Sometimes,
the best teachers
in our lives
are the dumbest.
I include
the mean guys
and the mean girls.
And let's not forget
the mentally ill.

There is no silence
in this world of music
the music of noise
and melody

But the mind knows
that at the root
of all this world's forms
is a deep silence

Which I hear
always, through the power
of Buddha-Dharma

Which tells me
that all of this firework
every-which form
is none other than nothing

And my eyes
see the Earth dissolve
into a blankness
which is not happy or sad

So back to the circus
of every-which form
where my computer hums
out of the silence.

The grey October day
shows me a tree
outside my window
which holds golden-brown leaves
and towering spires
of white leaves
(or so it seems)
that I have never seen
before
and the left hand
is steady and still
with first and middle fingers
on one side
of my notebook
and the left thumb on top
as the right hand fingers
move along quickly
across this lined page.

I am writing
with my common ground pen
a poem
for five minutes
about right now
as the computer tower hums
and my Pendleton overshirt
rests on the black vinyl chair
with both feet parallel
firmly placed on the colorful
carpet
and the lights of green
of the high-speed internet
connection
turned-on
and I sit facing the green
wooden desk
which comes apart
into three
as the mind seems to be
focused on a visual and auditory
experience
of being.

My blond hair
parts on the right
and is straight
and thin.

My tan hair
is cut by a yogi
who has colon cancer
and I miss her.

My shorter hair
was very long
in the days of yore
like the sixties.

My brownish hair
once was
like short hair
that is in style
today
except with
butch wax
to make the front
stand up.

The tan hair
of the ladies
attracts me
especially
if it is
long and curly.

The blond hair
of my father
turned white
in his old age
but he
kept saying
that it
was blond.

What has hair
got to do
with it?
Heaven only
knows.

Life is
being
a being
in a big place
doing one thing
after another
for about eighty years.
Mystery solved!

Sitting here
in my computer chair
I straighten my back
and put my hands
in a unique position
at my belly
with my breath
filling it up
and on the exhale
pulling the belly in and in
tighter and tighter
until all air is gone
and then I do it again.

All alternative therapies
and all religious practices
may be placebos,
like we might as well
drink sugar water,
but we shouldn't forget
that a placebo
sometimes is a cure,
simply because we believe.

I can feel
my Theta brain waves
all over my body
with that inaudible sound
that makes me feel
like I have melted.

The man sitting here,
smiling,
is doing so
because he sees
the light
at the end of the tunnel,
which is none other
than this light
which is an illumination
of this perfect now.

The world
always seems
like two drunk men
   fighting.
I prefer to sit it out.

I bow to the television
which is part of the big mind
and turn it on
for about five seconds
in order to get
   ideas
which I then interpret
and it is divining television
much like the I Ching
so I call it
channeling the TV
and the ideas
just keep coming.

I used to think
I was a miner
looking for something
   golden
in my head.
I was trapped.
Later,
I was rescued
by myself
with some help.
I breathe freely now.

This little room
is in a house
in a quiet suburb
of a large city
and I know
there are many,
many little rooms
which are like this
and unlike this
all over.
It has yellow walls.

My morning
is most people's night
and almost everyone
around here
is asleep
as I do my morning work
and the dark
is quiet and still
except for those little noises
of things bumping around
in my peacefully awakened house.

This moment
has a car
driving by
and all
of the little clicking
and humming
with a jet
in the sky
as the wind softly dies down
and a bird calls
to the air.

Buddha discovered
the absolute equality
of everything
but us lesser beings
need the brilliance
of descriminating
among the many millions
in order to uncover
what is right
for us
like this stone
around my neck
which I found out about.

This morning
I wrote some music
which sounded
something like
my mood -
happy-crazy,
so that cheered me up
then I put it away!

This morning, at night,
the mind was ranting
about how I was lousy
at art and such a loser,
so I said that I
am not interested
in success,
I only want
to do.
The mind then shut up
and I got busy.
Keep in mind
that the mind is tricky
and hard to understand,
since it is Buddha.

I am leaving you
this message
on the humming, glowing machine
which says,
"I didn't have the best
of days, today,
but they all have
something good
about them, don't they?
I'll be hearing
from you soon,
maybe?"

