
Somewhere into some
New middle way done

Is instant being known
Not knowing turnpike
Ever again some planet
Or planetoid remembered
Gone is pain of sit just gone.

Taishi Gassho
sat today, middle way
Helped another.

[Tokan]

Hey there! Embarrassment is normal I think. Us writers and poets are always so self-critical. Please keep sharing, they’re great

LAH is short for “lend/lent a hand”. Where signing ST/Sat/Sat Today is what you’ll see most, LAH is usually after if someone feels called to share

Gassho,
Jesse
ST

Hey shawnzen, you get a thumbs up from me too! If I may add something, the writer of poetry may have a 'reader response' in mind, but such things have a mind of their own. Your poetry seems insightful, open and honest exposing your human vulnerabilty (which we all share), it is encouraging and affirming of our practice, and has a lovely sense of calm connection to nature and reality, so please continue to share. I'm aware that this post is a little out of date, but only just came across your writings.

Deep bows and gassho

Tokan (satlah)

[Daiman]

I hope this is the appropriate place to post this.

Having just read through Jundo's book again and almost finished, the second to the last chapter is Uji (Being Time). I wrote a song called Being Time and released it on a CD called Being Time in 2010. Here is the poetry/lyrics


Being Time


(Verse)
Can you feel the heat from all of your emotions?
Crested high upon some inkling of the truth
Exposing time as just another fixed creation
Forever branded there from teachings in our youth
(Chorus)
A looking glass reflecting mind
An hour glass, the sands of time
(Verse)
Blended moments pass before our chance to reason
Unveiling mysteries that lay inside our mind
Just as winter dies and spring appears in season
So are we - extended lives that intertwine
(Chorus)
A mirror shine reflecting space
A rhythmic dance is keeping pace

Gassho,

Daiman
SatToday

[Jundo]

I hope this is the appropriate place to post this.

Having just read through Jundo's book again and almost finished, the second to the last chapter is Uji (Being Time). I wrote a song called Being Time and released it on a CD called Being Time in 2010. Here is the poetry/lyrics


Being Time


(Verse)
Can you feel the heat from all of your emotions?
Crested high upon some inkling of the truth
Exposing time as just another fixed creation
Forever branded there from teachings in our youth
(Chorus)
A looking glass reflecting mind
An hour glass, the sands of time
(Verse)
Blended moments pass before our chance to reason
Unveiling mysteries that lay inside our mind
Just as winter dies and spring appears in season
So are we - extended lives that intertwine
(Chorus)
A mirror shine reflecting space
A rhythmic dance is keeping pace

Gassho,

Daiman
SatToday

Love to hear the CD, maybe purchase a copy, if you have a link. It is okay to link to one's music in the arts section.

Lovely.

I sometimes think that Treeleaf needs to put out some albums. A Treeleaf record label.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Daiman]

Love to hear the CD, maybe purchase a copy, if you have a link. It is okay to link to one's music in the arts section.

Lovely.

I sometimes think that Treeleaf needs to put out some albums. A Treeleaf record label.

Gassho, J

stlah

Good Day Jundo,

Here is the link to the album. It is on Apple Music. https://music.apple.com/us/album/being-time/492486997

Be forewarned that this music is heavier Prog Rock. It is a way for me to be balanced with my Zen Yin side and Heavy Guitar Yang side. .

I wrote this whole album on acoustic guitar believe it or not. It is me on lead vocals and rhythm and lead guitar. There is another guitarist I brought in on this project for rhythm and lead as well.

I would say to listen the second track Being Time first. In the beginning there is some Buddhist monk chanting. Enjoy!

Gassho,

Daiman

SatToday

[Jishin]

With grace and power, he soars above,
A basketball in hand, a symbol of love.
His legs pump like pistons, his arms spread wide,
As he rises up, to slam the ball inside.

The crowd roars with delight, as he takes flight,
His body a blur, a picture of might.
He hangs in the air, defying all odds,
A human highlight reel, a basketball god.

With a thunderous dunk, the ball crashes through,
A moment of beauty, a sight to view.
He lands on the court, a champion's stance,
His legacy forever, in basketball's romance.

For he is Michael, the GOAT, the one,
Who took the game to new heights, never done.
He left us all in awe, with each dunk and shot,
A basketball legend, who can never be forgot.

