It occurs to me as I am going about the day, from early stirring before sunrise until to the settled darkness of deepening night, through conflicts (with a vexing yet much loved teenager, for one) and obligations (professional), pleasures (personal) and routines (impersonal), waking, washing, cooking, eating, walking, talking, working, sitting, reading, writing, cleaning, yawning, [...]
Skimming the headlines, I see this: "Finding order in the chaos of currents." I wonder if it's referring to something like Bernie Glassman's Order of Disorder. Somehow I don't think so. Quite a project, this chaos vs. order in the flow of things as they are. Like the way of the bodhisattva: What are we [...]
An open invitation to anyone who will be in Utrecht on Oct. 10: I'm reading my work in this event: Salon des Mots - Season Premiere Saturday October 10 20h Atelier de Werkvloer Brigittenstraat 7 Utrecht free entry More info: http://www.wordsinhere.com/
Last night crossing the bridge at Jaurès, I see the half-moon brilliant over the Canal St. Martin. As the light floods me in the cool dark, I am fathomless as the ocean, without border or breath. I'm smiling when companions introduce me to someone I've never seen before, but I know her already and all [...]
This afternoon I cross the Montparnasse cemetery, sit for awhile on a bench. The trees are so splendid! Already in the crowded Metro moments before I had been filled with joy, riding with the others, strangers every one, sharing this life with them all together. Each touched me as they were. Then in the rue [...]
It's the day before the first day of autumn. A friend abroad has brought news that his wife is expecting their second child. My old aunt is seriously ill in America. France is abuzz with a government scandal, full of intrigue and skullduggery. This murky tale is (ironically) known as "Clearstream." I'm seeking something. But [...]
I come to a page and wait for the words. As they come and don't I know that they come and don't but I don't know when or how or what. I only must not be pinned down by waiting. I must wait freely, largely, silently. Silence is not what I think it is. I [...]
The poet and punk rocker Jim Carroll (famous for writing The Basketball Diaries) died on Friday at the age of 60. He lived hard and fast, died young and fast. He was wild and free and often scared the shit out of me. He was raw and on the edge, a junkie staring into the [...]
In the rue Daguerre again today, passed the old books/new accessories shop. I see stenciled on the window: commerce equitable. When "hungry ghost" "delusion" is transformed, it becomes equanimity. An enriching presence. Maybe next time I'll go inside.
This story in the newspaper tonight: "In the past five years, companies and workplaces have violated pollution laws more than 500,000 times. But most polluters have escaped punishment." And my sitting practice in recent days has been to remember and experience with each breath that we are all breathing the same air. In other words, [...]