Saturday, April 30, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (189)
IS
Is
will be
was,
the old
monk says.
~
WHEN YOU'VE GOT
When you've got
what you want,
you always
want more.
Why is that,
the old monk asked
his students.
~
YOU FALL BEHIND
You fall behind
by trying too hard
to get ahead,
the old monk says.
~
Friday, April 29, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (188)
IT'S LIKE GOING
It's like going to
Colorado,
only you're sleeping,
the old monk said
about his dreaming.
~
A DOZEN IS
A dozen is enough,
the old monk said
of roses and monks
on the mountain.
~
HALF OF IT
Half of it
is twice as much
when it's that good,
the old monk said.
~
Thursday, April 28, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (187)
IF THAT'S THE WAY
If that's the way
you want it
that's how
the universe
will be,
the old monk said.
~
DON'T SAY
Don't say
too much
too much,
the old monk
advised.
~
HOW MUCH
How much
is too much
when enough
is enough,
the old monk asked.
~
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (186)
IF YOU'RE GOING TO
If you're going to stray
you have to be wise enough
to know when not to,
the old monk said.
~
OVER, UNDER
Over, under,
around, and through
is the way it
gets here, star light,
the old monk said.
~
YOU DO WHEN
You do when you've got to
and you don't when you don't,
the old monk said.
~
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (185)
SOMEDAY SOMEONE
Someday someone
will say Stop
and the universe
will finally listen,
the old monk said.
~
WHAT IT IS
What it is
is what it is
even where
it's not,
the old monk taught.
~
YOU CAN GET THERE
You can get there from here
but you can't get back
the man told the old monk
about Isafjordur.
~
Monday, April 25, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (184)
IT'S HARD TO SAY
It's hard to say
how much is enough
when it keeps on coming,
the old monk says.
~
WHEN IT SLOWS
When it slows
you know it's getting close,
and when it finally stops,
walk towards the light,
the old monk says.
~
WATCH
Watch, and
watching watches back,
the old monk says.
~
Sunday, April 24, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (64)
PEOPLE SET UP
People step up,
they step right up
if you ask them,
the carnival barker
told the old monk.
~
JAMES THE LESSER
James the Lesser
and James the Great --
isn't that like
Bones and Tiny,
the old monk asked.
~
EVERYTHING YOU SEE
Everything you see
is a lesson in seeing,
the old monk said.
~
YOU PLAY IT
You play it
as if it's
all a play,
the old monk told
his student.
~
IF THIS WAS
If this was
a whaling expedition
would we be talking about
doing cartwheels,
the old monk asked.
~
THE MOUNTAIN / MAKES
The mountain
makes its own storms,
the old monk warned.
~
IF THE HERMITS
If the hermits
don't find silence
can they be hermits,
the old monk asked.
~
A LANDSCAPE
A landscape
so ugly
it's beautiful --
I've seen it,
the old monk said.
~
HE CAN SHOW YOU
He can show you
the right way.
He can show you
the wrong way.
And he can show you
a third way,
just to show off,
the master said
about the old monk.
~
MIDNIGHT
Midnight.
The old monk is still
counting stars.
~
Saturday, April 23, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (183)
IT WILL STOP
It will stop
when you don't
want it to,
and won't go
when you do,
the old monk
complained
about the old
lawnmower.
~
WHEN SOMEONE SAYS
When someone says stop,
that's only one edge
of the known universe,
the old monk said.
~
YOU GIVE HIM
You give him a bus pass
and he still keeps walking,
they say about the old monk.
~
IN THE NEWS
Friday, April 22, 2022
IN THE NEWS
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (182)
ONE MORE
One more is
two and it's
another one,
the old monk said.
~
COMING OFF
Coming off
the mountain
I can say things
I cannot say,
the old monk says.
That's why I go.
~
OFFER TO BUY
Offer to buy
a hundred
and see what
they say,
the old monk
said to his friend
at the market.
~
Thursday, April 21, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (181)
LIE ON YOUR MAT
Lie on your mat
as if you were dead
and listen to the stars.
Death will come
soon enough,
the old monk said.
~
WHEN IT'S DONE
When it's done
it's done, and you
lay down your pencil,
the old monk said
about life and stuff.
~
YOU'RE NOT DONE
You're not done
til you lay down
your pencil,
the old monk
told the poet.
~
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (180)
IF THERE ARE
If there are great themes,
why can't I find them,
the old monk asked
the critics.
~
EVEN WHEN
Even when
he wants to
eat, he keeps
preaching,
the old monk.
~
SOME WOULD SAY
Some would say
a hundred is enough.
The old monk says
I'm just beginning.
~
IN THE NEWS
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (179)
ALMOST
Almost
is about as much
as I can understand,
the old monk says.
~
IF THAT'S WHAT
If that's what you've got,
make yourself happy,
the old monk advised.
~
IT ONLY LOOKS LIKE
It only looks like
there's nothing there,
there where there's
nothing,
the old monk said.
~
IN THE NEWS
Monday, April 18, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (178)
WHEELS ON THE BOTTOM
Wheels on the bottom,
that's how you always
like it to land,
the old monk said.
~
SOMETIMES IT SLOWS
Sometimes it slows,
the faster you go,
the old monk says.
~
WATCHING EMPTINESS
Watching emptiness
is one way to keep from
falling off the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
Sunday, April 17, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (63)
WHEN THE THUNDER
When the thunder
god thunders
is when to
start the beat,
the old monk
told the band.
