Long Sail through Poems

Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

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In sandy Egypt lived three men
In ancient days when pharaohs reigned
The kingdom of the pyramids,
Osiris and that Isis’ den,
Whom everyone worships and heeds,
Or at least doing so they feigned,
And those gods too blessed them and...

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I’m sailing through my heart watching memories go by and watching my dreams turn to dust as I hold all the pain inside
The tears I cry start to flow like water through my heart it’s...

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I have been reading Jennifer Nordstrom's contributions
to the resilient Green Sanctuary,
a collaboratory production
giving birth to "Justice On Earth"--
which seems quite different than Donald Trump's
view of how to rebirth America's former patriarchal colonizing greatness,
yet again.

"Justice On...

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Our prison is strong,
And made stronger still,
By men who work to break the hour,
And till,
One reaps, and the other sows their will-

Here the abyss harvests,
All of passions power-
To build each brick, cell, prison, tower,
Keeping each...

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For T. Ganesan (1931-1985)

It is as though an unjust hand punished you
As if the Adlerian guiltless position in the constellation wasn't enough
    toppling you from a pedestal
 
You were groomed for position
...

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And O Life safe art thou, nor yet secure, 
Those averse to danger can scarce shun it, 
It better be braved, let streets be unlit,  
No success walks in on its own for sure....

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rain. so cold. like small whips at my face swung by a man in a yellow coat too old and dirty to show sunlight anymore. waves attack the boat like a pack of wolves, darting,...

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What's in writing?
What makes one to author something from the absolute scratch?
What is the science of this art?
Is it just the perceptible version of the human thought or something-deep lies within this solemn form of...

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Coming from relatively poor family man leaves his home and towards Paris steers
Living behind his mother who because of separation sheds tears
But she knows better life awaits him if he goes but for him she...

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Come, O sorrows and be my waking call, 
Be to my life of joys a bit of blight, 
Upon a hard day's work a short respite, 
Be pleasant autumn before barren fall. 

Come with dark...

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( after Achebe's  remembrance)

We opened our book of remembrance with a
Blissful kola nut from Ogidi,then poured libation
On that same ground that once held our eyes of unity. 
Your photograph is that which hung on...

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“You are not earth, water, fire or air
Nor are you empty space
Liberation is to know yourself
as Awareness alone
the Witness of these”


As the kundalini ascends
From root to sacral to plexus to heart
Either straight up or through...

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I'm just putting myself out there to say I find you to be beautiful and if you're available i'd love the chance to know your mind, I wanna know the colors of your soul that...

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Poet: Ismail Junaid Oluwadamilare (Paciolo Pen Saint)


I refuse to blame
Blaming is a temptation
I only want forgiveness,
Utter long praises without pebbles
From the calamity of yesteryear
When;
Misery was overwhelmed,
Sadness burnt fiercely,
Calamities of religions negated
Protruded souls with panic,
Brought vulnerable...

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Dragon Sire take me higher to the kingdom we desire, 
           all alone on a throne awaiting your true love’s fire.
These violet wings that I...

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Tis’ was a frightful night,
For all set sail on the ship Delight.
All men both heavy and frail
Took pleasure as the only detail.

Tis’ was a frightful night, 
For all set sail on the ship Delight.
For they’ve...

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The day that we left port, to new horizons we would sail
Knowing the dangers ahead, seafarers in the end we would prevail

Our journey from the Highlands from Inverness my home town
To Brazil in South America...

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Sudden flash evanescing slowly 
Cracks in a concrete sky
Peering
Leering over mountains of clay
On this very day it comes apart
Peeling away like withered bark on a tree

Kill me............kill me

The end of days
Prolonged pain

Suffer to eat
Eat and...

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I knew it was you all along, trying to compose a different song, I knew you were standing in the line when the bullets explode into the sky 

Everyone had to run for cover and...

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P e a c e is a language
spoken between
healing bougainvilleas 
and bleeding begonias,
dripping dews of hope
through simple gestures~
like specks of sapphire dust
from stars sparkling
amidst bed-shaped clouds,
crawling through the horizon
many miles away,
stretching
beyond
the fogginess
that veils clarity,
stirring the
anchored...

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In your absence, a ragged purple dusk stretches over the soul,
And is petrified, reliving at the frozen window of a heart invaded by silence,
I close my eyes, and the air becomes the cold silk of...

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Childhood is a ship,
preparing to set sail,
but not all harbors are kind

the ocean a mysterious enigma.

Not all inflictions are visible,
some bruises remain invisible.
Not all trauma can be expressed,
so the past is buried - still breathing.

Ghosts...

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Happiness of Life Contest
Sponsor: Nayda Ivette Negron


When I speak of love…
     -I speak of you.
When I feel tenderness… 
     -I am feeling you.

Up on the brink of...

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It was wonderment.
The mesmerizing expression rolled off her tongue in waves. 
To my puzzlement I was in a state of allurement.
Her vibes were sent to me in soothsaying proportions.

It was almost trickery, but I knew...

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