Tag Archives: perception

Salt Dolls and Other Temporal Measures

In a dharma talk given July 15th for the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care (as part of their Summer 2024 Commit to Sit program), Zen teacher Norman Fischer said something quite interesting and profound. He was discussing the … Continue reading

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Thisness

I think, therefore I am not being.When I am, I don’t need to think about it;How does a raindrop perceive itself,either forming in the cloud,dripping down the sky,or disappearing in the ocean? It is only wet. There is no deep … Continue reading

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Rainbows and sunshine: tanka

This note may be dark, but it reflects the weather. Besides, too much light fades color from everything. What a gray world that would make! Rainbows and sunshine do not help the whole world grow. There must be dark storms … Continue reading

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What is Love: sestina

Is love a thing that lasts, or a mere trinket, a toy that fascinates until it bores, a passing fancy, or eternal compact between two souls and never any more, a gift from gods above, or social stricture meant as … Continue reading

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You Came to Hear: rondeau redoubled

The music that you came to hear: a sonic bridge that helps you cross some gulf of time no longer near, or spend as a mere hour’s loss, so in the maelstrom sound’s great fosse you find your sorrows light … Continue reading

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Small Towns: ode (Keatsian)

For what it’s worth, most places on a map merely exist as clots in highway veins: mere wisps of web for speed or tourist traps, perhaps historic, where that sense remains. At thirty thousand feet that’s how they look: just … Continue reading

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What Happens Next

What makes reality ever so puzzling that vain attempting to just pin it down becomes a deception ensnared in illusion, naught but a fleeting smile behind a frown? What then of fantasy? Will we think ecstasy merely a distraction from … Continue reading

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