Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Mr. Newcastle


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzongsar_Jamyang_Khyentse_Rinpoche
རྫོང་གསར་གྱི་བརྡའ།

Dear Newcastle Maharatna
Lets take a drink of freedom like two
Old-fashioned vagabonds.
You have so many guises
Why not try being a Latino laborer
Or a farm hand in upstate New York
Or let me help us find
A  nice Splitting-Off practice hillside
We can offer Deviprasad then
Fall into shamanism, animalism and infernal screaming
All as a matter of formality, of course
You have the Yeshe Lama
So do I -- but would we ever let ourselves practice?
You with mountains of privilege
I with bundles of distraction and Facebook friends
My stuff will be the kindling
Yours the furnace feedstock
We could make a bonfire Agnihotra
Of worldly and supramundane dharmas
Just for a spell
I'll be your point man
Smuggling your movie-star countenance
In the back rows of Trailways bus
From one sleepy mountain crossroads to the next
Leaving town after town surreptitiously
Each time you're spotted in street clothes
I'll plot us another course of random motion
Across a shimmering summer samsara
Of arid American dreams.

Monday, April 15, 2019

It's OK to be human
All the Buddhas done it
All the bad guys too
Everyone's bathtub gets a ring
Shirts have ring around the collar
Toilets look worse
Even after flushing
Teeth chip, fade and rot
Noses grow bulbous
Eyes droop
Ladies grow whiskers
Men grow bald
And worse things happen
Under layers of skin and fine clothes
But mind grows peaceful
Nothing is for granted
Life is even more fleeting
And that much more precious
It's not a party after a point
It's just constant cleanup
Routines structure routines
Noses smell themselves
Skin falls from skin
Knees degenerate
The carnival of youth
Seems ever more fatuous
The future corpses of America
Are oh so splendid in their antics
The buddhing young intellects
Are poised for liberation
Whorled Peas be upon them --
I imagine a green wheel of bliss --
Let them have fresh greenbacks
Right off the burning presses
And hot stock tips
And sexy like-minded friends
There is no need to transform this
Everything is a simple symbol
Of what cannot be avoided.