~
ALL THE WAY DOWN
All the way down
to silence is
as low as I can go,
the old monk said.
~
IF YOU DO
If you do
the same thing
you'll get
the same result,
unless it's
a sonnet,
the old monk told
the poet.
~
WHATEVER THEY OFFER
Whatever they offer
won't be enough --
and it won't keep you
out of trouble,
the old monk said.
~
I DID ONCE CALCULATE
I did once calculate
the speed at which we're flying
through the universe,
but now I've forgotten,
the old monk said.
~
YOU WILL LEARN IT
You will learn it
but you will learn it
too late -- falling off
the side of the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
THAT WHICH IS BROKEN
That which is broken here
will be whole in your dream,
the old monk promised.
~
THE GOD OF THE STORM
The God of the Storm
lives on the mountain,
the old monk said.
You need to be prepared.
~
WERE IT NOT FOR
Were it not for
our need to see God
we wouldn't have
poetry,
the old monk said.
~
ALL YOU NEED IS
All you need is
all you want
on the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (177)
PUSH IT
Push it so hard
you push it,
the old monk advised
the QC manager.
~
IT'S A PHASE
It's a phase
you go through,
thinking you're
in heaven
on the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
SO MANY OF YOU
So many of you
will be experts
only in dying
because you don't
have much
other experience,
the old monk said.
~
IN THE NEWS
I think I made a terrible mistake
is something you could say
at this point,
the old monk told Mr. Putin.
Saturday, April 16, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (176)
WHEN IT DOES
When it does
what you want
it to do,
do it,
the old monk said.
~
PAYING TWICE
Paying twice
for half of it
is no way to
make a profit,
the old monk says.
~
DON'T DO
Don't do
too many of them
in a row--
you won't get up
in the morning,
the old monk said.
~
Friday, April 15, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (175)
LET THE WIND
Let the wind blow through,
the old monk said.
The stars have done their business.
~
IF YOU LOOK
If you look at it right,
it looks back at you,
the old monk said
about his mirror.
~
WHEN YOU SEE IT
When you see it
from the other side
it almost looks
better, the old monk
told the artist.
~
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (174)
IT'S AN EMPTINESS
It's an emptiness,
the old monk said
about life on
the mountain.
The question is,
how do you want
to fill it?
~
YOU CAN SPLIT IT
You can split it
but you can only
split it once,
the old monk said
about atoms
and other things.
~
UNDERSTANDING THE OLD MONK
Understanding the old monk
there's plenty around the edge
you'll never catch, his students say.
~
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (173)
THE QUESTION IS
The question is
is it in the up
part of downtown
or the down
part of uptown,
your residence,
they asked
the old monk.
~
WHEN YOU ARE
When you are
close to certain,
you are close,
the old monk told
the scientist.
~
ABOUT THE TIME
About the time you get there,
it's just about time to go --
that's the way I like it,
the old monk said.
~
Monday, April 11, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (172)
THAT'S HOW
That's how you
get their attention,
you cross them
sideways,
the old monk said.
~
NOT BELIEVING
Not believing is
also believing,
the old monk said.
~
IF THEY LINE UP
If they line up right
you let them go,
the old monk said.
He wasn't talking
only about
the mule train.
~
IT'S INK
It's ink on paper,
it's not art,
these poems,
the old monk said.
~
Sunday, April 10, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (62)
LIGHT IS
Light is
everything
light needs,
the old monk says.
~
YOU DON'T KNOW
You don't know
until you listen,
the old monk said,
and sometimes
even then you don't.
~
THE PROMISE
The promise of water
alone won't get you
across the desert,
the old monk says.
~
IF I COULD
If I could play music
do you think I'd still be preaching,
the old monk said.
~
THE BETTER DEAL
The better deal is
the one you don't get to make,
the old monk says.
~
HOW COULD THEY
How could they
land where they do
if they didn't
fly where they did,
the old monk asks.
~
THE STARS DON'T
The stars don't know
when I will be
flying towards them --
or they don't tell,
the old monk said.
~
YOU HAVE PREPARED
You have prepared
your whole life
for this moment,
the old monk said,
and for the next one.
~
WHAT THEY WANT
What they want
is what you have to
carry across the desert,
the old monk
told his students.
~
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (171)
SOME HAIRS
Some hairs
are split so fine
you can see
either side,
the old monk says.
~
POEMS ARE LIKE
Poems are like birds,
the old monk said.
Some of them stay
around and sing.
~
YOU CAN'T
You can't
think about
not thinking
about it
without thinking
about it,
the old monk says.
~
Sunday, April 03, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (61)
IT LOOKS
It looks like that,
the old monk said,
because that's always
how you see it.
~
YOU CAN TAKE
You can take a trail
or make a trail,
the old monk said.
I usually walk
where the deer walk.
~
LIGHTNING
Lightning
listens,
but only
for a moment,
the old monk says.
~
IF YOU EVER
If you ever had to
you'll never want to,
the old monk says.
~
MORE IS
More is too much.
Adjust your desires
accordingly,
the old monk says.
~
IF YOU CAN
If you can do it
but you can't
do it again,
choose wisely,
the old monk says.
~
THAT RIVER
That river is gone
before you can cross it,
the old monk said.
~
BETWEEN
Between
the universe
and nothingness,
the place where
it is neither --
inhabit that,
the old monk says.
~
SING PRAISE
Sing praise
if the sun comes up,
the old monk says.
Sing praise
if it doesn't.
~
SOMEONE ALWAYS
Someone always
wants to turn
where you go straight,
the old monk says.
~
