#zen poems on Hello Poetry

Jordin 4d

Only the other day the vividity was insane
The world my eyes see was smelting/melting
& the world my I's see was smelting/melting
But just then, as I found my centre
The Fantasia of old would hardly enter
It was enough of the stuff & much more than most men
Yet a part of me wants back to that fantastical Zen

In regards to the poem's inception:
It was a day & I went on a walk.
Upon the latter part of my walk, my psyche shifted & there was a stark drop in the vividity of my imagination.
This poem was a reflection upon that moment.

At the time this decrease was unprecedented.
Typically my imagination is a kind of tripple vision.
There is my regular optical vision.
There is the vision of the mind's eye which is usually wrapped in a rainbow colour like theme.
There is the vision of the mind's eye overlaid upon the regular optical vision.

Whilst I have been thinking about triple vision as a concept for some time; predating the poem count by some margin--I later found a kind of parallel with William Blake's notion of Fourfold Vision.

In regards to the poem title:
The word Fantasia is a homophone for Phantasia; where Phantasia, among other things, is the root word for fantasy as well as the ability to visualise in the mind. The name Fantasia was chosen in part over Phantasia given its musical-like connotations.

In regard to the poem's attributes:
This poem is one of the first poems to concentrate on a homophone (eyes & I's).
Within my canon so to speak I play with homophones quite a bit.
This poem is also one of the first poems to have a kind of multipath-like structure (smelting/melting)...

(WARNING: DEEP DIVE AHEAD)

It may be worthwhile to touch upon the conceptual maps of the homophonic pathways.

For instance within eyes & I's & smelting/melting there are 4 core paths so to speak. If one wanted to map out these in a kind of symbolic chain, maybe it would look something like this:

…eyes…melting -> …eyes…process of heating to convert to liquid -> …eyes…liquid -> …visibility…liquid -> …visibility…(indistinct / impressionistic / dreamlike / fluid) ->

…eyes…smelting -> …vision..process of heating to convert into purest form -> vision…pure -> pure vision ->

…I’s…smelting -> …self concept…smelting -> …self concept…process of heating to convert into purest form -> …I’s…pure -> pure I’s ->

…I’s…melting -> …self concept…melting -> …self concept…process of heating to convert to liquid -> …self concept…liquid -> dissolution of self concept ->

#homophone #imagination #multipath #nequals7 #quaternity #vision #zen

DJQuill Jan 8

The Quiet Persistence

Water runs calmly
A garden within chaos
Grass still grow greener

A memory of my time in Kyoto

#haiku #zen #memories #growth #persistence

Nick Moore Jul 2013

Zen Cow

The Zen Cow
"what's wrong with right now?"

I had it, now I lost it!
the big Joke
a fish looking for water!
the masters stick
gave me a poke.

#zen

Jack Groundhog Oct 2024

The sailor’s lay

A tattooed man, burly and grey,
twists his hemp-fiber rope.
He thinks only of this cable’s lay,
not of wistfulness or unfulfilled hope.

His skin is bronzed and deeply creased
echoing the waves of the sea.
The grey wisps of his forearms’ thin fleece
recall thousands of mornings misty.

His thick fingers grasp like old iron anchors
as his mind glides through his tasks.
He pays no heed to the long-faded cankers
on his worn body from times long past.

Silently he furls the white canvas sails
and stows the great ropes below.
He calmly swabs with a mop and a pail
all the sea salt on the deck white as snow.

The now naked oak masts still rise to blue skies
as seagulls circle and sing their own lay.
But the sailor man hears not their cries —
He turns the capstan: Anchor aweigh.

The oaken ship now glides at slow pace,
adrift on the wide open waters.
A smile takes shape under grey beard’s lace:
He seeks the hand of Poseidon’s daughter.

He’s the last of the crew on this ship of the line.
He sails to be one with the sea.
He waits in calm as the smell of the brine
signals his new bride has welcomed his plea.

Ages hence a wreck will be found
with just one skeleton aboard.
But upon one bony finger, a round
gold band shines out like a vast hoard.

The word “lay” has multiple meanings: A song, a hiding place or lair, the tightness of a rope, an occupation, and more. The poem uses the layers of these different meanings to tell a ballad of a sailor at the end of his days. It also obliquely references maritime legends such as Jason and the Golden Fleece.

#death #acceptance #calm #zen #sea #sailor #ballad #lay #ocean #dedication

Jack Groundhog Oct 2024

The river

I’m in a wide deep river
that flows onwards to the sea.
The wind gusts at my back
in spite of the lee.

The bleak banks are far away,
the murky waters are swift,
my feet don’t reach the river’s bed,
I’m floating lonely and adrift.

Once every so often
I bump against a big rock
that my hands will firmly clasp
to stop the tick and the tock —

but the rock is slick
with the slime of passing time
and I slip on and on
to the sunset light sublime.

Look: All around are scattered people
failing too to stem the flow
as the tireless river hurries on
towards the sunset’s vesper glow.

Then I start to grasp
that to fight it is to fail
and I must be one with the river,
not see it as my jail.

And now, and now, and now:
As my thoughts flow consoled,
I float as one with clockwork water…
each bobbing second turns into gold.

Musing on the passage of time and learning to accept growing old.

#aging #time #acceptance #zen #mortality #death

ZenOfferings Apr 2024

Power and Privilege

Power and privilege can be chased if you're addicted to the change you can create. Even if you're bold enough to claim righteous deeds, you become untrustworthy.
But even as you least expect it, power and privilege will find you in life, and it's that kind of power -- when the universe bestows it -- with which you can absolutely be trusted.
Champion your dharma and live out your dramatic truth in all the universal glory.

#zen

Unpolished Ink Feb 2024

Blue Bowl

Press your ear against the bowl
can you hear it ringing
I think the earth is singing

#zen #peace #ecology #love #earth

Francis Jan 2024

My Open Window

My open window bears a gaping hole,
Welcoming and whining the sounds of my soul,
A tasteful mesh of stormy delight,
In a moment so blissfully lonesome tonight.

Whirls of wind that plow through the trees,
Rain drops pouring and ******* wherever it may please,
Slight brisk drafts of air cooling me at ease,
In this hot, oven-like bedroom, while I cough and sneeze.

Alarm clock sets for the dawn of tomorrow,
I lay here filled with bouts of sorrow,
How this beat of peace is simply a borrow,
Due to this I whimper, whine, and willfully wallow.

The openness of my window, this gaping frame,
The darkness of my bedroom, delightfully same,
Provides sense of solitude in this world, without blame,
I complain not a lick that this is the name of my game.

This New York storm be crazy rn and I’m laying with ease.

#storm #weather #peace #nighttime #lullaby #chill #zen #relax

Heidi Franke Sep 2023

Stargazing with The Tao

I woke early
Enough to meet the stars
Like diamonds in a mine
Or apples on a tree that never fall
They weren't there for me or you
They just are.
A man coughed
Walking up the sidewalk
In the dawn
As he passed by my house, startled me
While stargazing.
I am reminded
There is now,
then and there
I am reminded to let things flow
To Let things go
As the wave does
When encountering the ocean, disappearing into it.
What today is your humility looking to?

#stars #zen #tao #humility #apple #today