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Jishin]

Like the Buddha of old,
Jundo Cohen's teachings bold,
Guide us on the path to truth,
Leading us to inner youth.

With each breath, a new beginning,
With each step, a path to inner winning.
His words of wisdom, like a beacon,
Lead us to the ultimate freedom.

Jundo's presence, like the Buddha,
A source of peace, a gentle aura.
His humility and grace,
Inspire us to let go and embrace.

We are grateful for the light,
That Jundo, like the Buddha, brings to the darkest night.
May we all follow in their way,
Towards enlightenment, day by day.

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Jundo]

Like the Buddha of old,
Jundo Cohen's teachings bold,
Guide us on the path to truth,
Leading us to inner youth.

With each breath, a new beginning,
With each step, a path to inner winning.
His words of wisdom, like a beacon,
Lead us to the ultimate freedom.

Jundo's presence, like the Buddha,
A source of peace, a gentle aura.
His humility and grace,
Inspire us to let go and embrace.

We are grateful for the light,
That Jundo, like the Buddha, brings to the darkest night.
May we all follow in their way,
Towards enlightenment, day by day.

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

At least it does not include reference to "Nantucket ... "

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jishin]

At least it does not include reference to "Nantucket ... "

Gassho, J

stlah

Jundo the Zen master,
In robes of white,
Walked the beaches of Nantucket,
With seagulls in flight.

His mind at ease,
His heart full of peace,
He wandered the shore,
With each step, a release.

The sound of the waves,
The salt in the air,
Cleared his mind,
And stilled his care.

The island of Nantucket,
With its natural grace,
Provided the perfect setting,
For Jundo's Zen space.

He sat in meditation,
Beneath the blue sky,
With the sea as his witness,
His spirit began to fly.

Jundo the Zen master,
And Nantucket's shore,
Together in harmony,
Forevermore.

[Veronica]

Jundo the Zen master,
In robes of white,
Walked the beaches of Nantucket,
With seagulls in flight.

His mind at ease,
His heart full of peace,
He wandered the shore,
With each step, a release.

The sound of the waves,
The salt in the air,
Cleared his mind,
And stilled his care.

The island of Nantucket,
With its natural grace,
Provided the perfect setting,
For Jundo's Zen space.

He sat in meditation,
Beneath the blue sky,
With the sea as his witness,
His spirit began to fly.

Jundo the Zen master,
And Nantucket's shore,
Together in harmony,
Forevermore.

It appears a new Treeleaf Chant has been created...

Veronica
stlah

[Jishin]

[Tai Shi]

It is my great joy that other Zendo members have found with words to celebrate again the music of their own verses. I encourage any and all posts. We are good to each other. Each has found voice and sound and sense. May you continue in the forest of words to find your own path. All are welcome. Thank you.
Gassho
sat/ LAH
_/[]\_

[Tai Shi]

She Finds Her Way

Strong beneath enriched lives,
Gratitude grows as we are couple
Reaching into sky. Wholeness

Sisters gather grace
Brothers send strength
Father, mother, we are all
We seek, generations

Of quiet, world of patterns,
Poetry, verse of atonement
In every direction; power.
She sits with me to meet in silence,

Stopping all, we ask nothing
We Say nothing, breath of life,
Upon breath, Maturation
More grows relaxed
Our wrongs silently gone,

Breathing she is deepest blessing.
Reachingh, each giving strength?
More, I suddenly recognized her life.
Marjorie is kind pearl, Zen originator

Of Family I have finally found
This woman who found life
I give her rubies--the jewels
Of forty years, growth, anniversary,

One who drops to rise. Finally
Adorned beautiful. Gift to another
Our child making our road straight.
This love I have always needed.

I am finding, I can hear, I give
This ring:he has accepted, golden red
Three songs. breathing together

Emerging from fire, seven decades
Plus our gift of one, forged three
For alive, We let our child fly

We freely give our child strength.
She departs as doctor of philosophy,
She is gone, flying away
She has found her voice.

Gassho
Deepest bows
In appreciation
sat/lah

[Jishin]

I do not write poetry, I just notice it
In the way the sun rises, and the way it sets
In the way the leaves fall, and the way they grow
In the way the clouds move, and the way they show

The beauty of the world, in all its forms
The poetry is there, waiting to be born
I do not write it, but I see it clear
And in my heart, it forever will be dear.

