Midnight with the books of the dead.
“Patriarchy is a disease and we are in perennial recovery and relapse. So you have to get up every morning and struggle against it.”
-Cornel West
midnight has come and so
let us now enjoy the books of the dead
books that have waited upon dusty shelves
for the living to enjoy
now is the time
turn up the lamp
settle down into the easy chair
open the first book to the first page
midnight with the books of the dead
read
-James Lee Jobe
Otis Redding - That's How Strong My Love Is
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.”
-Helen Keller
your life is a tree
you live in the branches
hidden by green leaves
there is sap involved and fruit
change is a slow but steady thing
your life is a tree
roots are one metaphor
and fruit is another
let's not go there
instead let's just say this
your life is lovely
beautiful
especially in autumn
-James Lee Jobe
"All know the Way, but few actually walk it."
-Bodhidharma
people who know me say
"your son is dead
how do you stand it"
good question and I don't know
I do one thing at a time
I put one foot in front of the other
and so I walk and I breathe
and I eat some food and so I live
but life is completely gone
I can still go outside to see the dawn
or better still
to see the last of the night
the cool air
the changing sky
-James Lee Jobe
"If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good."
-Ajahn Chah
a poem by Nanao Sakaki, 1923-2008
In The Next Life I Will Be
Wiping the windowpanes of my humble shack,
a dirty dust cloth in my hand,
endless blue sky over my head.
At the forest edge
where narcissus are already in all their glory,
where wild boars bite off various trees' roots every so often,
where I stand, piss, and murmur.
In the next life I will be a dust cloth
lapis lazuli colored.
As a dust cloth, making myself dirty
I clean up windowpanes, kitchens and toilets,
and I also wipe out discrimination and wars.
If ever the world really exists
I start polishing it from my tiny corner.
If ever eternity really exists
I make it brilliant at every moment.
The more I work, the more I become
pure lapis lazuli color
just like today's sky.
Ten days after winter solstice
the mother sun is shining bright.
All of a sudden, a gust of north wind
blows the dead leaves from the trees.
Look, something coming down!
With our luminous star behind
red wings flutter.
What is that? Hawk? Flying goblin? UFO?
Wow! On the palm of my hand
I catch the monster -
a withered red leaf of oak.
Living in the flower garden of the sun's red corona
biting off the rainbow's roots forever
someone murmurs
In the next life I will be....
-Nanao Sakaki
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