“My Zen is Stronger Than My Anger”

“My Zen is Stronger Than My Anger”

My zen is stronger than my anger.

Which shows you how strong 

My zen can be!

Because my anger can be very strong

If I forget or I’m lazy,

And let it rage without control.

Which, I confess, happens

From time to time.

Remember, I never said I was perfect.

That would be pretty stupid,

To say you’re perfect

When anyone can tell at a glance that you are not.

No, I’m just a poet

Who thinks he’s found a way to live

In a world he cannot control…

But must not fear.

Oh yes! 

I’m not perfect!

Ha! Ha! Nowhere near it!

But we learn 

From our shortcomings, don’t we? 

If we live long enough and pay attention.

That’s the zen of it!

Now, about this anger thing.

Anger is natural.

Whether poet, beggar, or king,

We all experience it sometime.

So don’t be surprised by your anger

When it rears up uninvited.

Embrace it!

Treat it carefully though.

When your anger appears 

Say to it, 

“Hello there, Anger.

I see you have come visiting 

At a most inopportune time.

Perhaps you could return a little later?

Or possibly not at all?

Thank you.

Goodbye for now.”

Yes, a quiet word with one’s anger.

You’d be surprised how often that works,

When your cooler head should prevail.

Which, let’s face it, is always.

As human beings, we are blest

With emotions.

Some, good and beneficial.

Others, not so.

Zen teaches that an attempt can be made

To control our emotions,

(Both the good and the bad!)

To live a better life.

Not better than others.

You know I didn’t mean that.

But a better life 

Because controlling our emotions

Reduces their sway 

And allows us to minimize

The importance of things 

Upon our lives.

Whether big or small.

So that, minimizing the importance of things, 

We can stop dancing

The dance of the desperate!

And live in happiness through loving kindness.

 Kindness to others.

Kindness to ourselves.

With a heart full of love

And the blessings

Of the gods!

Because we try to do what’s right

(For instance control one’s anger)

In a confusing, ever-changing world.

A world in need of zen. 

Yes!

If we remember 

To use our zen

It can cool.

Soothe.

Vanquish.

Hmmm.

I wonder.

Why are people smiling?

Because my anger is gone.

My zen asked it to leave

And after putting up a little resistance,

It went.

I hate to speak ill of those not present,

But isn’t it nicer around here,

Without my anger?

Don’t worry though.

Like many 

An unwanted guest,

He’ll be back.

“Human Control Is An Illusion”

Human control is an illusion.

Ouch! 

It kinda hurts to think that,

Doesn’t it?

But it’s true.

Human control is an illusion.

A moment’s thought should confirm it

To any but the thickest of numbskulls.

Why not admit it?

And having admitted it 

Why not leave that silly idea behind,

(Or as we zen practitioners say,

Unattach yourself from it)

And live on

In greater happiness

Without it?

Understand things as they truly are,

Realize the interconnectedness of everything,

Past present future,

Everything there ever was or ever will be.

Bringing us to this very moment.

That’s the zen of it!

And forget about 

Controlling anything

In this ever-changing world.

As painful a thought

As that may be.

 So don’t waste this valuable pain.

Make use of it!

Use your pain to help you think.

Use your thinking to gain some wisdom.

Use your wisdom to attain a little enlightenment.

Because enlightenment 

Makes it possible to endure living 

In this crazy,

Wonderful,

Uncontrollable world.

Discarded Flower Zen

I found a flower today,

Laying upon a grass verge

That borders a busy highway.

It didn’t belong 

On the grass verge,

That was obvious. 

The flower was a type of orchid

Found on large, tropical trees

In southeast Asia.

Or more likely, in Florida where I live,

Found in floral bouquets

For sale in drugstores, near the checkout counter.

Automobiles on the busy highway 

Screamed by just a few feet away,

Unnerving me slightly.

I looked at the flower

And wondered,

“How did you get here?”

After all, everything has a story.

Even a discarded flower.

Then I looked up 

And noticed other flowers

Of the same type 

Scattered along the road’s edge,

And I assumed 

The flower I looked at

Was indeed once part 

Of a drugstore bouquet.

Thrown from a speeding car, I wondered?

Tossed out in anger to wilt at road’s edge,

While in the car a fighting couple 

Travelled on for miles and miles?

They fought all the way home, I imagined,

Him driving grimly and her crying, 

Both saying things they later regretted.

Yes, like all lovers do.

Even you and your lover, I’ll bet.

I know it’s true about me, and mine.

I gazed at the discarded flower by the side of the road, 

And a little sadness touched my heart.

Luckily, the terrifying scream 

Of hurtling automobiles

Just a few feet away 

Soon distracted me from this kind of thinking!

Get away, Sadness! 

I said to the feeling within myself,

And watch out for that speeding truck!

Happiness, 

However it came to exist,

Deserves my attention, too.

Let me enjoy 

This moment of beauty

While it lasts, 

Without fear or distraction.

As I should also 

Attempt to enjoy my life.

Then I looked 

With new, loving eyes of zen

At the beautiful, discarded flower,

And the noise and sadness

Of this world…

Melted into nothingness.