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Jundo]

Jundo the Zen master,
In robes of white,
Walked the beaches of Nantucket,
With seagulls in flight.

Oh gee. I like your poems until now. Stick to medicine.

Okay, can you make on that rhymes with orange?

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jishin]

Oh gee. I like your poems until now. Stick to medicine.

Okay, can you make on that rhymes with orange?

Gassho, J

stlah

Jundo, the Zen master, sits in stillness,
An orange, a fruit of nature, hangs in its richness.
Different they may seem, but in truth, they're not,
For both hold secrets that can only be taught.

Jundo, with wisdom, teaches us to let go,
An orange, with its peel, shows us how to grow.
Different they may seem, but in truth, they're the same,
For both hold the key to life's endless game.

One is a teacher of the mind, the other of the body,
But both lead us to a path of inner calm and serenity.
Different they may be, but in the end, they're one,
For both Jundo and orange, teach us what has to be done.

So, let us not see them as separate,
For in their differences, they complement.
Jundo and orange, two sides of the same coin,
Guiding us to find peace and joy within.

[Jundo]

Orange you something, Jishin.

(But, please, leave me out of your poems. Thank you.)

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jishin]

Orange you something, Jishin.

(But, please, leave me out of your poems. Thank you.)

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jishin]

Worry not about dying, for it is beyond our might,
A mystery of life, a natural plight.
Embrace each day as if it were your last,
And cherish every moment that goes by so fast.

Do not fret about what you cannot control,
For it is but a waste of time and a toll.
Live in the present, with all your might,
And make the most of this fleeting life's light.

Death will come, as it must to all,
But let it not cause fear to rise in your fall.
For in living fully, we honor the dead,
And in dying, we are but returning to the earth, our bed.

So worry not about dying, for it is not in our hands,
But in living, let us make the most of our sands.
Live fully, love deeply, and leave a lasting mark,
For in that, we will have truly lived, in the end, hark!

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Jishin]

Dewdrop on a leaf,
A glistening pearl of the morning,
Nature's own gemstone.

A symbol of purity,
A reminder of the fleeting,
A beauty that is brief.

It clings to the green,
A reflection of the sky,
A mirror of the world.

It sparkles in the sun,
A dance of light and shadow,
A symphony of form.

It drips to the ground,
A journey to the earth below,
A return to the source.

It joins the rivers flow,
A part of the great cycle,
A link in the chain of life.

In this dewdrop, we see
The wonder of existence,
The mystery of being.

So let us take a moment,
To appreciate this small thing,
And in doing so, find peace.

Dewdrop on a leaf,
A glistening pearl of the morning,
Nature's own gemstone.

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Jishin]

Consider Another Point of View

Consider another point of view,
Even if it's not the one you choose,
For in its consideration,
A deeper understanding we'll muse.

As an open-minded Zen student true,
We must be open to different ways,
For in their examination,
Greater wisdom and understanding stays.

Critical thinking it does encourage,
Forces us to evaluate and see,
Bringing us closer to the truth,
As our biases and assumptions flee.

Different perspectives we must bear,
To develop empathy and care,
For all beings and their plight,
In compassion, let us share.

So advocate for another point of view,
For it promotes a more informed mind,
And in this open-mindedness,
Let wisdom and understanding bind.

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Tai Shi]

Jishin, good morning! I do like "I do not like poetry..." You have a way with words Jishin, try your hand at some open forms? I too have written closed couplets. There are critics who claim the free verse forms are the only remaining forms, and as I like Eliot and Wallace Stevens, some of this may be true. I like very much the play and writing
with verses
That you compose.
Gasho
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

Newspaper Route

My morning today,
With Orange Spiced Tea,
Wheat cereal, with milk,
Chocolate protein drink,

Warmed and today hot
My stomach, my taste
I enjoyed sweet, and spiced,
Applesauce with cinnamon.

I remembered mother's buttermilk
Pancakes with homemade maple syrup,
Brother asking for shapes of cakes
Together our seldom breakfasts.

We gathered, mom, Dougie, and me.
Then I had walked several miles
Delivering newspapers to Corcoran's,
For Mike their two bedroom house
Shared one room with brother Donald,

No better than our one room, snow
On the ground, Temple of Worldly
Hughes. I warmed myself in corduroy
Coat I bought with money
Earned grooming cattle

At Iowa State Fair, the second
Largest behind Texas State Fair.
This special morning as these holidays
Screeched weeks away from school,
Which I had finally learned to love.

