A Mindful Life

My brain churns with thoughts, but time and energy are limited. Here’s a stream-of-consciousness example of what’s on my mind these days (in no particular order):

The history of the Black Panther movement and the 60s culture (I went to an exhibition at the Yerba Buena galleries today).
Community and social capital, i.e., how technology reduces this [...]

I’ve written another poem, One Thin Line. It’s good practice.
This post title is an obscure reference to a Monty Python skit in which an overfed man is offered “one thin mint,” and he gives in to temptation with dire consequences. There’s no connection between this weirdness and the poem, except in the words “one” and [...]

I knelt on the damp soil, my knees
dimpling black loam made tender
by winter rain. Lacy green hemlock
waved on the dunes, red stems alluding
to a lethal power. This day it was my
foe to banish. Gloved fingers burrowed,
sought unseeing, with gentle tugs
eased the pale taproots out. Hours
passed. Piles of conquered plants
multiplied. One lone ladybug hiked
across a tangle [...]

On this gray, rainy day, Sophie has reminded me how important small pleasures are. She is demonstrating Viboxana, a form of cat meditation that involves being, breathing, and noticing. What else could one need besides a simple box from which to observe the world?

People need joy quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more.
–Margaret Collier Graham

It’s going to be a long busy day. This photo makes me feel thoughtful, restful. The way I hope to feel throughout this and every day.

Still Life
My father is sitting on a duck
In the middle of a field
On our kitchen table.
A still life in fading black and white
Curling at the edges
The Kodak print holds a past
That belongs partly to me.
My father is no longer
Just a soldier’s face on the mantle
Or a brass plaque in the attic.
Now I am the daughter [...]

Under stacked magazines,
A floor made of wood
Echoes faintly
The breath of ancient trees.
Man, the despoiler,
Cleaves and plunders the earth
To exploit for his gain –
Feels justified.
Under the dim canopy
Of towering redwood,
Seeds germinate
Daily, cell by cell.
Nature, objective,
Regenerates life.
A miracle of chaos
Flows up forth
Regardless of human machinations.
This incredibly trite poem is built off of Under the Harvest Moon. For [...]

I’ve had this poem shuffling around my file cabinet for many years. It’s time to put it somewhere more or less permanent.
The Graves of Cats
The graves of cats are not like
those of dogs or parakeets.
They have been slipped out of
a day or maybe two
after you packed the dark dirt
with the long-handled shovel.
Now as you play [...]

Meditation is when you sit down, let’s say that, and don’t do anything. Poetry is when you get up and do something. Somewhere we’ve developed the misconception that poetry is self-expression, and that meditation is going inward. Actually, poetry has nothing to do with self-expression, it is the way to be free, finally, of self-expression, [...]