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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.
Only in pain
Can you know pain
Only in joy
Can you know joy
Only in experience
Can you know experience
Thinking and learning
Will only get you so far
Drop them off at the threshold
Mystical everyday life beckons
Step through
A monk shits in the woods
Flowers bloom in multicolored forests
The sun hurries across the sky
As does the silver moon
What does it all mean?
Everything? Nothing?
Yes
At this time of year
When I do zazen And I am deep
Deep into the silence
The deepest silence
I hear something
A whispering something
Coming closer, closer
And I see a light - reddish
With a subdued roar
And swish of parting air
Rudolph, leading eight friends
Passes over me
On a mission of joy
But, looking back at me
Santa smiles in understanding
With a promise to return
When I am ready
Through my open window
The moon's light limitless
I inhabit my absence
My heart-mind at peace
My true nature comes forth
I think of walking on falling snow
Footsteps disappearing
With each step
Reading The Blue Cliff Record
Sometimes I get a glimmer
Just a faint glimmer
Of understanding
Then it disappears
But, then, I've been reading
It for years, years
And still not finished
Perhaps there is still time
I was recently at a weekend seminar at Kyoseikan Dojo, in Grand Rapids, MI. The training and practice were just great, plus we had shodan, sandan, and yondan testing, which was fascinating to watch. Thankfully, everyone passed. We also had promotions presented and Lizzy Lynn, Shihan, flew in from California to share her deep wisdom. A very good weekend. I was also asked to write a poem commemorating this event. This is my attempt to give a great seminar its due. Hopefully, I got some of it right:
Living Collaboratively
I want to touch
The rings of Saturn
I want to float
Through interstellar stardust
Another more practical option
Was a recent weekend
Celebrating ten years
Of living collaboratively
With teachers, students,
And community - Aikidoka
Training with heart and intent
Successfully testing to limits Nages and ukes leaving
Little on the mat
A large cricket attacking guests
With doleful looks and demands
For lots of belly-rubs
An anniversary, birthday, testing
Promotions, grand weather
All great reasons to share
A mutual gathering of like minds
Two wooden posts - a hard reminder
That ten-directional eyes
Is more than just a weird saying!
A visiting west coast master
Such were all the ingredients
For another great seminar
At Kyoseikan Dojo Where tradition meets community
01-08-2017 01:01 AM 