Gassho
sat/ lah
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

I really, really like "Consider Another Point of View."
Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

James Vincent Tate (December 8, 1943 – July 8, 2015) was an American poet. His work earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst[1][2][3] and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Biography
Tate was born in Kansas City, Missouri, where he lived with his mother and his grandparents in his grandparents' house. His father, a pilot in World War II, had died in combat on April 11, 1944, before Tate was a year old. Tate and his mother moved out after seven years when she remarried. The eventual poet said he belonged to a gang in high school and had little interest in literature. He planned on being a gas station attendant as his uncle had been, but finding that his friends to his surprise were going to college, he applied to Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University) in 1961. Tate wrote his first poem a few months into college with no external motivation; he observed that poetry "became a private place that I was hugely drawn to, where I could let my daydreams—and my pain—come in completely disguised. I knew from the moment I started writing that I never wanted to be writing about my life."[4] In college he read Wallace Stevens and William Carlos Williams and was "in heaven". He received his B.A. in 1965, going on to earn his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa's famed Writer's Workshop. During this period he was finally exposed to fellow poets and he became interested in surrealism, reading Max Jacob, Robert Desnos, and André Breton; for Benjamin Péret he expressed particular affection. Of poets writing in Spanish, César Vallejo "destroyed" him but he was not so taken by the lyricism or romanticism of Pablo Neruda or Federico García Lorca.

He was married to Dara Wier. Tate died on July 8, 2015 at the age of 71.[5]

Career
From Wikipedia, "Talk"

[Jishin]

The Treeleaf Sangha, now online we find,
A virtual community, connecting minds.
Through screens and wires, we come together,
To sit in silence, now or whenever.

With every breath, we let go of our fears,
With every click, we enter the present here.
No longer bound by distance or time,
We find true connection in this online climb.

We share our thoughts and stories, near and far,
And find in others, a reflection of who we are.
We laugh and cry, and learn to be at peace,
In this online sanctuary, we find release.

Though screens may separate, our hearts remain as one,
In the Treeleaf Sangha, true freedom is won.
Our virtual zendo, a place to heal,
Where mind and body find a sense of real.

A space for growth, for learning, for change,
Where we can find a new range.
So let us join, in this digital space,
And find true peace, in the Treeleaf Sangha's grace.

Gassho, Jishin, ST, LAH

[Tai Shi]

For me, I have worked to allow, as Tate did, my keyboard to follow where his pen lead him in a manner of free verse to see where my thoughts might take me and I usually compose where I am as I have done with my poetry since I was 16, and now I am 71. I enjoy all of you.
Gassho
Tai Shi
saat/lah

[Tai Shi]

As i wrote in simple
Dignified praise from beginning
Of our verse wringing
As is this back not
Supporting today without pain
The advent of my pain
Curse me disease bones
Into my back, neck
Sacrum, Ankylosing
Spondylitis breaks
My Eyes, my every step,
Even as I sit crooked,
Invisible to much,
To most I am but figure
Straight, Amen.
Pain again, again.

Gassho
sat/ lah

[Tai Shi]

I read Every Poem

It is but 4:58 a.m.
My heart take wing
Friends this for you
I sit daily for Friends,
Family, Dear friends
Of Unitarian Universalist
Seeking their own right
Spirituality, regarding
Unconditional as woman
For man and man, woman
For woman, man for woman
As the Tathagata spoke
Loving Kindness one
For many, many for one
An one for one, loving
Self actualized. One seeks
As parents taught mirror
Behavior as the Buddha
Taught Love or Jesus,
To Kind parents, give
As mother would give
Also father hurts
Same in regard always
Child's operation father
Deep in the brain
Does not walks not
Simple as not desire
Desire so straight to doctor
For his child I did
Seek in solitude weep
There winter, done
With others love each
Other as in our marriage
When now we seek, my
Best Friend, frail two
Years, bab cry not
Removed not AVM
Not relive, Karl Rogers
Sought to show child
Learns in more ways
Understanding love
Dad direction in classes
Took to literacy priority
Books stones in soup
Mom conservation
Montessori studied child
Learning in freedom.
Actualized love never
Always learned nightly
AS SHE READ BEDTIME
In habitation stotrove
Equanimity, alone,

Together is their home,
Beautify those desires
To make reason never
Shown and plaything
Medicine for psychology
For teacher, I helped
Girl publish in small
Magazine understanding
My Little Book of Poetry
Another wishful in dreams
Her notebook of silent need
On Yellow mountain, letter
Becomining bright Marge
Chuck way to Peace.
Child of Loving-kindness.

