So it's back to the first formal practice
done for the first time forty years ago
which I invented without knowing anything
that brought about a big kaboom experience
and started my whole Zen trip or so I thought
so I just sit and watch my blinking
and nothing happens except being in being
and sometimes I even chant Om
like the world seems to like to make fun of
and I do have fun with this spiritual stuff
that actually probably is nothing to get
too shook up about.

Sitting in a black vinyl chair,
I put my hands one on top
of the other,
and breathe deeply
while reciting inside
six precious words
which empty my mind
as I become being itself
just sitting there
in a black vinyl chair.

If I were named Violet,
would I still smell as much?
If my name was Phil,
would I stink so sweet?
I am the poet, Herbert, or
Isit? My real false name
Isearl. Of course, not.
My real name is
then tooth bone foodair
soaked tin watch Bag-O-Soul
outin now.
I could change names
if I wanted to
but I am afraid
of lawyers and you.

This present, perfect moment
is the end of eternity
and the beginning of eternity
at the same time.
That's why we say
that ordinary, everyday life
is the great way.
Nobody seems to believe it.

Summer meant
swimming and no school
but now it means
burning alive
outside
so I hibernate
indoors
in this air-conditioned house.

The war
between the lilies
and the Jack Daniels
is mounting
with death and life
in a struggle
and the lilies
are poisoning me
with beauty
as I drink
the Jack Daniels
to end in misery
so the struggle
continues.

Mind/body energy should
not have an outflow
and should not have
an inflow, if we are to maintain
our peace of mind,
but we must breathe
and we must think
most of the time,
so care is needed
to make sure that our energies
do not create trouble.