I put on the tea kettle
and turn up the stove
put a tea bag into my cup
and begin walking
in a diagonal direction
with each step
being with each breath
and my hands over
my heart
with my thumb inside
the right hand
so I take a slow walk
and come back to the stove
and the water is ready
then into the cup
goes the water
so then I walk again
twice this time
and the tea is done.
I have given up
the powerful way
of Zen
for the way of Shambhala
where we breathe easy.

I was down
in the basement,
with a bottle of sake,
and I played a CD
with one of my favorite songs
from my teenage years,
so I had a shot of wine
and thought that now
I was old,
and then another song
came on,
that reminded me of ***,
and said that this trip
begins with the girls,
so as I was then
so happy,
on came a song from my youth
which is so solemn and sad
that tears began to form,
and this sadness
became strong
and noble,
so I decided to end
this small but important experience
on this powerful sadness,
and with the last minor chord,
I turned off the CD player,
with no happy ending,
and then I took a ****.

Some people
look for wisdom
in books and the internet
but I have found
that I only find
other's wisdom there
and can't find the wisdom
which I need
so I have discovered
that wisdom is found
in the head
where thoughts
become words
become ideas
and many look
for wisdom in the heart
but that's just a blood pump
and the head
has taken a bad rap
by the Asian religions
and Star Wars
but I believe
in the mind
where I find
wisdom
and even compassion
but I try to remember
to keep the Socratic idea
that I actually don't know anything.

My Zen priest
taught me
to eat ****
like fruit.

My Zen priest
taught me
to catch thoughts.

My Zen priest
taught me
to exclaim
the word "**", loudly.

My Zen priest
taught me
that the purpose of life
is to make as much money
as you possibly can.

Don't be suckered
by a Zen priest.

So I was doing
my Kuan Yin practice
when I bowed
to a white sculpture
of her
and decided to listen
so she thought to me
"I will tell you
anything you want
to know...
you just have to ask."
so I pondered awhile
and thought,
"What is it?"
and she thought back,
"It is what you think it is."
so I asked,
"Who am I?"
and she thought back,
"You are what you think you are."
so I thought,
"I love you, Kuan Yin."
and blew out the candle.

So my elderly mother
who I am taking care of
was in bed
for a month or so
and she yelled to me
that she had to go
to the bathroom
but she couldn't stand up
so she told me to change
her protective underwear
and when I did
I saw that she
was covered with black diarrhea
so I cleaned it off
as best I could
and she tried to stand up
but collapsed on the floor
so I called 911
and the men came
and said
"Internal bleeding".

Us hippies and straights
from the baby boomer generation
grew up with two great television myths
which determined how
we turned out
and they are
"The Wizard Of Oz"
and
"Peter Pan"
and every year
as we grew up
they were the TV events
on Sunday night
so as we got older
we went to Oz
like on LSD and stuff
and realized
that we wanted to go back
to Kansas
but like Peter Pan
we didn't want to grow up
so we didn't
so here am I,
an old baby boomer,
back at his childhood home
in Kansas, Michigan
and I still refuse to grow up.
I wish I could fly.