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K Mae Dec 2012
Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being ***** by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh
This poem I remember often in my attempt to make sense of this world.
KA Feb 2014
as the flames grow higher
  you must know
  its the persecution that I'm crossed
  not you
  I want peace
  my life is a dream
  row row row your boat
  get to the other side of life
  my Buddha
  so many innocent died
  so many haters
  listen to me
  persecution
  photographs
  Malcolm keep clicking
  it gives my life meaning
  at the peak of living
  light yourself
  shoot into the sky
  shooting into the flame
  I make my point
  scores settled
  magazine covers
  me in white
  you with your mouth wide open
  shooting into the flame
  I peak
Miguela shine Nov 2015
There's a phrase
I wan to say
Through barrier
Of the tongue
Em thich anh
Rat nhieu
Gosh I like you so much
Aishiteru
I could say
Or even
Querme
No matter the language
The look is the same
The feeling induced by eyes
I've caught his gaze
My hips his hand graze
Language will not be our demise
Homunculus Dec 2015
Here's one for all the suicidally depressed people.
First of all, if you're thinking about ending it,
Please know that I love you, and I really hope you don't
I've been there too, and sometimes all it takes is
One more day to think before you decide that it
Really isn't worth it... BUT: if you've thought long and hard
About it, and you decide to follow through: be creative.

Don't just say "goodbye cruel world" and swallow a
Bottle of sleeping pills, or slit your wrists in
The bathtub, so that your landlord finds you
A week later after wondering about the smell.
Instead, rent an exhibition space in a trendy art district,
Hire a PR team, and pour your investments into,
A highly publicized event, that will be billed as
"The Performance Art Piece of the Century".

Don't worry about how you'll afford it, either.
You can easily take out several loans from
Various banks and payday lenders,
Max out your credit card, bounce cheques etc. etc.
It's not like you'll ever have to repay them.
Once you follow through, you'll default by default!
Then, well, that's their problem, huh?
Meh, serves those greedy ****** right for
Crashing the whole **** global economy
every few years, like they seem to like to do.

Instead of a suicide note, write a manifesto,
Complete with a detailed statement of purpose,
Instructions for preserving your work, and
An incisive aesthetic critique which decries  
"The subversion of artistic autonomy by
The market society", and the uninspired
Throwaway commodity form
That art has become as a result.
Blame Andy Warhol, people will get it.

Then, when the big day comes, and
You're surrounded by those pretentious
Clove smoking, soy latte sipping, Prius driving,
Tofu eating, turtleneck wearing, Soho art district types,
Get a gun and put a canvas behind your head, so
That when you pull the trigger, it splatters an
Aleatoric masterpiece that even ******* would fawn over.
Now, for maximal effect, you're gonna wanna use
Hollow tips, dum-dums, or buckshot in a sawed-off.
If you really wanted to play on the chance operations thing,
You could line the cylinder of a revolver with both
Full metal slugs and hollow tips, so that there's an
Equal chance of the shot creating
a controlled burst or wide array splatter, but
These are just suggestions, It's your art, you decide

This spectacle would make headlines, for sure.
Then, instead of being just another statistic,
To be neatly lumped into a sheet of numbers,  
Stuffed into a folder, and quickly forgotten,
You'll be remembered for generations to come
As that tragic visionary, whose passion was so
Uncompromising, and whose artistic integrity,
Was so utterly unyielding, that you were
Even willing to give your life for it.

Now, one last point of contention, to
Add a bit of weight to the argument:
You remember Thich Quan Duc?
He was the monk who set himself
Ablaze, during the Vietnam War,
In an act of protest. Of course you do.

Nobody knew him the day before,
Except maybe his fellow monks, but
Now his image is immortalized, and
Immediately recognizable decades later, as
The picture that defined a generation.

...but,

Do you remember the man, who was
Fed up with his dead end job, and one
Day finally decided to end it all?
Which one? Who's that? Exactly.
Now, perhaps I've made my point.

Just a thought...
I was listening to George Carlin's bit on suicide from "Life is Worth Losing" and decided to have a go at the topic myself.
Greyhound station the midnight customs man
goes through my backpack looking
for a glock or **** I guess; instead
he pulls out Thich Nhat Hanh's
Teachings On Love.

