Born into a culture,
conditioned by belief,
we pray as we are told,
deepening delusion,
from birth till we grow old.
Born into a culture,
following ritual,
we trust the holy book
but if we pause to think,
we’ll see we were mistook.
Born into a culture,
we’re habituated
to feeling we are right
and all others are wrong
but have we seen the light?
Born into a culture,
we just follow the herd,
asking not who we are,
as that that transcends form,
our soul’s luminous star.
Categories:
hemmed, faith, religion, spiritual,
Form: Monchielle Stanza
The sky has climbed over
its usual low cloud cover,
today it is high, blue and vertical
with no hand holds,
those places for the eye to cling to.
In the city we don't get 'big sky'
we get pencil thin shafts
that sweep the dust off ledges,
we have foot-slogging
staircases and elevations.
where the sky cannot rise beyond
one last viewless window.
Far below
upon those hemmed-in streets
some seem forced to grow
into hybrid creatures
that must suck upon
each other's fears.
There are trees, a few stretch and reach
like mountain climbers,
yet all that high air above us is not reassuring,
it creates a feeling of smallness,
our arms too paltry to grasp the infinite.
Mostly we give no thought
to the sheer narrowness of it all,
and so with only these
manmade clifftops to jump from
it's no wonder some choose to leap.
Categories:
hemmed, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Jack's wife went and burnt his favorite stew
He came home, kissed her, said: "Honey, what's new?"
Poor Jane hemmed and she hawed
Then husband Jack guffawed
Asked: "So what is it that smells like a shoe?"
Categories:
hemmed, food, husband, senses, wife,
Form: Limerick
Sat Chit Ananda being the limit of expressing the inexpressible absolute reality whilst resident within boundaries of space-time, we fail to comprehend this symbolised understanding in the clear light of unwavering awareness without assimilating the experience. The letting go of to get to remains the impediment. The map is not the terrain.
Veil lifts, clear light dawns
Mind body vaporises
We be to become
11-August-2020
Categories:
hemmed, spiritual,
Form: Haibun
I’m still in Cascais
Waiting to go home to my house in Algarve
30 years since the Berlin wall came down with the help
Of Russia let us not forget this.
In the meantime, many more walls have been built
Mainly in Israel, a program on the TV didn’t mention this
We don’t like to say anything upsetting.
The wall between me and my house is called old age
When it comes down no one wants to cross it.
The Chinese wall is a tourist attraction, no China
Is building a silk- road instead of covering the whole world.
There are many unseen walls between people, classes
Poor or rich, and between you and me.
The hope is that abstract walls will come down
The rest is steel and concrete suitable for building houses
Categories:
hemmed, conflict, confusion, corruption, courage,
Form: Blank verse