Monday, November 28, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (354)
YOU CAN'T ALWAYS
You can't always see
what's parallel
until they line up,
the old monk said.
~
SOMEONE KEPT
Someone kept
watching the stars.
They were always
watching the stars.
They kept listening.
That's how we
got here today,
the old monk said.
~
A FLAT SPOT
A flat spot for a hut.
Some clean, flowing water.
Some green, growing things,
mushrooms, and nuts.
I don't want much,
the old monk said.
~
Sunday, November 27, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (95)
I COULD MAKE IT
I could make it
look like work
if that's what you want,
the old monk said.
~
HOLINESS
Holiness is not enough.
You also need to be blessed,
the old monk told his students.
~
THE FIRST LESSON
The first lesson is
that there are lessons,
the old monk said.
~
IT'S A WILLOW SWITCH
It's a willow switch,
not a wand,
the old monk said.
It will find water.
It won't find God.
~
YOU DON'T HAVE TO
You can't study
how to be holy --
you just have to
be holy,
the old monk said.
~
GOING UP
Going up the mountain
is not about
getting to heaven,
the old monk said.
It is about
heaven itself.
~
EVEN THE STARS
Even the stars
are lonely --
You get used to that
on the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
SILENCE IS NOT
Silence is not
the last thing
you hear.
The last thing
you hear
is your last breath,
the old monk said.
~
DESIRE WILL TAKE YOU
Desire will take you
places you don't
mean to go,
the old monk said,
and it won't
bring you back.
~
THE TEACHER
The teacher doesn't have to teach much
if the student wants to learn,
the old monk said.
~
Saturday, November 26, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (353)
YOU DON'T WANT
You don't want to be a worry-wart
but don't fall asleep either,
the old monk told his student.
~
YOU WANT TO LIVE
You want to live
in that place between
going up the mountain
and coming down,
the old monk says.
~
I GUESS I'M HALF-
I guess I'm half-convinced
that if I think about
the edge of the universe
the edge of the universe
will think about me,
the old monk admitted.
~
Friday, November 25, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (352)
WHEN HAPPINESS
When happiness
is happy,
everybody's happy,
the old monk says.
~
WHERE MOONLIGHT
Where moonlight
finds the old monk
the old monk
finds his way.
~
AS MUCH AS
As much as
just enough
and a little more,
some for me
and some for the mice,
the old monk begged.
~
Thursday, November 24, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (351)
I KEEP
I keep forgetting
what I keep forgetting,
the old monk complained.
~
IT'S AS IF
It's as if this
is another planet
and I don't know
what to say,
the old monk said.
~
IMAGINATION IS
Imagination is
an unreliable narrator,
the old monk says.
~
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (350)
YOU SAY QUIET
You say quiet
as if that's
what you mean,
but you want
birds, you want
wind, you want
thunder rolling
down the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
AMONG THE THINGS
Among the things
I do not expect
to see: my death,
the old monk said.
~
YOU GO TO CHURCH
You go to church on Sunday
and sin in the afternoon.
That doesn't seem right,
the old monk said.
~
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (349)
IT GETS
It gets late
so early
these days
and gets early
so fast,
the old monk said.
~
WHAT YOU CHOOSE
What you choose
is what you have
always chosen,
if you're lucky,
the old monk said.
~
FAILURE FAILS
Failure fails us
if it stays silent,
the old monk said.
~
Monday, November 21, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (348)
NO STAR
No star is like
any other.
That's why it's
so easy to get
confused among them,
the old monk said.
~
IT DOESN'T
It doesn't remember
what it doesn't --
your memory,
the old monk said.
~
I'M STARTING TO
I'm starting to see how this works --
you let go of things on the mountain
and things let go of you,
the old monk said.
~
Sunday, November 20, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (94)
YOU WAIT
You wait.
That's what you do,
whether the poems
come, or not,
the old monk said.
~
SOME WHO SING
Some who sing of sorrow
only know that song,
the old monk noticed.
~
THE WIND
The wind
doesn't always
tell you
what's coming --
it doesn't
always know,
the old monk said.
