Smoke Offering

Burning, burning:
Debris from the back room,
Leaves from the back lawn,
Defilements and obscurations from the back of my mind.
Smoke billows in the blue autumn sky.
Fourteen year olds dance at night
And throw fire crackers in the fire.
I wake the next morning early
Rekindle and burn some more.
In the early morning light
Smoke billows and expands
Mushroom clouds of fluid grey cotton
Rising, gushing, pulsing, pushing,
Like something alive.
Limitless clouds of offerings
To Buddhas and bodhisattvas
In the ten directions and three times.
Bless me with the fire of recognition
That purifies the obscurations and defilements
And consumes this dualistic habit mind.