picaro - the beginning...

she was lazier than people gave her credit for ~
                                         dunja's epithet

coyotes are often called picaros..rogues..
no social graces..
rarely holding a job..
untouched by the false rules of society..
on the edge of edges ~

i am sympathetic to coyotes -
when others are bad mouthing them,
i find myself in their corner..
look..
i don't want coyotes gobbling up cats, dogs or babies..
yet they do have a right to be here..

as far as the conservation rate -
they are the least concern category..
which i think means no one gives a damn about them
and they would be better off gone, gone, gone.
i don't like the sound of that for any living creature ..
slugs included -

i have see a pair of coyotes
sitting in the tall grasses on one side of the freeway..
the sun dazzling their flaxen coats..
the look on their faces one of..
how the farnbang are we going to get over
to the other side before nightfall?

i have seen a solitary sitting on the border of the slough..
ears up, camouflaged in the reeds..
the sun warming the fur collar she wears with panache..
meditating on the nature of reality
well, why not?
who doesn't..
no hunger to move her off her mark
most awake, most aware..

i have caught one on the bike path
finishing up the morning's ablutions..
caught in the act, caught by surprise
yip and a jump back into the brambles -
i beg your pardon!

i have seen the stealth lean one stride across the path in the forest..
mama shushing the kits, skimpering on a fallen tree, back into hiding..

we are outsiders on the inside of our lives..
or is it .. insiders on the outside of our lives..
either way,
we are the rogues of margin..
the fringe rascals..

coyotes are my dharma pals..
seeking a low status, one does not fall far..
i would/could not be anywhere else...

....dig into the narrow place that has been given to you..
you will find god there...
                          ~ gustave thibon

~ just this ~

the fundamental delusion of human beings 
is the belief that we exist separately and independently 
from the rest of the universe.
there is the whole universe, a human thinks, plus something -
that something is me.

once we misunderstand ourselves in this way, 
it is inevitable that we will be primarily concerned 
with this isolated, precious self.
we will single-mindedly focus on protecting and promoting 
our separate, individual welfare.
ignoring our close connection with all beings, 
animate and inanimate, we will act selfishly, 
through greed, hate and delusion.

when we feel independent and separate from others, 
we feel anxious about whether they really care about us.
we worry that they don't approve of us or support us,
and we may be tempted to lie about what we think and feel 
in order to gain their approval and support.
feeling separate from others and feeling threatened 
by their lack of approval, we may deny who we really are.

..... perhaps the most difficult thing is just to be ourselves..
as long as we're looking for alternatives to just being ourselves,
we will be anxious, we will grumble, and we will complain.

.....all things are so deeply connected that at the precise moment
when we are just ourselves, the entire universe is just itself.

                       ~ reb anderson
                          BEING UPRIGHT

smoke fire breath - rock paper scissors

i will read the ashes for you, if you ask me.
i will look on the fire and tell you from the gray lashes
and out of the red and black tongues and stripes,
i will tell how fire comes and how fire runs as far as the sea.
                                    - carl sandburg

i wonder - about hummingbird lungs..
smoke thickens in my own chest..
it's more than smoke..of course..
it's the heat of flame sadness
ember dust homes ..
treasures of life after life..
up...in...smoke...

the forests..
tree after tree..
masterpiece of masterpiece...
up up and away ~


The deer were bounding like blown leaves
Under the smoke in front the roaring wave of the brush-fire;
I thought of the smaller lives that were caught.
Beauty is not always lovely; the fire was beautiful, the terror
Of the deer was beautiful; and when I returned
Down the back slopes after the fire had gone by, an eagle
Was perched on the jag of a burnt pine,
Insolent and gorged, cloaked in the folded storms of his shoulders
He had come from far off for the good hunting
With fire for his beater to drive the game; the sky was merciless
Blue, and the hills merciless black,
The sombre-feathered great bird sleepily merciless between them.
I thought, painfully, but the whole mind,
The destruction that brings an eagle from heaven is better than mercy. 
                     - robinson jeffers

 

hummingbirds have a greater need
for oxygen than any other vertebrate ..
how's it going, i wonder?
every bird..the winged ones..

how is their sight .. their seeing orbs..?
no visine to clear out the dryness..
the tinder and soot of hillsides under their eyelids..
haze-hued..

nests
tumbling into blaze
eggs..would there be any eggs?
cracking as they crackle

you cannot put a fire out -
a thing that can ignite
can go, itself, without a fan -
upon the slowest night -
               - emily dickinson

providing oxygen is one of the noblest profession..
...so i've heard...
fire is greedy - for wood..for dry grass scraps ..
for breath that perpetuates brilliance..
how do we take its breath away?

impermanence does not happen at the end..
it is continuous ~

breathe..breathe it in...

no class tuesday september 8 ~ 8 AM

in keeping with the labor day holiday..
we rest from labor on tuesday, september 8..

we may think we need to be more
in order to be whole...
yet really..
we need to be less -
to let go -
to throw everything away that isn't true..
that isn't our essence..
hole-y and wholesome

rest well!

