photo by Diane Arbus (looks like my Grandma)
__________
Moonlight floods the valley like a forest fire
a full moon and a lunar eclipse
the shadow of the earth passes across
the face of the moon
but neither of them greets the other
friend there is silence as the universe moves
james lee jobe
__________
Moonlit Night, Thinking of My Brothers
Warning drums have ended all travel.
A lone goose cries across autumn
borderlands. White Dew begins tonight,
this bright moon bright there, over
my old village. My scattered brothers—
and no home to ask Are they alive or dead?
Letters never arrive. War comes
and goes— then comes like this again.
Tu Fu (712-770 CE) China
__________
it’s true
I live on Simpleton Street
in this college town
which makes me easy to find
just spot a dumbass anywhere in town
and follow him or her
it isn’t complicated
and it won’t take long
when you get to Simpleton Street
just ask anyone
where does the biggest idiot live
and there I’ll be
james lee jobe
from Cold Mountain Poems
Clambering up the Cold Mountain Path,
The Cold Mountain Trail goes on and on:
The long gorge choked with scree and boulders,
The wide cree, the mist-blurred grass.
The moss is slippery, though there’s been no rain.
The pine sings, but there’s no wind.
Who can leap the world’s ties
and sit with me among the white clouds?Han-shan (late 8th century-early 9th) China
photo by jlj
__________
I’m getting older. I like being at home, cooking, listening to Miles Davis. I don’t need to go to Topeka or Newark. I sit and think things over, forget it all, and then re-think it all over again. Who cares? You never know how many times you’ll get to orbit this ol’ sun. Why not just relax?
james lee jobe
__________
“A rooster crows only when it sees the light…I have seen the light and I'm crowing.”
Muhammad Ali
__________
“When something is difficult or not working out for you, just accept it and it will get easier. Let come, let go. Don’t follow your thoughts, your stories, your narratives. Whether thoughts are happy or sad, good or bad, they all have the same compelling repetition. Just watch them.”
His Eminence the Seventh Dzogchen Rinpoche
__________
LINKS
“Villainy” in LA - a poem by Gabrielle Civil
To Bear the Ruse - a poem by Cindy Juyoung Ok
Treeleaf Zendo, A Soto Zen (online) Sangha
photo by jlj
__________
holding the darkness in a dangerous manner
there is no correct order
to the sequence of that which is
there is also no incorrect order
I am holding the darkness
to my temple like a gun
there is no trigger
there are no bullets
I am counting the seconds father
when we meet again how will we be
I don’t remember anymore
which things happened first
and which things happened last
I don’t remember a time
when you approved of me
for that matter
I don’t remember a time
when I approved of you either
I am holding the darkness
to my heart like a knife
now I am pushing it in
there is electricity
in the air tonight father
I can taste it
can you
james lee jobe
__________
Hey. Thanks for reading this. I’m new to Substack and I’m still working out the financial stuff. I’m a boomer and a bit of a luddite. I have been blogging elsewhere for close to 15 years, you know, on luddite-friendly sites. I like the set up here, and I will master the quirks over the next few days.
I’m better with some other everyday tech. I can stream Have Gun, Will Travel perfectly, or an Art Pepper album. During the COVID shutdown I learned to have anything on earth delivered to me, and came to prefer being a (married) hermit. Except for grandkid visits. I will open up for that anytime. (She’s 11 today!) When the world shut down I had been practicing Soto Zen for 4 years. Zen and solitude blend together well. When things re-opened I decided to hang on to this quiet time as much as possible.
My wife is more of an extrovert. A teacher, a political activist, and someone who wears a lot of purple; I appreciate that in her. Alex does give me room to be myself, as I do for her. During the shutdown we began a still active habit of daily card games and board games. She has become a Rummy shark and I am a master of Monopoly.
My coffee mug is empty and I have begun to ramble. My point, and I do have one, is this; right now I have only set up the free subscriptions. There will be one free post a week when All Is Right in Substack Heaven. Paid subscribers will get a second weekly post and some other quirks/perks as well. Until that time everything is free.
I used have this boss named Geary who would tell me, “Step back from the edge, Jobe.” Solid advice. Ciao.
All good things, James