I
the mountain
sets my mind on each breath —
thin-air teacher
II
air rushes in,
but the sinuous seedpod
merits no gasp
III
in the stillness,
my body skips breaths —
sometimes I notice…
IV
in balance —
my mind clear and at ease
stomach gliding
V
watching each breath,
none is the same, otherwise,
all of them are
A sage, throughout his cave days,
whiles away the summer nights
in a darkness within darkness.
The tomb-like silence fades into
a faint resonance.
Musty earthen scent becomes
the dominant sensation.
A tomb within a tomb within rocky ground.
And — slowly, at first — his mind spills out,
and spirals beyond the bounds of all constraints.
Until it reaches the cave rock,
and then it sets into the stone.
Whether the rock starts vibrating
at the frequency of bone,
or bone oscillates from contact with rock —
I don’t know —
All I know is that this cave
that was empty save some flesh and bone
is now full.
In ancient days, the monsters spoke,
but were no less scary.
We’ve made pitiful things of the
unicorn and fairy.
No proud, strong beast of horn and hoof —
No spinner of magic.
Our monsters turned into creatures
cute, feeble, and tragic.
Our monsters are now neat, orderly
and oh-so obvious —
in swank suits and epaulets with
delusions of godliness.
People die from skin cancer —
freaking out about nuclear power plants —
but not freaked out about the sun
enough to slather on some sunscreen.
A plane crashes,
and many decide it’s safer to drive —
clearly, they must be among the 93%
who are better than average drivers.
Mosquitos kill five orders of magnitude
more people than sharks,
and yet “PROBOSCIS” is not a movie
that will give “JAWS” a run for its money.
People pride themselves on living in the real world,
and yet…
old bamboo
creaks, claps, and rattles
new bamboo…
once bats hung
on swaying bamboo
now cut down
clustered bamboo,
a dark hiding spot
on sunny days
flex like bamboo
and grow like bamboo —
be bamboo
Don’t bother to bury or burn my body —
just let my bones bleach white.
Throw me in a hole in the jungle —
food for wild dogs, worms, and germs.
Nature’s truth —
a truth painful only to humans —
is that in life we are all consumers,
and in death we are all food.
In nature’s view,
big brains put us no closer to the feet of gods
than does the ancient memory of trees,
the octa-ambidexterity of an octopus,
or the network optimization of fungal mycelia.
We are all both consumer & food.
In a meadow, amid a dark forest
grows a grass so green it glows.
Never sets foot a pilgrim or tourist.
Where it lies, only an old local knows.
Plus, the grazing creatures of the forest
who wander that way when dining time comes.
It sings but silence — no insect chorus.
No sound is heard, save one’s own thin heart thrum.
Burdened is the keeper of that meadow,
with a secret for which some would murder.
But paradise is too frail to be known
to the heartless hand of human herders.
Paradise trampled is paradise lost.
So, the keeper keeps his secret at all costs.
two live oaks
stretch toward each other —
a faux hug
eucalyptus,
silver trunks glow warm
in setting sunlight
one tree field,
its canopy echoes
floating clouds
a faint smell —
the secret message of an
arboreal cabal
in tree time,
the world must unfold in
seasons — not days
What’s it take to turn a symbol into something which is something [rather than symbolic of something?]
Treasuries turn high-rag paper and indelible ink into slips for which people will give one a shirt or a bicycle.
-Paper and pot metal as symbol of value
Admen turn color and font into a dollar more per kilo of a chemically-identical product. [The dollar can be used for someone’s ill-advised gas station hot dog.]
-Brand as symbol of value
Countries are defended by the potential to use weapons — not by their actual use.
-WMD as symbol of defense
Social media presents a lot of talking and the illusion of listening.
-Screaming into a dark forest as symbol of communication
Stories and verse get turned into potent chemical reactions in the body.
-Vicarious living as symbol of living
The letters of this post are symbolic of philosophy, which — in turn — is symbolic of something meaningful, which — in turn –… which — in turn –… which — in turn–…
Rounding a mountain forest trail
from lee to the wet side,
I walk amid mossy branches
draped thick enough to hide
an ogre, troll, or a dark elf —
let ‘lone the old oak’s eyes.
So many hidden paths diverge,
and me without a guide.