more walt

from the mag - lapham's quarterly -

1846 | Brooklyn
A New Ball Game

In our sundown perambulations of late through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing “base,” a certain game of ball. We wish such sights were more common among us. In the practice of athletic and manly sports, the young men of nearly all our American cities are very deficient—perhaps more so than those of any other country that could be mentioned. Clerks are shut up from early morning till nine or ten o’clock at night—apprentices, after their days’ works, either go to bed or lounge about in places where they benefit neither body nor mind­—and all classes seem to act as though there were no commendable objects of pursuit in the world except making money and tenaciously sticking to one’s trade or occupation. Now, as the fault is so generally of this kind, we can do little harm in hinting to people that, after all, there may be no necessity for such a drudge system among men. Let us enjoy life a little. Has God made this beautiful earth—the sun to shine—all the sweet influences of nature to operate and planted in man a wish for their delights—and all for nothing? Let us leave our close rooms and the dust and corruption of stagnant places, and taste some of the good things Providence has scattered around so liberally.

WHY BE COOPED UP INDOORS when you could be outside, tossing a ball and hitting it with a stick? That's WALT WHITMAN's logic, anyway, and during the month of August you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone with a better idea for how to spend a sunny weekend afternoon.

walt -

richard burke, a physician who studied mystics..
those who had "cosmic consciousness"..
catalogued the traits of walt whitman and others..
here's what dr. burke had to say about mr. whitman ~

when i first knew walt whitman, i used to think
that he watched himself and did not allow his tongue
to give expression to feelings of fretfulness, antipathy or complaint..
after long observation, i was satisfied to see that such absence
was entirely real.  his deep, clear and earnest voice contributed 
to the charm of the simplest things he said...
he never spoke deprecatingly of any nationality or class of people,
or time in the world's history..or against any trades or occupations -
not against any animals, insects, plants or inanimate things, 
nor any of the laws of nature, such as illness, deformity or death.
he never complained or grumbled either 
at the weather, pain, illness or anything else.
he never in conversation used language that 
could be considered indelicate.
he never spoke in anger .. never exhibited fear .. 
i do not believe he ever felt it.

okay then ~ let's get to it ~ shall we?!

miracle cure - luka bloom

When all the fighting is done
Forgiveness
When all the blood has run
Forgiveness
The opening fist
Brings forgiveness
A wounded hand to kiss
Forgiveness

It's the wonder drug
It's the miracle cure
It could change our world
Make our lives secure
I take my chance at each abyss
And reach for my forgiveness

The moment the words cut in
Forgiveness
The moment anger begins
Forgiveness
In the light of a new day
Forgiveness
I hope you'll have your say
Forgiveness

Together we grow
Together we know
No losers, no winners
In forgiveness
Together we're free
Together we see
No right or no wrong
In forgiveness

It's the wonder drug
It's the miracle cure
It could change our world
Make our lives secure
I take my chance at each abyss
And reach for my forgiveness



there is a  lot to hold these days..
per chance there always has been..
to face the mirror of our own faces..
our own anger, impatience and distracted actions ~
within the actions of another..

it is an abyss we circle every step of the way..
to love..to forgiveness..
understanding ..tolerence..

watching my own bullying - bossyness
as i drove around town ..
tyrannizing the bizarre drivers from another planet 
attempting to maneuver the streets during our arts fair!
a small annoyance that is the very seed of war..
of violence..
in me !
inconceivable! 
not!

the 8 verses of mind training - 
kadampa geshe langritangba (1054-1123)
can bring us about face to step, however slightly lightly, into a footprint of another..
to get the picture there is not an us & them..

1 - with a determination to accomplish
the highest welfare for all sentient beings
who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
i will learn to hold them supremely dear.

2 - whenever i associate with others i  will learn
to think of myself as the lowest among all
and respectfully hold others to be supreme
from the very depths of my heart.

3 - in all actions i will learn to search into my mind
and as soon as an afflictive emotion arises
endangering myself and others
will firmly face and avert it.

4 - i will learn to cherish all beings of bad nature  (bad drivers, included!)
and those pressed by strong karmas and sufferings
as if i had found a precious treasure
very difficult to find.

5 - when others out of jealously treat me badly
with abuse, slander and so on,
i will learn to take all loss
and offer the victory to them.

6 - when one whom i have benefited with great hope
unreasonably treats me very badly,
i will learn to view that person
as an excellent spiritual guide.

7 - in short, i will learn to offer to everyone without exception
all help and happiness directly and indirectly
and respectfully take upon myself
all harm and sufferings of my mothers.

8 - i will learn to keep all these practices
undefiled by the stains of the 8 worldly conceptions *
and by understanding all phenomena as like illusions
be released from the bondage of attachment.

* like / dislike
   loss / gain
    fame / disgrace
     praise / blame

how much more the open palm can hold
than a tight fist..
this, this, this....

arts festival & yoga class!

yoginis and yogis..
yes!
there is a class on
friday @ 9am 
&
saturday @ 9am..

if you are planning to attend..
remember the faire..
and parking scarcities..
short supply - in other words !



gather out of dream dust
earth dust
cloud dust
storm dust
& splinters of hail

one handful of dream dust
not for sale
           - langston hughes