Eureka Haibun

This mountain looks down and out. Peeks through the hills to pacific Monterey. The bay, partially obscured by rain sifting up-canyon, has a flatter feel and is darker than the vertical drifts of light gray. I have been here on this cliff for three days in nothing but rain and the pauses between.

drifting with mist
mind settles naturally
resting on pines

Here for ten days of teachings and silent meditation, the moon rises in clear night skies. There is a simple pattern of rain in the afternoon, clear skies at night, and sun that melts the ice on the puddles in the morning.

moonlit on cold stone
simple repetitions
natural cycles of mind

Deer Abby

On the deer path
just above the road
sitting in stillness
looking at the sky
eleven quale slow-then-skitter
like nuns, around me

First Morning Back

Chipping away
at ice
on glass
hand glides then stops short
meeting
resistance

Gap

Spent 10 days in retreat. Mountains,morning fog and pines, mind like dirt pathways leading downhill. Rain furrows. True mountain retreat. Now, reintegration is tough. Paying attention to the gap, easing in.

Tara Assists

I placed her around my neck,
a sudden present today from a dear friend.

Just as the wallowing in turmoil overtook this heart and body.
Tears escaped! How foolish! Accepted that the
completion of the Sadhana was enough?
Not on your life! But quickly a turn of events became the test of the spirit.
Did I fail?

There was no escaping, nor denial...the reminder was there in the pendant. Foolish, foolish. Faltering again. Forgetting the Face and beauty of the Green Body.

What will imprint permanently? Be careful! Do you want it to be death?

Adrift

,
To be free of attachment
No wants or desires
No drive
To no longer be trying to build this or that
To not be a stakeholder

To be hopeless
To drift in space
Stripped naked
Foam on the surface of the sea
Under the sky
Aimless

To be on the brink
To question
Frightened to release
Tempted to step back

If not all those things
That motivated in the past,
Then why do anything?
What would then become?
To deconstruct or dissolve?
Mere cessation?
A shrug? A sigh?

In this splintered openess,
the boundless vacuum,
a gossamer thought
precipitates,
a subtle coalescence of light.

Others.

Not the idea
Or because it has been taught
But because
That only
Seems to remain
Where before
It had always been
crowded out..

Song to the Sky Goer - Courtesy of Neil Young

.
Once I thought I saw you in a crowded hazy bar,
Dancing on the light from star to star.
Far across the moonbeam I know that's who you are,
I saw your brown eyes turning once to fire.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I get so blown away.

I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream,
You could have been anyone to me.
Before that moment you touched my lips
That perfect feeling when time just slips
Away between us on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm getting blown away.

You are just a dreamer, and I am just a dream.
You could have been anyone to me.
Before that moment you touched my lips
That perfect feeling when time just slips
Away between us on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm gettin' blown away.