Gassho
Deep Bows`
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Rhyme for There are No Words.

The empty space is
Not his bonded
Pain that she takes
in spite of his rigid
Spine that makes it hard

For her to sleep. He takes
Her when she is so sweet
They are hard together
They love with joy

So Deep, she is not
Coffee, his is not chocolate
Chips their is soft marriage Bed
Though as old people

They could not sleep, bower
Never had been bliss, but prejudice
Because she loved so deep
Breath She never said “I love you?”

Yet In a billion ways She caressed
his head,
She touches his hand
What they will do
When they are gone,

And probably down the aisle,
It was their tears, that she had
They loved each other forever
No smile he was his or hers

Always his own best man
As be what she sought
His love with depth, Which he
Would not behold

She could not hold,
Unless just the two
Of of them never leave,
Time eternally to be

She saw at three a.m.
When the brain surgeon
Took away part of his skull,
She could not know

What to expect
Would she would find
An empty shell,
Or an Imbecile,

All that she could do
Was Watch him talk
What she had found
Was brilliant poet always

Writing songs about her,
His steadfast light
Shining through blue eyes
Her eyes. both of them

She was not blind,
Her man she realized talked
He saved their lives
More than once

Driving through deepest black
Pouring rain blinding night
The adventure in stratified
Rock where prejudice

Hate, and despair ruled education
Desperate with an iron fist.
They left to found their child
A home in South Dakota

All alone, their intellect
For little one their Fulbright scholar
They gave all to go away
To make alternative books

For little one's mom worked
Quietly to find father proud.
Then they had so much
That they would keep

Each other warm
Until the rainbow melt
In paradise
They would keep
Earth until death

Which slept separately eternal
in brilliant bed of flowers
Near the stone marker
Never read or left

To have, or hold
Until darkness take
One of them went home
Two follow in their

Own Karma
Some salvation in books,
Melting deeds. Some ideas,

Had to be deep.
They tried to keep
Their warmth
Neighbors never really slept.

There was no grave stone
As they will wept
There was only fevrid bow,
No death because in peace.

At last all reality
As in depth forever dust
In the soil, toiled never
To trust every sentient
Being could rise

Rectifying their steadfast
Reconciliation their fright
Forever deep in stars,
Galaxies exploding

Leaving nothing, but supper
Nova, flying atoms
As sparks of life
Into universal dark.

Freedom forever
Found in space.


Tai Shi
Charles E Taylor

[Tai Shi]

