Recent Poetry, July 2024

What’s True

It’s all quite new: what’s everywhere around us.
It’s also old, but that should  not astound us
There’s no dividing line between the two,
Or aught else either. And that much is true.

Three

“One” is always tyrant, just the same,
Yahweh, Allah, or any you can name.

“Two” is not  much better than that “one,”
It’s always a dichotomy, not won.

“Four” and so on, stand for numbers bigger,
They can be opposed with all our vigor.

Only “Three” avoids all that red tape,
Think of tripod’s oh-so-stabile shape.

The great theologian of the three,
Basil of Cappadocia, yeah, even he,
Advised us not to count that pesky “three,”
Which always leads us to idolatry.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Honesty.
It’s the only word that comes
To mind when I think of you.
Men of your class seldom saw themselves as,
Conscientious objectors, or poets, or homosexuals.
But you inadvertently saw in yourself a
Conscientious objector, a poet, a homosexual.
And it was honesty,
Simple and unavoidable,
That took you to that realization.
May I be honest in the same way.

Transmission

Transmission’s in the morning gruel,
All teaching lives within that fuel.
But hierarchies exist. Oh yes, they do!
And sometimes we must admit  that they are true.
And then we have to make it mostly formal,
With bells and whistles. It is very normal!

Declaration
For Larry Yang

I say before the heavens above,
That I’ll relate to all with love,
And failing that, I’ll train my mind,
At least a little, to be kind,
And, failing that, I’ll do no harm,
There’ll be no cause for much alarm,
And, failing that, as little harm as I can manage,
I will at least do minimum damage,
If that’s the best that I can do,
I’ll do it, and be honest, too.

Why We Laugh

We’re already enlightened, saved.
We have it, even though it’s surely craved,
We just don’t know it, we act like it’s not near,
But that’s what Spiritual Practice is, my dear,
Learning that, despite appearance, hon,
You, me, and the universe are one.
And then it turns out just to be so plain,
We can’t stop laughing again, again, again.

What We’re About

We’re all compassionate at heart,
Indeed you needn’t be that smart,
And that most radical kind of seeing,
Is who we are, deep down our being,
But we forget it, damnit, every day,
And act as though we’ve really feet of clay,
But that’s not true, I’m an enlightened bloke,
Spiritual practice just clears out all the smoke.

Kanzeon

This world is suffering, all with it do burn,
Heard first in babies, then each place you turn.

‘Cause then you’re cursed to see it everywhere,
You naturally react to offer care.

But, take heart, that basic good reaction,
Is sometimes what’s called radical compassion.

You sacrifice yourself, and give and give,
But it’s the only honest way to live.

Jacqueline DuPre (1945-1987)

Your husband,
A world-class conductor and pianist,
Was wildly unfaithful to you,
But that was only part of your short,
Tragic life. Though whenever I hear
You play Elgar ‘s Cello Concerto in E minor,
I know that you sometimes played
From that place unaffected by infidelity
Or MS, or your own quirky personality.
A place beyond them all.
And I rejoice. Thanks.