This morning
which is night
to most people
I felt tired
of doing
the same old thing
so I made a change
and here I am.

I once asked
a river
by my house
to help me
quit smoking.
I'm still smoking.

I woke up
with the down energy
and I was miserable
so I got down
in the basement
with my five animal dance
which got me up
after I had been up
for awhile.

I feel like
an overcast Sunday
on this
overcast Sunday.

blood is moving
through the body
and the head
is forgiven.

I just discovered
that this moment
is the one
that I have been waiting for
all of my life
but really
I knew that
all my life.

I declared that yesterday
was The International
Appreciation Of Daily Life
Day
and when I woke up today
I knew that every day
should be that too.

I decided
because the mind
suggested it
to do my thing
in a different way

So I did one practice
and mixed it up
with another practice
until I got here
to do this

And so you might say
"So what"
but this has made
a major difference
to me and my
life.

So what?

You don't have
to be spiritual
to be spiritual.

While shopping
for a pair of pants
the music
was playing
songs which I thought
were designed
to prevent
shoplifting.

Crushing out
a cigarette
I have thoughts
of ashes
as I look
at the litter pile
of papers
underneath the ashtray
which have
valuable information
scribbled on them.

I used to think
that freedom
was found
in doing whatever you wanted to
and the crazier the better
but now I believe
that true freedom
is found in self-control
but don't leave
the craziness out
completely!

I lost
at everything
in life
and wound up
in Nirvana.

I'm fickle
like
spring weather.

A friend once wrote
that my soap opera
was the sound
of a lawnmower
and he seems
to be right,
right now,
as I listen to one
growling outside.

I open the little box
which contains
two small cubes
of instant tea stuff
and heat the teapot
until it makes a continuous buzz
and I drop in a tea cube
in my black and white tea mug
pour in the hot water
and watch as bubbles rise to the top
stir it up
take it over to the sofa
where I sit and sip
my sweet Chinese tea.

I love the dark
as long as it's not
dark.

We're all homesick
for the black hole
where we once lived
before the big bang
but now we are on
this spaceship planet
exploring infinity
for eternity.

I had thoughts today
that probably many people
are taking LSD
everyday
like others take multivitamins
and that this could be doing
something very odd
to all of our minds.

There is
an awful war
going on
between the good
and the bad
so I've decided
to **** them both.

Someone with a mind
which is just starting something
has very many options
about how to proceed
and sometimes
they are trapped
because there are so many directions
to go
that they can't decide on any.
Someone with a mind
who has studied something
for a long time
has few options
about how to proceed
and sometimes
they are trapped
because there seems to be
only one way to go.
Someone with a mind
who is a master
has no options
I think
and therefore they can do anything
that they want or don't want
so they are not trapped
and they fly.

Are there any thoughts
in here to write about
right now?
Sure, there is this thing
about happiness
and how it comes and goes
and never quite lasts,
about how we are miserable
one moment
and smiling the next.

A long time ago
I heard about
people who wash
their hands
about a thousand times a day
and can't help it
and can't stop it
so that freaked me out
and I decided unconsciously
to stop washing my hands
and then a long while after that
I thought that it was time
to wash my hands again
after hearing about its health benefits
so now I take care
to wash my hands
and I do it just enough
times a day.

Ordinary, everyday life
is none other
than infinity
and eternity.

I remembered
my twenty years
of growing up
in agony
and discovered
that it wasn't so bad
and that I actually had
a great time
so now I love
everything and everybody
because all of the pain
is gone.

The thoughts have a tendency
to go down like water
to their low point
and that is when
it is time to refresh the mind
with a little practice
of some kind
like meditation.

After meeting
and eating dinner
with a Tibetan lama
I thought I was saved
but then a bit later
my whole life
collapsed
but it was fun
and I enjoyed
the experience
so I rebuilt my life
by sitting in a chair.

In order to
keep myself awake
and mindful
I am doing the things
that I would ordinarily
do with my right hand
with my left hand
so old habits
are changing
and so does
the mind.

The heat bugs of July
have stopped their
music of white noise
for a moment
as the humming
of the computer
reminds this man
sitting here
to listen.

With morning coffee
in hand
I feel depressed
so I ask the Buddha inside
to make me happy
and so
he does!