Li Bai fills his cup; Li Bai loves his wine; Li Bai sits in moonlight, staring at the sky.
Li Bai [Lyric Poem]
1
Category Archives: poem
Sole Connection [Free Verse]
The mountain
was so long ago.
Yet, I feel its pulse
throbbing under foot --
into my ever-loving sole.
[You thought I was going to say:
"everlasting soul," didn't you?
Do you think my soles
inconsequential in comparison
to my soul?]
Nothing is firmer or finer
than the point at which
I touch (& know) the earth,
than the point which
presses the real,
and, thus, by which I have
evidence that I live.
[The ghost feels nothing in its soles --
if such a being exists.]
These lowly old soles connect me
to all that is, was, and ever shall be.
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Bodhi Tree [Free Verse]
How to pick a tree
that one can be resigned
to sit under until
Enlightenment?
If the choice is hard,
you are not ready.
If the choice is easy,
you are not ready.
If there is no choice,
perhaps, you're ready.
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Five Wise Lines from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
All art is quite useless.
The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.
A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are fascinating.
You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.
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Understory Lore [Tanka]
in a thriving wood, sits a barren patch of understory. oh what tales locals tell about the patch that can't grow!
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Bovine Chiropractors [Common Meter]
A cow is an animal, &
animals are creatures.
So, having strong proclivities
is a cardinal feature.
Calling them "creatures of habit"
must be for a reason.
If creatures did not form habits
the term would lose cohesion.
But I digress, I must admit.
Let me get to my point.
You see, a sloping pasture must
be murder on the joints!
A random beast, who stood this way
& that, would balance out,
but standing each day - just one way -
could cause a hip blowout.
A cow that grazes on a pitch
must have unequal legs.
Maybe, all it would take would be
two tiny pirate pegs.
For wearing pegs on the downslope
side would align the hips,
but then on walks down to the barn
cows would be prone to trips.
For now, there's just one solution:
bovine chiropractors!
Because the cost will be so great,
I'm seeking benefactors.
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Flower Divas [Haiku]
flowers are rock stars: standing tall & proud before the swaying grass.
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Waiting [Free Verse]
Waiting.
A space between.
Neither doing,
nor resting.
There's something in waiting
that lies beyond being.
An expectation without promise:
As with Vladimir & Estragon,
waiting on Beckett's Godot, or
the Old Man waiting
at Gao's Bus Stop,
There may not be a payoff.
Whatever it is in "waiting" that
distinguishes it from "being"
or "resting,"
it sucks!
All the excitement of expectation,
nullified by the possibility
that nothing will happen --
nothing good, nothing bad...
just a soul-sucking nothing.
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Five Wise Lines from Ben Franklin
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.
Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.
Never confuse Motion with Action.
And Five Honorable Mentions:
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few his precepts!
It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.
If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.
Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.
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The Nature of Art [Haiku]
in stone mosaics,
nature’s hand is more artful
than the artist’s.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 