You teaching love?
says he; I say

learning it
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
Ambiguous and Ambivalent
No way to avoid
Human, all too human
Bipolar and paranoid

But also truly trying
Also wisdom wish
Sor Juana mystic flying
Also flying fish

I'm prepared to wait for centuries
To wait with Thich Nhat Hanh
I too traveled in Thailand
Saw the Temple of the Dawn

Touch the past, Touch the future
Touch the Tyger, Touch the sin
Touch the trust, Touch the fear
Touch must lose to win

           Thomas the Twin
Eliot Greene Dec 2013
for Thich Quang Duc,
The monk who lit himself on fire in 1963.

The flames were a mantra,
Kissing skin like the enlightenment
That blooms when one has finally
Swallowed the last spit of his fears.
Young monk with kerosene in hand,
Pyre priest of thunder and spark.
You never said a word as you ascended,
But I wonder what you whispered
Before your blood boiled. I wonder
What you dreamt of the night before,
If you even slept, or did you stare
At the stars and say sisters
I will sing you soon,
A symphony of supernova and smoke
That stopped all the street lights
As the world basked in your blaze
As if you were the origin of heat.
You wore a halo of combustion
For all the angels that couldn't
Be heard singing a dirt song,
Harmonizing with the silence.
But the furnace of your body
Was a screaming nirvana,
And if those flames were a mantra,
Then they were speaking holy holy holy.
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2019
The Statue of Liberty in New York
                counterbalanced by
The Statue of Responsibility in California

Thich Nhat Hanh is right to thus employ
                      O wise Buddha!
      We are indeed not free to destroy.
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2019
Statue of Responsibility
So says Thich Nhat Hanh

Planting a Buddha seed
Water works at dawn

Time’s terrible illusion
Flux flummoxes on

West coast water wonder
Rise now Rising One!
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2022
Thich Nhat Hanh
Walks through Prague
Hears the tolling bell

Moon aglow
St. Charles snow
Summer rolls as well

        Saigon, Ishmael.
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2019
Late in the 9th, Cubs with runners on
               Count is 1 and 1
        gone beyond, gone beyond,
            gone altogether beyond


               Redemption Songs!!!
Mazen Edlibi Dec 2015
"We get crushes on others, not because we truly love and understand them, but to distract ourselves from our sufferings" How to Love
Book by Thich Nhat Hanh
I felt Naked!
I felt being with no hope left!
I felt I have to leave the world!
I flet I need help!
No air to breath...
No bed to lay on...
No sleep to catch...
All States are taken away and given to someone...
Graving to rest..
Graving to know...
Graving to live..
It is only one thing I look for...
                               It is only
                                Love
                           Is it much?
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
So America Magazine attacks Thomas Merton
With Wendy
Says that no real contemplatives
Actually find him useful

Christian resentment
That's what Nietzsche called it
These sick religious people
Envious, Bitter, Small

Merton was tormented
And a very talented writer
And committed to peace
And a brother of God

Is that too much?
Seeker, silent seeker
Friend to Daniel Berrigan
Brother to Thich Nhat Hanh

Solo in Kentucky
A writer, Father Louis
7 Storey Mountain
Destined for Samutprakan

Which is where my relatives live
Buddhadasa's Theravada Zen
3710
Christ of the burnt men

             Thomas. When?
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2019
from Thailand to Vietnam
       Mason Nation and pagoda - One
                 when young within me yearning
                           now you old and...

                                       Returning.
Qualyxian Quest Jun 2019
compassion for the good
and also for evil

who would wish
to be beyond retrieval?

desire brings suffering
horror primeval

but kindness calms
Time the Deceiver
Nectar on my lips
a sweet kiss for you


Thich Nhat Hanh says
3 breath hugs
are bliss for
body, mind and spirit
Qualyxian Quest Feb 2019
communal soul, each a piece of the whole
      bell tower tolls, hallelujahs roll
    tolls for thee, ancient Prague to see
Thich Nhat Hanh, in pacem journey on.
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2023
September 11th, 1921
Subramania Barathi dies
Dedicated to the goddess of learning
Known to be quite wise

Mania is a mystery thing
Sometimes comes from the gods
If you ever go to Reno
Be sure to know the odds

I bought The Hunger Games
I volunteer! I volunteer!
Katniss Everdeen
Julia Roberts. Not Richard Gere.

