Poems by Alan Gregory
Wonderwheel
1.
Sitting in the dark
hearing crickets and frogs,
rythmic soundings,
vibrations somewhere between
songs of serenity and yearning,
I expected to see the full moon
but clouds obscure the moonlight,
and now seeing comes in the ear,
with the breathing universe
of intonation that is not sound at all,
but the presence of
the one word
in a mirror
shattered
in the night.
2.
At sesshin I was ringing the temple bell and one morning I
came out to ring the bell and there was a spider web strung from the bell to
the post. It shook and sparkled in the sunlight as I and the bell tolled.
Several views came to mind as English haiku.
#
little spider
don't be startled by the morning ringing of
the temple bell
#
the temple bell--
I hope you have ear plugs like me,
little spider
#
the morning sun
glistens on the web swinging from
the temple bell
#
people hear
the temple bell -- do they see the web
attached to it?
#
little did you know
little spider -- you hooked your dream
to a temple bell.
3.
I'm
writing verses to each of the Sayings of the Gospel of Thomas, here's Saying 10
and my added verse:
Saying
10. Jesus says this, "I have cast fire upon the world, and behold, I watch
over it until it blazes."
Verse:
Who
can catch the fire that he casts?
If
you try to grasp it, your fingers will burn.
The
arsonist says, "Just behold."
When
the fire blazes and consumes the whole world,
Like
the great sun descending from the heavens
And
engulfing your entire body,
Then
the true gold appears.
4.
Fallen into this well
Filled with dew, lightening, and dreams,
Drowned in blossoms.
5.
sitting on the patio,
I see two full moons.
one seen through the maple leaves,
one seen in the reflection of the window.
or is it
one moon with two reflections?
one reflection in the sky,
the other reflection in the window
reflecting the sky?
Oh my,
do I have to decide
which one?
which two?
the moon in the window
appears less obscured, fuller, and brighter,
while the moon in the sky is mostly hidden behind the
leaves.
the night is cooling after the hot day,
the sounds of distant traffic
remind me that there are places to go.
6.
Gazing at a swirling galaxy.
Countless spining worlds in space.
Vast gaseous nebulas.
Supernovas blazing and passing away.
And not a bit of it outside,
This miso soup.
7.
driving
toward the full moon
rising above the golden hills --
the
sun is blinding
in the rear view mirror.
8.
This square sake cup
so how is it in the middle there--
the round moon?
9.
The Cold Mountain is
a Killer
Everyone loves Han Shan's* poems.
No one knows what he says.
His words are as frosty as the highest mountains.
His meaning is as out of reach as the coldest mountains.
Hiking to the summit of Han Shan is deadly.
If you persevere in your climb
and are able to take one more step off the ice cold peak,
you awaken in the warm valley where grasses abound.
Wading through the myriad verdant spears
you meet Han Shan
on the tips of each green blade
as it pierces your
heart.
(* The Chinese poet Han Shan's name means Cold Mountain)
10.
Dimples
Dimples may be many things,
but forceps scars
or fatty deposits
they are not.
Whatever you think they are,
they are not.
Dimples could be the reflections,
the imprints,
the seals of transmission
of the twin black holes of personal charm
engulfing the vision of one's original face,
but even that is thought,
so dimples,
even that --
they are not.
Dimples can be seen,
but like the crescent moon seen soon after sunset
while the sky is still faint
with the glowing smiles of light,
dimples just can't be captured by thought.
11.
味観 Ajikan,
Ajikan:
the realization of Buddhism,
the taste of enlightenment
the flavor of insight.
Is there some cosmic
coincidence
that the first letter is an
"A"
the beginning of both
Japanese and English
phonetics,
the "A"
derived from the Sanskrit for
"nothing"?
Ajikan:
the mother duck
flapping up on the bank
her tippling-rolling little
brood
following.
Ajikan:
wind and willows
accompany
our talking of the world's
illusions of
past-present-future.
Bare feet
laid back in the grass
setting sun:
Ajikan.
味 【あじ】 (adj-na,n) flavor; flavour; taste; (P)
観 【かん】 (n,n-suf) (1) look; appearance; (2) spectacle; sight; (3) {Buddh} observation meditation; (n-suf) (4) outlook on ...; view of ...; (P)
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last edited 7/26/08