Saturday, June 28, 2025

the Covid years, and after






awakened, we see

forward and back—pages turn,

chapters shine in light



**



family gathering


trust resides in genes 

passed along as such—


nurturing works too 



**



jet lag lurks

edges, crevices,

reveals its fullness

in wide stretches

of unyielding darkness

and scattered hillside lights

not noticed by those asleep



**



the song I hear

sings me


morning skies

tell no lies



**



sometimes I find myself 

writing essays of one kind 

or other—then grab 

my ears, listen for musics 

humming among the words there



**



I’d forgotten how 

rain drops feel on eyelids, sound

on flapping panchos



**



deeply drinking, more

deeply drinking, the rain

never saying enough



**



why do you suppose

rain drops glisten on leaves,

not on the street



**



salt on the cashews

washed away by coffee washing thoughts

of sweetness away



**



there’s something itself

evident when haiku dream:

counted words waken

senses to what they’re sensing

and the world speaks for itself



**



the jay, then the crow,

each at their end of the line


me below equals we



**



energies return

or are re-found—I don’t know

but take what I get



**



timeless, placeless sangha, 

breathed connections remembered—

refuge simply is



**



the feather, the grass,

open sky—hills


taking my steps too



**



like Thoreau, 


no need

to go 


there


is here



**



breathing footsteps, 

gauze-like moon


hill top morning sky



**



winds wake us to grey


sky day light


rested



**



my buddhism


a thin volume,


mimeographed

stapled cover

sketched with flowers


kitchen tables

living room chairs

temple social halls


time-to-time

together chanting



**



do words written need wind 

or have it at their heels

all ready



**



the best 

questions

mark time



**



in dry grass

among bracken fern

at sun rise, 

earth watching 

with me



**



getting older 

we learn 

every departure

is practice



**



Buckeye Canyon’s May

stream trickles, trail turns hard-pack,

grasses crack and rattle



**



deep drift fogs lay 

rounded drops—spider webs

test the weight



**



planting vegetables 

this morning—beans and squash

excite the birds



**



plumber on his way,

ridge line fog ready to leave,

old man back from his walk


coffee still hot in the cup



**



ji-nen


whatever purpose

we propose, nothing 

but added icing



**



a bit edgy

after a walk


grey skies blowing

Bolick blowing



**



the famous poet

zen master ego 

runs no checks—he laughs


his poems make no sense


to us he knows,

laughs again



**



mustard means flavor,

buns before burgers, licked fingers,

fields of yellow-green



**



I never


ought never

be uttered

by lips

not bending

a smile


*


fractured

routine

heals in

breathing


*


poem-prose

moves in waves

we know best

in silence



**



some mornings run

like spring waters over rocks,

glittered sun telling

of breathtaking drinks



**



we’ve two stone Buddhas

in the garden, two saints,

a gold painted monk

and a multitude of leaves

reaching into the praying sun



**



sitting, pen to page,

I see I’ve been right—things speak

when ears wait to hear



**



the bird on the line

will have its turn—come dusk


friends gather to sing



**



first jacaranda


light purple curls under grey

June skies



**



poetry’s way hears

pauses of peace in chaos,

nods hello to storms



**



the breathing body


light bulb light, window light


quivering petals



**



keep writing he says,

connections don’t stop, we shouldn’t


everything counts



**



lights shine through closed blinds, 

dark hills saying nothing

a night’s rest won’t cure



**



me, the door, 

distant dogs and 

the Sunday paper



**



each time haiku

rediscovers me,

something new



**


palm fronds wave

at the bird


in the wind



**



the Indian poet

writes 

English haiku

translated

to Galic



**



printer re-inked,

a long sigh


of clicking 

satisfactions



**



grey sky, grey rabbits


shadowed underbrush 


disappearing tails



**



memory, but one

strand in the weave of now—

let it be

whatever colors

its light



**



among the oaks,

clusters of hummingbird sage

signal open sky



**



trail scat says

the oaks and I

are not alone



**



deep morning fogs


dripping limbs


wet boots



**



browning grasses hold

to the mountain’s shape—seedlings’

white puffed shapes just hold



**



sluggish morning walk—

the never-sluggish tree-guy

extends calloused limbs



**



lingering layers

of fog define morning light

possibilities



**



to wait is a verb,

observation active,

to write, dynamic



**


bamboo leaves shadow

the window, lean toward light

inside—on or off



**



the industrial park


lots of private property,

fences—weeds both sides


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