Thich Nhat Hanh was a poet
The Dalai Lama is not
Shiva dances and so it
Is hot at Angkor Wat

        Gonna help my brother Scott.
Uma natarajan Jun 2021
That was a Stormy night, I was moving towards the hilly terrain
Heavy downpours were just obstructing my ways Drenching me from head to toe in the rain
Surrounded by thich woods and the wilderness of night
I felt totally deserted and I was searching just the ways to escape from the flight
Getting trapped under crucial terrific plight
Even my self confidence losing its balance was about to collapse, losing its power
I was desperate to get a roof, to be safe and to shield myself from the continuous showers
At this juncture, I noticed a man with a lantern
Till now, I was a single person moving and now the sight of another human pattern
I felt relieved, both of us moved together, until we reached our shelter
Here the most important part was the other person was coming from the other direction, but for my sake he was again made to move towards the same direction.
Giving me courage, confidence and a good company
he was raised to a higher level in my estimation
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
In Thailand I touched a Tyger
In London William Blake
Denver, Colorado
Lady of the Lake

I am puzzled by predation
Doesn't God ******' care?
Titanaboa
Highwater Everywhere

The prey runs to the predator
At the end of American Cosmic
I am you and you are me
Thich Nhat Hanh's Buddhist logic

I read of Korean shamans
Women in the mountains
I listen to Bob Dylan
Yon cool and crystal fountain

I'm quite good at waiting
Not as good at action
Come the kairotic moment
To give me godly traction

Trappist 1 in Baltimore
In Toledo my Uncle Jack
Viva Tel Aviv!
Please help para Iraq

             A Comeback!
Qualyxian Quest Feb 2023
I would not recommend marriage
Lost in Translation
Silently in Kyoto
Tokyo the train

I see Shakyamuni
Sometimes in Indian restaurants
Emerald in Bangkok
Alive in Thich Nhat Hanh

Life is Suffering
And true gratitude
I know not why I live
I know not when I'll die

Robert Parker
Susan Meek
Jesse James
Life of Pi

              Ay! Ay! Ay!
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2019
Seattle Emergency Housing Service
The poetry of Thich Nhat Hanh

My Jesuit Volunteer Corps friends
Long ago still lingers on

Ethiopia and Somalia
The ferry boats and beyond

Water, skyline, mountains
Blue twilight, grey-green dawn
Qualyxian Quest Oct 2021
Badly deceived
By the imperialist and kooky
D.T. Suzuki

Not fully aware
Of the ambition and drama
Surrounding the Dalai Lama

But right spot on!
Regarding his brother
Thich Nhat Hanh
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
I was impressed by Daniel Berrigan
Wrote him to tell him so
He kindly wrote back
Said he thought I was on a good way

Mentioned Thich Nhat Hanh
Seattle
JVC
Poems

Daniel Berrigan burned draft cards
Like the one that came for my father
Went to jail for it
Took care of AIDS patients

My dad graduated from St. Louis University
Minored in philosophy
Career in the Air Force
Retired from the Pentagon

      Fr. Berrigan lingers on
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2023
Gonna try to wait till May
Stay off if I can
Daniel Berrigan, Dorothy Day
Hints but no clear plan

I like Universities
But just to walk around
Musical perversities
The need for common ground

Thich Nhat Hanh in Berkeley
Living Buddha, Living Christ
South Side of Chicago
Ooo dat girl looked nice!

Abraham Lincoln
Spoke of the Living God
Some days all day thinkin'
Yo soy solo Todd

                    Hope!
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2022
Like Thomas Merton I have been to Bangkok
Even Samutprakan
Silent in Gethsemani
Temple of the Dawn

On my second date
Heard Thich Nhat Hanh
Wrote to Daniel Berrigan
Seattle for the fawn

Bangkok is quite bustling
Tuk tuks in the rain
Motorcycle taxis
I fear American fame

Passed the ball to Alex
In New York I will attack
George W. paints in Texas
******* destroyed Iraq

           But I fight back.
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
I'm kinda addicted to poetry
But it's probably better than crack
Nixon destroyed Cambodia
George W. destroyed Iraq

I like Robert Frost
The road less traveled by
Prince in Minneapolis
Purple goes the sky

Ja Morant can play!
Jokic with the lob
Workin' in the Spirit
Need a part time job

Ancient philosophy
Exoplanets spin
Cardinal Newman is right
You have to lose to win

  Thich Nhat Hanh from ** Chi Minh
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2022
Plurality and Ambiguity
Gonna be some shadow falls
Tryin' to get to Florida
Dodgin' them Georgia laws

Plurality and Darkness
Followed by a truck
I loved living in Dublin
A little Irish luck