I would support all of you your verses here do write everyone for I am just a guy, and I have loved poetry since a young teenager, and I have my first poetry upon my bookshelf and the first books I ever bought, a book of Modern Poetry and The Little Book of British Poetry, then found Walt Whitman who could not spell every word, Emily Dickinson who in mental shut down, found death comforting, at one time my universal love lost, found again without left hand, never fully useful again, now at 71 I am typing two fingers, left and right, what miracles come with removal of deadly brain tumor there since birth Kyousui retired nurse, always there on the phone for me neither of us in old age willing to drive the 70 miles. He is 73, I am 71, and at 70 he saved my life on the phone, saying to my wife "Get him to the ER I think it is a stroke!" and many times before in ER with seizure misdiagnosed with chronic pain though it was present, Kyousui convinced my Marjorie, to get my brain to ER and stroke examination last angiogram there it was, big in my Right Temporal Lobe of my brain, and two had saved my life Kyousui, and Marjorie doctors found AVM rare tumor one or two out of two hundred and fifty thousand, rarity usually killed or maimed patient on October 29, 2020 cold morning 5:00 into preparation paper gown ripped of body cooling down to less body temperature, so great young man could save this old man for his family, and today bright writing books of poetry, loving kindness found in his personality. Life for his Marjorie to see this miracle of change this tumor blocking so anything to change blaring pain from arthritis and brain tumor called AVM this given over to new personality, loving kindness, never now blocking love and malible poetry never dark again filled with life eternal knowing planets throughout Milky Way Galaxy there billion time trillion galaxies more even in this universe free all sentient beings job of Kyousui and Marjorie, to bestow loving kindness before one man feeling young can write many poems filled with identity and reality of unfathomable stars populations of begins with intelligence can peacefully be examples to humanity, we will make it to stars one day as dust of and in reality free all sentient beings, and that means all of us writing something like AVM in the brain, many sick human beings, and doctors vowed to give life to everyone this to do in some or all and the nurses like Kyousui dedicated to life, clean linens as voting women teach humanity to be all of us black and every shade of brown that even those claiming white ar really a shade of brown pigments softer for being where they raise young to know they are susceptible to AVM tumors dumping CO 2 into arteries shifting of 0 2 oxygen life to brain cells, now Tai Shi has new without the great fear he once did have, renewed vows of love to Marjorie till death do they part to reunite in Galaxy of Love and without fear in Star Dust to both spend eternity in peace and harmony. Please all of you like this old man find your spaces here in these catalogues beauty for all to see, invited all of you free all sentient beings bring together your love and serenity ever like Tai Shi camp poetry here as he has found for all of you please please, fo I am just a guy dwelling not in Ancient History of that old personality formed reality self actualized you may do the same, very soon in fifteen years or so writing books of poetry like Jishin all of you invited any verses you may find here this lovely greatest book of our Zendo which someday Jundo will publish as example of beauty and wisdom, thoughts, and community what the Buddha taught as foundation of all life everywhere you please come and write something beautiful all are welcome because all of you have a story real to unfold here for our posterity. Come all of you invited by Tai Shi just a guy who lived to find harmony, do come....you are the universal harmony please come and tell how you are finding every kind of family here in our Zendo or Interbing of hundreds of groups find path like Treeleaf Jundo's genius of people where peace reigns built by Jundo who will find and publish all of you like me just a person like everybody, all humanity do come all of you. I end for now to return and like Jishin watch the genius of community...

Gasho
Deep bows
To all of you
sat/ lah
lend a hand to all of you
Do come to write
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

I have always said you are all welcome to write here. Anything goes, and we have had all manner of poetry written here, people from every direction in our Zendo, supported always by myself and all he writers here, sometimes working out of difficult emotions, and proceeding in a Zen way the realizations of a lifetime, and through every kind of handicap, and tragedy, including every family, and health crisis, and the bitter sweet, and the calibration of great beauty, and the working out of the Precepts, and the understanding of life and death, the realization that old habits can die, and the reaching out for others. Going it alone is not the answer, and here you or anyone may put into words your situations of life and death and beauty in spite of any terrifying and deadly situations, and may here also write of the beauty and subtleties of life. You are invited to try your hand at poetry of any kind, so please come all of you and put your thoughts and feeling here, to make something terrifying and beautiful for truth is beauty, and beauty is truth. Poetry is the overflow of powerful emotion recollected in tranquility. Please do not stay away for there is no level of writing rejected and all are welcome. Put keystrokes here, please.
Gassho
Sincere help offered to all.
sat/lah
Tai Shi

[Tai Shi]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Panda" and "Panda bear" redirect here. For the red panda, see red panda. For other uses, see Panda (disambiguation), Giant panda (disambiguation), and Panda Bear (musician).
Giant panda
Grosser Panda.JPG
Giant panda at the Ocean Park Hong Kong
Conservation status

Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[1]
Scientific classificationedit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ailuropoda
Species: A. melanoleuca
Binomial name
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
David, 1869[2]
Subspecies
†A. m. hastorni
A. m. melanoleuca
A. m. qinlingensis
Mapa distribuicao Ailuropoda melanoleuca.png
Giant panda range
Giant panda
Panda (Chinese characters).svg
"Panda" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters[3]
Traditional Chinese 熊貓
Simplified Chinese 熊猫
Literal meaning "bear cat"
Transcriptions

Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 貓熊
Simplified Chinese 猫熊
Literal meaning "cat bear"
Transcriptions

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, sometimes panda bear or simply panda) is a bear species endemic to China.[4] It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda, a neighboring musteloid. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda is a folivore, with bamboo shoots and leaves making up more than 99% of its diet.[5] Giant pandas in the wild occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents, or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.[6][7]

The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan, and also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu.[8] As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived, and it is a conservation-reliant vulnerable species.[9][10] A 2007 report showed 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.[11] By December 2014, 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 countries.[12] Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild,[11] while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.[13] Some reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise.[14] By March 2015, the wild giant panda population had increased to 1,864 individuals.[15] In 2016, it was reclassified on the IUCN Red List from "endangered" to "vulnerable",[1] affirming decade-long efforts to save the panda. In July 2021, Chinese authorities also reclassified the giant panda as vulnerable.[16]

The giant panda has often served as China's national symbol, appeared on Chinese Gold Panda coins since 1982 and as one of the five Fuwa mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Today in the US it is National Panda Day!