~
WHAT I KNOW
What I know is
one side of the story,
the old monk said.
What I don't know
is the other.
~
LEAVING THE PEACH
Leaving the peach
to ripen,
patience grows sweet,
the old monk said.
~
PAIN DOESN'T KNOW
Pain doesn't know
anything else,
the old monk said.
~
UNHAPPINESS
Unhappiness
is a lonely business,
especially on the mountain,
the old monk told
his students.
~
ASK
Ask
who wants to
and see
who doesn't
say no,
the old monk said.
~
IF THAT'S WHAT
If that's what I say
I'm going to do
and I do it,
why are they surprised,
the old monk asked.
~
IF I SAY IT
If I say it
and you don't
write it down,
I didn't say it,
the old monk said.
~
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (347)
WHAT YOU KNOW
What you know
you know
is useless
if you don't
want to use it,
the old monk said.
~
LEANING ON
Leaning on your walking stick
doesn't get you up the mountain.
And it doesn't make you holy,
the old monk said.
~
YOU NEED
You need so much
rain for the flowers,
so much moonlight
on the pines,
the old monk said,
so much silence
in the evening.
~
Friday, November 18, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (346)
WHEN YOU FIND
When you find your place
in the world, there is
nowhere else,
the old monk says.
~
IF THE PITCHER'S
If the pitcher's throwing curves
watch the outside corner --
there's a sweet one coming,
the old monk promised.
~
NEW YORK CITY
New York City is not
on the mountain
but it's not that different,
the old monk suggested.
~
Thursday, November 17, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (345)
SOMETIMES WHEN
Sometimes when I fly
I can't remember landing,
the old monk said.
~
YOU GET OLD
You get old,
or you don't --
quit bitching,
the old monk said.
~
IF YOU KNOW
If you know
what you don't know,
it's not too late
to learn,
the old monk says.
~
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (344)
ALL THIS TIME
All this time I've been trying
to understand what the numbers mean,
the old monk said. They won't tell me.
~
GIVING AND RECEIVING
Giving and receiving,
the other end
of the same string,
the old monk said.
~
THE OLD MONK SAID
The old monk said:
establish that
a dozen is
about twelve
and you can say
eleven donuts
in that dozen, ma'am?
That's about twelve.
~
Monday, November 14, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (343)
I DON'T GET IT
I don't get it --
it's like the numbers
make deals with
each other,
the old monk told
the mathematicians.
~
THIS IS HOW
This is how
my people would talk,
if you would listen,
They talk like this,
the old monk said.
~
REAR END GOING
Rear end going
around the curve
first, that's not
how you should
be driving,
the old monk said.
~
Sunday, November 13, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (93)
WALK AGAINST THE WIND
Walk against the wind going out,
treat it kindly coming back,
the old monk said.
~
IF YOU WANT
If you want
the whole hog
don't order
a pork chop,
the old monk said.
~
HAVE YOU EVER
Have you ever agreed
on anything except
getting married,
the old monk asked them.
~
WHERE THE GRASS
Where the grass
waves in the wind
the cattle are fat,
the old monk said.
~
WHERE THE KNOCK
Where the knock
knocks on the door
isn't where
the door is,
the old monk said.
~
HOW MUCH
How much
is much
and when
does it
lessen,
the old
monk asked.
~
THE OLD MONK IS
The old monk is
only as he wants to,
the master said.
~
THE ROCK GROWS
The rock grows harder
the more you oppose it,
the old monk said.
~
THE WISDOM
The wisdom
of rock is its
solidity,
the old monk said.
~
WHERE YOU LAND
Where you land is
where you start from --
that's how it works
for everybody,
the old monk said.
~
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (342)
IF YOU KEEP WATCHING
If you keep watching yourself
you'll never get your business done,
the old monk said. And that
applies to all lines of work.
~
I MIGHT BE
I might be
left-handed,
the old monk said,
but I eat
with both.
~
I DON'T KNOW
I don't know
what good counting
does, but you seem
to enjoy it,
the old monk told
the accountant.