Plurality and mystery
In ways I can't control
Country, pop, the Blues
80s rock n' roll

Plurality within me
Ambiguity too
Gamla Stan, Thich Nhat Hanh
Dear dear Tienmu

                 Oui. Parlez Vous?
Qualyxian Quest Apr 2023
Slight smile from the man in the church
At least I think I think I think
Guadalupe green
Bangkok Buddha brown

Thich Nhat Hanh Sri Lanka
Mother Mary comes to town

Perhaps God is still speaking
I live the silent nights
Exoplanets spin
Two green lights

             German flight fights.
Mateuš Conrad Jun 2020
the tyrd tier of tinking: and tinkering:
soil! sailor! tailor! sire! speer!
the 'ird tomme: of.. off' of
'n' effer: f-f-f'ing
contra "t"-ing...
   the tarded: dart und
darting... Fear the Dubliner ****!

told us it was all about
the buck mc abstainin'
loss of tooth
to speak... easy: IRA...

lord fudge... crapper sentenced to:
that bomb coming from
a shoe-shine... we could almost
wish... this new shakespeare
from the lodging of...
for all the love of shakespeare...

what is... auld lang syne?!
smokies... sung... sang and tatties!
bittersweet loved up crease!

afraid of "us"... U2 soon pops
up closure for leisure...
i am the love thast never become
the sing-along for the worth of...
    
this disglorified:
woman of a lost dublin...
      sacred mow tow and tie..

my: freckled..
fritz... mummy: be...
mommy best...
ralph fiennes...
         amon göth...
                     and all that is /
was ever to be required...
limbo fashioned and a somewhat
soaking up of "talk"...
  
scrutiny of the absolved
"work"...
i better scoff at:
chance and... gamble...
you are me...
better made witness of...
the loitering "bleach"...
better start calling 'im:
bleachboys crescendo!
the mecca-boys the
cupsid copper-necks!
my skins my all borne forth born...
skittle rage and grief born...
born freed from
the shackles of a ****!
mother daughter or the harem!

before one **** is ready...
the next ****** will be readied
for the next anarchist crescedo!
of: glory be to: burn the tire the rubber
turn the ****** the...
      also called a ***** and a shrimp ****
wink-wink: all insinuation...
shame for all the people grativitating
toward racially charged sensibilities
of heart and offence...

me whitey yoyo... when
the ***** sunks a lemon
and you're... along with me...
the bright and lost...
concept of a digestive biscuit?
  *******...val kilmer and...
       pity the blond... spoon-fed soul...
clown bored: bearing... nicole kidman..
            
because the concern for jihad...
once upon a time... was...
the **** of violence of the Bataclan...
was... eating the testickles of
infadels...
a whittle virus: beijing made...
scared... these... originals...
these god-fearing folk...
into: nostalgia...
into a secular understanding
of the world?

                        well... they better be arab...
saudi... not iraqi... yemen oud...
iranian...
      they best be kept saudi...
and best keep them...
barricading the
   tiananmen sq massacre hardons...
like... Eddie Edams'...
bullet to the head...
"contra"... thich quang duc -
whoever was being crucified...
wasn't... by any chance...
also made subject... to... the blood-eagle?
a scalping: just in case:
he should be seen donning a kippah?
was... he's?!

bruise welsh read: fwesh: and red...
ripe... teasing crude pink...
and salmon and *******...
a rainbow trout: rainbow and crevices
of tailor: and abortions for
the tonne load of jerking out...
yugoslav conundrums...
                          genocides...
callz 'em... what doz' 'un callz em...
"janissary" / "mamluk"?
caviate if not... caviar!
          
skin read: with a dipping into
mayonnaise...
some mustard after the grand feast
of worth for the worth of the day!
and i to will come...
like a dog whistled to come
to a return...
                
   an image to burn into my mind:
the owczarek kaukaski -
the caucasian shepherd dog...
big ******* wolves wiz onz
metz.
copernican bluffs...
     corpus "christi" of stalingrad...
   it could almost seem the same...
when one were to be fed...
the same hungry **** on **** warfare...
tsarina victoria contra...
  of england...
                 the oops-and-circumstance
of a parisian midwife...
so much for no ***** no ******...
and somehow...
the sigma of man... "preserved"...
yeah... like **** it will be...
better pray for the ****-gang-up
of the litany of the monghol khan!

      no!
niet! nie!
             nein!

— The End —