New Ones 07/11

coffee water
coffee water
drinking through the morning

driving slowly
along backroads
the furrowed fields

at the end of the corn fields
the beginning of the runway

10:30 driving around
10:45 driving around 10:50
all morning waiting

mid-morning
a seagull flying overhead
his shadow over the parking lot

walking through the neighborhood
all afternoon
counting flower petals

awakened from
my afternoon reverie
tourists asking directions

Teachings of Brother White Crow

“give up the struggle
and just do” the master says
red leaves cover the ground

“our path is
whatever comes naturally”
the master sneezes – hard

“no mind! no mind!”
the master shouts
a shower of windblown maple seeds

“grow white flowers
in the shit of suffering”
master’s master died

“only this moment”
master’s voice
echoes through the hall

“liberation”
the master says and points
a gull drops a quahog

banging the door
“wake up!” master yells
the old shed collapses

“silence! practice it!”
the master says
suddenly, a ringing in my ears

“the wanting wants
itself” the master chuckles
a hound baying at the moon

“the buddha knows
even war” the master
jumping from stone to stone

“anger obscures all good”
the master folds each page

“you are the many
jeweled buddha,” the master
laughs, dances, is gone

New Project

I am starting a new project. I am taking my Haibun “The Bodhisattva Who Lost His Way” and creating a series of drawings to go with it. Then I’m gonna publish it in various ways. Look for excerpts and drawings here and on Facebook.

hopping toward me
hopping away from me
the robin on the sidewalk

April 1, 2011

waking to a world
drawn in thick white lines
April Fool’s snow

On the commute

picking at the frozen gull wing
a crow on the guardrail

Winter

everytime it opens
reminding me it’s winter
close the damn door

slinging her coat
across the back of the chair
a cold breeze

kicking to shake the snow from my boots
water spots on the wood floors

New one

Four or five evenings each week I meditate at the Adoration Chapel near my home. Last week as I watched the rosary beads slowly move between my fingers, I noticed how many more age spots cover my hands – almost freckles them.

praying a thousand thousand Aves
age spots
spreading over my hands

Happy New Year!

the creaking refrigerator
and clanking heater pipes
the ball drops in Times Square

100 Haiku and RSVP

My installation “100 Haiku and RSVP” is up now at the Dyer Library in Saco, Maine. If you are responding to the installation, please post your response in the comments here. Above are some pictures of the installation.

This morning

wind rattling the windows
pounding the door
my leisurely breakfast