Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself.
~Daisaku Ikeda
I shared a Buddhist concept on Wellness Wednesday ("mudita") and I've got poems from Buddhist Poetry Review today.
excerpt from Zen Thoughts
by Diana Raab
Good poems, like good fiction, need a problem
solved, but on some days the jar is replete
with problems in the midst of sleeping answers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kitchen Meditation
by Darrell Petska
My philodendron is a calculated thinker
appraising each facet of sunlight.
In a clay pot's darkness richly moist
it knows deep intimacies.
read the rest here
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In the evening the two of us
by Rick Kempa
In the evening the two of us
kneel before the water-hole
in the creekbed below camp,
filling our bottles. The vault
of the sky opens and down
read the rest here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was open like a bear trap
by Meredith Maltby
Once—
I scratched underneath
my chin and felt
rosebushes
Yes—
a whole bed
right underneath
the jaw
read the rest here (scroll down)
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Friendly Fairy Tales has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Brenda!
Last call!
Updated to add: Also, don't forget to sign up for the Winter Poem Swap!
10 comments:
Oh these are beautiful, Tabatha. I specially love the final "filling and being filled" of Rick Kempa's poem.
Coincidentally, I watched a wonderful interview with the Dalai Lama on a Nat Geo show yesterday, and it left me feeling better about the world.
Wow -- "lions in my earlobes"! Thanks for pointing us to such a rich poetry resource. I think Kempa's poem is my favorite of the three, and what a perfect photo for Maltby's poem!
I may not view my philodendron the same. It's such a quiet poem of reflection and gratitude: "alchemist with darkness and light" I love the 2nd poem with it, too, Tabatha. I had such a cabin once. Thank you!
That first poem hit me hard--so many days feel like the "jar is replete/ with problems in the midst of sleeping answers." Now if I can find a way to wake a few answers.
I love Kempa's poem - and the richness in all that is unsaid.
Oh, wow--I LOVE Meredith Maltby's vibe, open like a bear trap! Also I spied the word metta, which reminded me of a new word I learned yesterday: lemma. Exploring that now!
I hardly know where to start -- I love everything here, Tabatha. The opening quote is perfect.
Fascinating collection here, Tabatha! That photo of the hand-rosebush had me doing a double take! (at first I thought the thorns were insects... I mean, it's fine to be friends with bugs, but to invite them up your arm... then I saw better). I really like the three-liner opener, especially the bit:
" on some days the jar is replete
with problems in the midst of sleeping answers."
I was glad to see that glorious, orange stag beetle, the spiders and the rain. The world of my mystery guest is here in these zen poems. He feels at home among things that "aspire... to the heavens/ yet plant... roots firmly below". Wonderful post.
Beautiful collection. The first one is my favorite -- so powerful.
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