Gassho
sat/lah
Gassho

[Tai Shi]

March Birds

I sat quietly like song,
Song of morning bell
Bell that rings us in,
Shikantaza whiteout
Within, cold rain
March wind rings everness,
Sometimes with snow,
Sometimes with wing,
Of birds come back
Wings slack before wind,
Before rain, before change.

Gassho
sat/lah

[Tai Shi]

Saga of the Brain

This is AVM removed,
Arteries restore
Oxygen restored,
Right temporal Lobe
Of brain, this is
Altoger science not
Sitting miracle.
Resilient is my brain
Noteworthy is addition
Of inhaler bring added
Oxygen again and again
Even so released narcotic,
No longer present
In my brain, added
High blood medication

Mine is deep breathing
Oxygen again and again
Thinking language
Of this center so breath
Of Language creativity!
This is science, not men
Of God, not deity
This is aadvance
Noted by my wife
My Marjorie sees
This change is no
Game or luck or
Systematic artesian
Water, well of life, elixir
Of life, not magic
But brain compensating
On Left Side hemisphere
Resiniancy, compensating
Vital organ is the brain.

Sustain normal man
Estimate full health
Eighteen months
After operation, mind
With matter, understands
Why breathing not zazen
Releases essential
Molecules of O2, O2
Doubly bound science
Not supertician
Not magic not at this
Now, living in the now,

No mistake medicine
Brings forth healing
As vital neural
Transmitter of pain centers
The communication
Interstitial regained.
Mine is the recipient
Of helpful CBT, cognitive
Behavioral Health
Hospital and Avera
Hospital opening
The hand of health.

More science as
Gastro intestinal
Passage way opened
Blood cancer on hold
Never will only these
Anticoagulants stopping
Stroke, with lessening
Causes of heart attack
Cholesterol removed
With statin. It is brain again
More chemistry
No two carcinomas
iN foot bones, leg wound,
Explaining inflammation
Reasons for bone
Marrow biopsy negative
Nothing to explain
Nothing there, bone
Free to produce
Healthy red blood
Cells, but Ankylosing
Spondylitis horrible
Deuteriations of spine
Not assigning bad and good.

Neck and lower back
Right eye, lungs, filled
With smoke in ancient
Days, clogged lower
Right lobe of lungs
This is damage done
By joining academia
The Academy of Scholar
Exploded in hypocrisy
Wives of professors
Selling cigarettes
To college students
To unsuspecting
Students unaware
Their Jokes, all destroyed
For livelihood, lies
Of the mortified Attorney
General's Report, cigarettes
Tobacco leading to death
Nothing given nothing
Gained ironically
Words of King Lear,

Shakespeare immortal
Found deaths demands
Daughter of truth
Cordelia, so would
Not say I love you
Above all else, all sisters
Countenance other women
True, or just another lie
Like my brother's life.
Father if you say
You love us equally
You must follow through
Because, our own Laurel
Daughter and brother
Robert Douglas, and
Grandson Ian only
Asking that you be
Not like Lear not
Like Cordelia not like
Sisters have no truth,
No daughters of yours,
Look even your recipient
Of medicine, removal.
Look, it's not magic,
Or prayer of God himself.

We know what you deny
Science, chemistry,
Brain, muscle, intestines
Without tumors, and you
Won't see as you prepare
For death, we believe John
Lennon said no Heaven
No Hell, only sky, above,
Earth below. I know

Buddha rightly touched earth
Looked, ask morning sky
Found planet he didn't
Know what thought was
Star significant. now
We know, faculty as you
Were were wrong,
Buddha not assuming
Planet or star. now I believe
He had heaven riight, memory,
My song could go on and on.
Let us stop here knowing
Ancient fallacies, killer
Death, not science
Now we know, and shall
Know more serenity,
Know what we live.

Gassho
sat/lah
CET/Tai Shi