~
Saturday, November 12, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (341)
SEEING HOW
Seeing how I did that,
that's how you want to do it,
the old monk said.
~
IF YOU WANT
If you want him
to, God can come
right out through you,
the old monk says.
But you have to
make the effort.
~
AFTER WHILE
After while
don't you get tired
of all the skinny ones,
the old monk asked
his brother.
~
Friday, November 11, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (340)
WHAT ANYONE
What everyone wants
is not what anyone gets,
the old monk said.
~
I DON'T KNOW WHY
I don't know why
it wants to happen,
the old monk said,
but I'm not going
to make it stop.
~
IF SOMEONE WANTS
If someone wants to,
let them,
the old monk said.
These chances
don't come often.
~
Thursday, November 10, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (339)
IF YOU THINK
If you think about it
too much, you'll scare
yourself, the old monk
said. Just do it and
get it over with.
~
NOT ALL OF IT
Not all of it
has to be words,
that wind through
your windpipe,
the old monk told
the Talker.
~
IT'S MAGIC
It's magic,
the old monk said,
like landing a tractor
on Mars.
~
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (338)
YOU CAN STOP
You can stop
when you have
enough,
but you can't
when you're
always hungry,
the old monk said.
~
YOU MAKE A DEAL
You make a deal and he'll
probably cheat you, when
you're dealing with the devil,
the old monk said.
~
IF YOU WANT
If you want to
see the other side,
turn around,
the old monk said.
~
Tuesday, November 08, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (337)
THE OLD MONK SAID
The old monk said.
The old monk says.
The old monk will say.
Or won't, if he gets
tired of your questions.
~
WHY DO YOU
Why do you
grip your pen
so tightly
when you write?
Write lightly,
the old monk
told the poet.
~
SOME DEALS
Some deals
you can't do
because it would
be stealing,
the old monk told them.
~
Monday, November 07, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (336)
IF THE LIGHT
If the light
would tell you
you would know,
the old monk says.
Walk into it.
~
PAY ATTENTION
Pay attention
to attention,
the old monk says.
~
I HATE IT
I hate it when
I come home and
find what I left
still waiting,
the old monk said.
~
Sunday, November 06, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (92)
I HAVE GONE
I've gone all the way
and have made it
most of the way back,
the old monk said.
~
WHERE PROFIT MATTERS
Where profit matters
twelve bucks will buy you
a two dollar hamburger,
the old monk complained.
~
ALL THIS SADNESS
All this sadness --
the mountain,
the old monk said.
~
HALF-WELL
Half-well
is better
than saying
you're sick,
the old monk said.
~
WHAT DOES IT HURT
What does it hurt
to wonder,
the old monk asked.
~
IF THAT'S ALL IT DOES
If that's all it does
you'll have to do it again,
the old monk said.
~
IF I COULD SKATE
If I could skate
I'd be a criminal,
the old monk suggested.
~
LOUD BANGING
Loud banging
on the door
doesn't get
the work done,
the old monk said.
~
WHERE NO ONE LISTENS
Where no one listens
the stories are endless,
the old monk said.
~
WHEN YOU RUSH
When you rush
the wind wins,
the old monk said.
~
Wednesday, November 02, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (348)
NO STAR
No star is like
any other.
That's why it's
you don't get
confused among them,
the old monk said.
~
It doesn't remember
what it doesn't --
your memory,
the old monk said.
~
I'M STARTING TO
I'm starting to see how this works --
you let go of things on the mountain
and things let go of you,
the old monk said.
~
Tuesday, November 01, 2022
THREE OLD MONK POEMS (347)
WHAT YOU KNOW
What you know
you know
is useless
if you don't
want to use it,
the old monk said.
~
LEANING ON
Leaning on your walking stick
doesn't get you up the mountain.
It doesn't make you holy,
the old monk said.
~
YOU NEED
You need so much
rain for the flowers,
so much moonlight
on the pines,
the old monk said,
so much silence
in the evening.
~
