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This poem and others are available in my books, Nothing Works: Meditations on Aikido, Buddhism, the Tao, Zen, and other inconsequential things....and, Nothing Special, and Nothing Matters..., available thru Amazon.com, in print and Kindle editions and Barnes & Noble websites.....Also available as an e-book via Smashwords.com. Try this link: www.nothing-works.com for the full array of options.
Sitting in a coffee shop
Sipping my coffee
In Traverse City, Michigan
A business trip
Feeling the solitude
Of lonely travel
The music in
The background
Playing Hallelujah
Seeming to fit, somehow:
Forlorn, melancholic
Sorrowfully uplifting
Not quite the Zen
Detachment I was looking for
More like self-pity (miss you)
No Aikido practice tonight
Just reading journals
And writing reports
Preparing for morning meetings
My body missing the
Physical activity, the
Sweat and effort of
Being nage and uke
My mind the moving Zen
Perhaps, one day, I'll
Be able to take it
All off the mat and be
Capable of doing my Aikido
Sitting in a coffee shop
Sipping my coffee
In Aikido, I learn
Technique after technique
As nage, as uke
Moving, flowing
Throwing, being thrown
Pinning, being pinned
Practice after practice
Year after year
My very own Shiva's dance
Creation and destruction
Trying to dispel my
Ignorance, my laziness
And my evil thoughts
All under the guise
Of a martial art
Seeking the flame
Of wisdom and direction
Attempting to overcome
Personal limitations
By sweat and effort
And pain and humility
On and off the mat
Seeking unity by
Embracing and refining
Repetitive strategies
To discover something new
A spangled sky
With a full moon
Honoring the night
Illuminating my
Shadow companion
And me as we
Absorb the glow
And discuss the nature
Of the sutras
And the character
Of falling leaves
I learn about the night
From the night
I learn about the moon
From the moon
While my shadow
And I reach an
Agreement on nothing
As the moon sets
Quietness slowly settles
And I hear
The roaring silence