I Have a Thing for My Swimming Pool

I Have a Thing for My Swimming Pool.

I have a thing for my swimming pool.

16,000 gallons of good zen!

Apart from many other reasons

To have a thing for a swimming pool,

Such as its beauty,

Its fun, 

Or its health benefits,

My swimming pool seems to say,

“Put aside your cares and enjoy life!”

I especially like to swim at night,

When I have the pool all to myself.

I take off my clothes

And stand naked in the moonlight.

Just me and the pool and the delicious darkness.

And my zen of course.

Hmmm. 

That makes four of us, doesn’t it?

Maybe I wasn’t as alone with the night

As I thought I was.

Anyway, tonight 

I thought I’d have a swim.

So I took my clothes off as usual.

And I stood, as usual, naked 

In the moonlight for a minute or two.

The light breeze felt good.

Then I stepped to the pool’s edge

And looked down into the water.

I could see the full moon’s image 

Reflected upon the dark, still surface.

And I began to think…

I thought of the cosmos,

Of it’s precision and vastness.

I thought of the moon I’d caught reflected,

Whirling around the earth once a month

Without ever changing her expression.

I thought of the earth.

Our beautiful earth.

The planet we stand upon.

And how rich it is with plenty for all,

If we could only learn to share.

Then I thought of you and I. 

Small, fragile, imperfect.

But capable of love! 

And to some degree, 

Of understanding. 

And my heart ached to realize

One day we’ll be nothing but dust.

Us and everything we ever knew.

But we’ll go on together, you and I my love,

The essences of ourselves will go on together

To the stars and beyond 

The vastness of forever

To eternity!

Is love that strong?

Standing at the pool’s edge,

Alone in the delicious night,

I thought how every minute 

That has ever gone before, 

Eons of time amounting to trillions of years 

Of human development

From caveman to spaceman to superman,

Had led us to this point!

This very second!

The second I was occupying.

The here and now.

I looked into the water and saw

With more than just my eyes.

I was seeing with zen!

And with this wonderful zen-sight

I saw how everything is interconnected.

Coming down and through and into all of us. 

Everything that ever was

Or ever will be!

Past present future! 

You me all!

Everything!

All this I visualized

In the blink of an eye

As I stared into my swimming pool.

Then I closed my eyes…

Took a deep breath…

And dove in.

Are You Getting Enough Zen?

Are You Getting Enough Zen?

Excuse me.

I hate to interrupt.

I see you’re busy.

Living life sometimes takes all we’ve got, doesn’t it?

Looks like that’s the case with you right now.

You seem to be coping well.

And that’s all we can hope to do.

Cope well.

But I have a question.

Because I love you.

(Although I know that gives me no special privileges,

This love of mine.)

My question is this:

Are you getting enough zen?

Because zen is important.

I could lend you some if you’re short.

I’ve been doing well lately 

And currently I’ve got plenty.

Not bragging.

Just saying.

Wouldn’t want to piss my zen off by bragging.

You see, my zen does all the work

And I take all the credit.

Remember as you cope 

That zen works that way for you too.

For me and you both.

That’s the beauty of it!

Zen and the Big Bang

My zen rushes out,

Like everything else,

From the big bang when they say things began.

Rushing out into the universe.

A universe that is ever expanding

And has no end.

Big stuff!

My zen was there at the beginning.

And it will be there in the …

Oh, that’s right.

There is no end.

But my zen will still be there,

(Wherever that is)

Nourishing me.

For the essence of me will still exist and require nourishing.

No matter how far the universe expands.

In the meantime

It’s hard to know where I fit

Into all this rushing vastness.

I feel so small and inconsequential.

Hmmm.

So what!

As long as I’m along for the ride,

Rushing into infinity with my zen, 

What should I care?

Arthur’s Zen

When I was a lad.

It seems a thousand centuries ago,

But really it was 1969.

(Although with zen as strong as mine,

I’m not denying the possibility that it could have been a thousand centuries ago

And still be 1969.)

Anyway, when I was a lad

I began my working life

At the bottom of a road construction ditch.

I shoveled the shit that had accumulated there,

From the bottom of the ditch to the top.

Our gang boss was named Arthur.

He was feared by all,

For he could be a violent man

When he wanted something

Or thought he had been wronged.

Which seemed to be often.

It was only years later,

When the concept of zen became more clear to me,

That I realized what a great zen master Arthur was.

He was indifferent to everything.

Hot or cold didn’t matter.

Good or bad didn’t matter.

You or me didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered.

As long as he got his way.

Of course Arthur didn’t realize he was instructing me.

Giving me, for my pains,

Of which he himself caused a few

With a cuff to the ear at the bottom of a shitty ditch

All those years ago,

A lesson in life.

Yes, he didn’t realize he was giving me

An insight into the way things are.

Which is what zen is after all.

He’s been dead a long time,

Arthur has.

I wonder where he is now?

I probably never said thank you

For all the knowledge he gave me.

So from the year 2015,

Arthur,

Wherever you are, 

I thank you!