sunrise smiles as I draw white drapes
voices of spirits disappear in breeze
hands stiff, feet c o l d — swollen
age asks not invisible
I hold window latch, opening with squeak
time for black coffee to
ripple another day
without smoke lacy friends
room glimmers not
it is still sacred with heaven’s silence
holding my mind
cells wait —-
s w e e t n e s s
dichotomies glide pale sky
paradoxes paragraphed
eventide arrives equally equal
orange hues tessalate
your frequency wefts through keyhole
toes spread barefooted eager
barley soup bubbles a broth spicy
soon presences will be precious
mocha perfume
never bottled
oregon floorboards
waiting ___ - - - footsteps in black pumps
undefined we dine
soup ladle hot ~
Truly blessed are those who harvest best
What can be called “The Gentle Sense”
Of form or shape it cannot be
But is possessed within for eternity
In the quest of addressing dichotomies
The enlightened perceive 360 degrees
By favouring one point at the expense of the other
An appreciation is felt for the opposites together.
May we be blessed to understand the dichotomies of time….
(For dichotomies is something time shall never lack!)
It’s free…yet it’s priceless
and once you’ve lost it…you can never get it back.
Comes the time when unity of the soul
Transcends the preoccupation with “I and It,”
Non-duality is achieved, and we are whole,
When our sense of consciousness flees self,
And no dichotomies of “me and other” exist
When this happens, we transcend individuality.
Its roots go back to Hindu Sanskrit texts
Known as the Upanishads; also found, more recently
In the teachings of the Buddha … “two truths.”
One need not be a student of ancient religions
To experience a heightened sense of consciousness,
Through developing a relationship with the world,
And the wider universe apart from Self.
I have experienced brief flashes of Oneness
With my divinely-inspired purpose in life,
Where I was briefly transported to another plane,
Realizing my non-duality through epiphany.
EIGHTH PLACE WINNER
Written July 29, 2021
Submitted to "Non-Dual Awareness" Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Unseeking Seeker
Oh, beautiful for racist lies,
And Amber Heard on trial,
For TikTok fueled insanity
While twerking Gangnam style.
Ambivalent dichotomies
Now shred my faith in thee.
And guns are good,
Not brotherhood.
It’s plain for all to see.
We are free to achieve
Our American dream
In the land of the craven,
The home of the AR-15.
we give ourselves
the joy of creation.
the breath of expansion;
the fingers of a hand closing.
we speak of a tree or a peach
and know it as
the gift to ourselves
we had forgotten.
the reach for a reminder
of our perfection.
each why or touch a wonder
and on this night
and within this form
you can be a candle
in the dark.
a swish of sound,
the silent breathing
of a bathing light,
and another sunrise comes.
at times such beauty
brings the gift of tear.
filling our pockets, as
the meat of our flesh
rolls down.
leaves turning brown,
you see.
another mother leaves the door
a crack
someone there in the light
just beyond,
is lost
in the rapture of dichotomies.
do the drops
find the leaves
or do the leaves
find the drops
does the wind choose
when to blow
how does it know
where to go
do our hands
clasp in reverence
or is the prayer
enclosed in clenched hands
how do we know
when to stop
or do we stop
because we know
how can so little
become so much
or is too much
not enough
I love how you are,
And I love how you are not,
You have a rope around my heart,
And it is tied wonderfully tight,
I dream of you every day,
And I dream of you every night,
That’s why I know what we have left,
Is a love that must be right.
I want you to be yours,
And you to be mine,
Not just for now,
But, till the end of time.
As my weary eyes give in
I become entranced.
A day completed now
and so I give it back a glance.
Every chance I'm given,
I break it all apart
I break it all apart
I'll break this all apart.
I can be your monster or your hero
it depends upon my heart.
If I was all that smart
I would break myself apart.
We've lived so gawky from the start
and handled stones in this glass cage,
these last days are fast paced
please hurry up and wait.
Don't believe a word I tell you;
I'm a liar, just kidding.
I love dichotomies and irony
and riddles in the city.
Hey, I once escaped a mind trap
and regretted it...
because a mind trap only benefits
if you simply stay embedded in it.
So instead of salvation,
I live in a glass prison, waiting
for the walls to crack like windows
and have what I'm hiding from
come and take me.
To the seeker who seeks,
to see the unseeable;
drink from the cup,
hold merit in the coin,
lean upon the staff,
pierce with the sword.
Let the trails of the major and
the minor lead you out
and then bring you home again.
Wisdom whispers to the,
Chosen and the listener.
'The Mystery' the mystics exhort,
'are the dichotomies of the
knowable, and unknowable
that lay hidden in the shuffled deck.
And how the image, the picture,
the flip, the position, the relation,
awakens the fickle answers.'
(poem tarot- contest submission 11/9/2012)
As you fade into the distance of my memory
I can't help but feel desire that this be so lovely a thought
That even in despair is love
If only thought could be enough
But tragedy cannot suffice
Desire that I realize
In actuality I see before me all the thoughts I thought so tragic
That I meant them utmost, fully but to be the memory of love only imagine
Can you feel the phantoms
Flying through the starlit skies
Cleaving images in twain
Can you feel all these
Dichotomies again
Rain, wash down around me
All the emptiness I see surrounding
Fill the wishing well of sorrow
Wash away
Wash away
Drown desire
Fulfill the sameness of these empty days
I can't help but feel
I can't help but see
I just want to wash away
To crucify the dream that lies in starlit skies, in empty eyes
In all that I can't realize
Is my demise to be a false dichotomy
Oh see me here deny the tears and fears of empty years of sorrow
Bent upon hopes of tomorrow
Here I kneel now
Washed away into the sea
Of all that I can never be
Words undone
Scribe me
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