Hold Still

avid for input I read
in fragments looking
for what I need what
can it be engagement
attention meditation
is too vague to hold
still doing it anyway

Fly Away

mind keeps rising
even as we sink

free as we are we
stay in our cage

the door is open
go out fly away

A Conversation

as if rich we have everything
we need or merely want
free to while away desire

only I would put this word
here like this such stuff
merely a question of context

my construct has to substitute
for being myself living a life
others have ones of their own

remind me what did I say
was it a conversation
was someone really there

together part of the flow
literature sensibility what
will anyone quite remember

Now What

now what rain or other weather
tickles the troubled world what
odd factors account for being
here like this trying to waken
what now is too much to ask
but we do wanting to be ready
whatever the day may present

I in my usual morning chair
ready my eyes to see another
multiplicity of signals closely
watching for signs and clues
now what occasional arising
releases understanding shakes
my complacent blindness alive

Other Breathing

the sound of rain on the skylight reminds me
the world is there I am in it and it in me sensed
not mattering I can rely on comforts all around
outside in my mind body appetites satisfied

shower means it stops holds its breath exhales
other breathing starts again sounding silence
reminds me I am alone with others inextricable
caring that life is watered washed of all sorrow

Steady Breath

is something going on
one language not enough
to tell me what it is

words hover over meaning
too subtle to be known
too complicated to fit

hollowed by overuse
valued for efficiency
cheap imitation China

African words say more
but it doesn't apply in
a city of thirteen million

but where are we now
here reaching for you
translating steady breath