cognitive dissonance

i was born in detroit michigan. some people might regret that fact but i never have. it is a bit of a snake bit town on many levels. but it also has a sort of club like feel to the residents. i was in the club. we took great care not to mess with other ‘members’. we knew who belonged. only got robbed once. some guys broke into our house on the east side. we had a dog that loved the kids and hated strangers. she was locked in the kitchen when they came in. she chewed the doorknob off and chased them out of the house. a blood trail ended at the fence in the backyard. after that word spread i guess that we were not a ‘soft’ target. my long hair and beard was most likely a deterrent. Those crazy hippies. they might just let their dog kill ya.

what plant is that
i dunno
lets smoke it and find out

everybodys jumpin

listening to jazz. thinking about bakers keyboard lounge in the ‘d’. any bar that is shaped like a giant piano starts with a firm head start for me. more than once when closing time came they just locked the front doors and kept right on playing. being law abiding they stopped serving liquor at 2:00am. i know jazz listening while high to some folks might not seem religious. but to me even the memories are spiritual.

sweet smoke of jazz
the piano player
never looks up

it aint what the moon did

i never stumble in moonlight but the sun trips me up a lot. my imaginary public defender has missed her car payment two months in a row. i move my fingers faster over my prayer beads.

i dont blame myself   i blame the new moon   winter solstice

never let go of your ghosts

my successes are what i let go of first. my failures i like to ruminate on. not with self pity but just so i can round off the corners before storing them in my mind. i dont want to hurt myself with the past. what i really want to do is see things no one can see. a still mind reflecting a full moon from a special place in the universe.

fog
i leave myself behind
at the tall pine

implications in hello

the older i get the more i read into everything i do or say. not a good habit really. letting go entirely is what we miss out on when we fear falling through our own empty spaces. i see the way hello fills those spaces for me. but every hello carries the implication of a goodbye. but still it is so nice to smile despite any implications.

i give a salute as they pass… the path   where the deer disappear

burning sage

rising through the room. smoke through empty space. twisting toward the ceiling fan all my troubles let go of me.

the chant
…om…shanti…om…
on auto repeat

you never know if you are right

i believe in uncertainty. the one constancy in the universe. physicists know this. the average person would benefit from an understanding of the ‘uncertainty principle’. people see it in operation every day but refuse to accept it. but in life to accept the seemingly imperfect as the perfect is the secret to true mastery and compassion. nature on the other hand thrives on random disorder. animals and mountain ranges learn and adjust to every movement in the universe. only humans are arrogant enough to even contemplate control. which is why we are more likely to become extinct than any other species. me. i am a one of a kind. and so are you. before we go extinct let us write short poems and drink wine.

an unkindness of ravens
drives all order
from my mind

mask for an idol

tea cups that have been seasoned with age are the best. cracks sealed with superglue hold tight the past from the present. all my repairs ignored. meet me in the now.

wailing guitars…
loneliness hidden
in strobe lights

the cling of conviction

conventional wisdom is the lowest form of thought. i prefer the highly convoluted simplicity of the truly wise. buddha said it for me ‘know who you are. be what you know’. finding yourself is the work you wake up with every day. the rest of your life just falls into place after that. i take that walk in the woods i have not attended to lately. the wind blows me away.

winter storm
the stubborn leaves
on the oak