Note: These “haiku” originally appeared on my twitter account. Twitter limits each line of the “haiku” to 25 characters. That was my only restriction. I do not count syllables for these poems.
glimpse remains::
room for
rain
sculpt the green windows
of the summit
whole
skinned like a broken beetle,
a firm gaze,
gauze of april ants
indestructible
—–place
birth
a nude an epithet
peaks rioting against
meadows
a comedic motion
summit
death
inconceivable rust;;
the murder of
precious clouds
streams bound together
eye the ocean
–exquisite tears
solidity of skin
a voice stolen
by the infinite
as time suggests;;
limited sky,
limited consciousness
night borrows its
color from the inside of
death’s eyelids
the lost existence of doubt,
a spider drowns
in milk (a day old).
old florals float
on the backs of
herakles & eliot
night’s awful hands
yearning for the sun
–summer’s flowers
a total blanket of
sky-
the wind is pure
the bliss of a
hurricane,
sighing
a drowned sky
dreaming of
an empty sea
the scent of
an illustrated flower
-a faceless wind
the sky, callused
where it meets
the mountains
rain burdening the
soil, a landscape
seen from the stars
the empty dream
lost
in a berry
the devil
exhausts himself
with light
bold whimper;;
tonight the tear and stone
are indistinguishable
the sand dreaming
of the wind that
carries it
the wasp borrows
its sanity from
another
deep inside the earth
-a raindrop
falling
morning wind
caressing the trees,
a smoke rising
eyes meeting
the fat bird dances
in the gutter
mountains aching to be
touched by the sky-
my nose, bleeding
silence learns its lesson
the mirror,
its

I just received the complete set of Gudo Nishijima and Chodo Cross’ translation of Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo (here is a link to book one, of four). I’m excited to dive in. Have you read Dogen’s masterwork? This will be my first time reading it in its entirety, having only read bits and pieces before. Any tips?

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