Category: Lifestyles of Poets (Page 3 of 9)

Most of life is not knowing what's coming. I just went through a reorg again at my new (old) job. Who knows what the future will bring as a result. There are always unintended consequences. The adventure continues. Most of the things that affect your life will remain unknown to you. It's scary but interesting too.

The Prompt: Not Knowing

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"A wild goose
Passing the length of the sky
Casts a shadow
Into the cold water

The goose has no idea
Of leaving a trace,
The water no consciousness
of a shadow striking through."
            – Zen Phrase

And again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Shadows of the world
In ceaseless adventure
Life fish in the sky

The Reflection

For some reason when I started thinking about this prompt I remembered a trip I took with some friends up to Clayton, New Mexico, a few weekends ago. My friend Melo was leading a project to drive drones over some dinosaur tracks there and make 3-D map renderings of them. She showed us the dinosaur footprints and tail tracks in detail and we spent a few days exploring the area (which is my Dad's family's terra sancta so I know it's nooks and crannies). One of the things to do up there is to visit Caupulin Volcano and hike the rim. From there we saw a lot of Turkey Vultures; and they literally look like a child's drawing of a bird! An upside down, flying W!! I thought of that when I thought of trying to draw clouds, birds and fish sharing the sky.  

Now it's your turn.

I spent a really fun weekend in Chicago driving around the north side and walking around downtown to see Monsieur Big Bang's old haunts, then going to Champagne/Urbana watching my nephew graduate from University of Illinois. I came hold sick with a pretty bad cold. So this week's Haiku almost didn't make it.

The Prompt: Doing Nothing

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"Steadfastly doing nothing, sitting there
Spring comes and the grass grows of itself."
            – Zen Phrase

And again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Headless of my care,
the smirking dandelion.
Nature is a cabal.

The Reflection

Maybe it was the cold talking, but this was the first prompt that I took issue with. Granted my mind is going 100-miles-a-minute these days and I need a good lesson in doing nothing and liking it. But does this saying know the orchestrations the Earth goes through to facilitate a Spring? And my grass doesn't grow itself or of itself. Right now it's demurring to a pack of bully foxtails. But I guess that's not really the point, is it? The world revolves itself and things grow wild without any help from me. So calm the f*#k down. 

What do you have to say about it?

I'm in between trips and finding my way into a routine again.

The Prompt: Gates

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"The great way has no gates.
There are thousands of different ways in."
            – Zen Saying

And again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Paths that lead to stone
Gates that do not look like gates
Paths that lead to ash

The Reflection

One of my trips last weekend was to a cemetery and so tombstones were in my subconscious I guess. They look interestingly gate-like. 

Now your turn.

This week is all about calming down. I just finished another month of NaPoWriMo and I'm pretty tired. Lots of poetry stuff in the last week. I need to CTF down.

The Prompt: One Spec of Dust

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"Day after day,
Day after day,
Dust of the mind collects;
Be sure to wash it away
And find your original self."
            – Zen Saying

And again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Save one spec of dust,
a small thing floating along–
dome of the blue sky.

The Reflection

When I meditated on this, trying to empty my mind, I kept seeing one spec of dust escaping my third eye. De-cluttering is a very one-at-a-time process, so that's what I tried.

Now you.

My first few weeks back working with ICANN and I was anxious. Two days planting lavender, honeysuckle and jumbo sunflowers and I was sore! Sore and anxious, that was me this week.

The Prompt: Breathe

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"The hand sees, the eye
Draws, the body breathes.
Wake up! A rabbit."
            – Myochi

And again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Forgetting to breathe
with your heart and ink–that's me
and the ink rabbit.

The Reflection

Confused rabbit all the way. Time to breathe. 

Now it's you.

This was the first great week I've had in many moons! I feel very grateful and appreciative and am trying to enjoy the joy. In fact, one of the good things that happened last week was an email starting with "joyful news." So joy is definitely a theme this week. Our prompt even used the word "wondrous" which you don't hear very often but it's a world I've loved since I first saw it as the title of one of Sonny & Cher's albums from the 1960s.

The Prompt: Joy

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"The wind has settled, the blossoms have fallen;
Birds sing, the mountains grow dark–
This is the wondrous power of Buddhism."
            – Ryokan

And again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Steam rising on oats.
Birds appear to consider
from far, far away.

The Reflection

In the place I live now there's a big trumpet vine along the wall out of the dining room window. So many birds are coming right now and while I eat breakfast, their big shadows startle me sometimes. I sat there every morning last week trying to settle into new patterns with a new job back at ICANN.org.

Now you take a go at it.

So this week has been a really needed and fortunate time of just collecting myself for what comes ahead. And I feel it's helping me intellectually catch up. My brain has space to think again! (manic weeping ensues!)

The Prompt: Space

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"Snail at my feet-
Open space between two thoughts.
Where did you come from."
            – Myochi

And again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

I had trouble focusing on one drawing this week. This is why sumi-e ink is much better for this exercise. No backsies or redos! 

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Ephemeral thing
Floating profoundly through.
Old thoughts collect snow.

The Reflection

I was reading the prompt and thinking of thoughts like clouds. They can only flow through were there is space between solid things.

This also reminded me of the creative process and a video my Digital Storytelling class watched last week about the mental processes of creativity.

Now your turn.

This week was really rough. I finished my work at CNM and am at home finishing up some projects before the next job starts. It was a rough transition as they always are. And as my friend Julie texted me, there's always a bit of grief leaving any group of people in an office.

As I'm working on this I was starting up NaPoWriMo 2019. The prompt for the day was to write a meandering poem which took its time to get anywhere. I couldn't help but think of the J. R. R. Tolkien poem with the quote, “Not all those who wander are lost.” I used to have this up on my office desk as it perfectly describes my meandering work life and all the many jobs I've had over the years. I wrote a poem of all the crazy temp job stories I could remember and this probably influenced my meditation and haiku this week.

The Prompt: Choice of Path

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

"Along this way
goes no one.
Autumn evening."
            – Basho

Again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Deep breath through the leaves
Bow to the new direction
At every turn

The Reflection

Like everyone, I'm not going the way of an autumn evening. I'm constantly on a path, obsessing about the path, looking backwards and wondering what happened.

And another tree appears this week. I think there's security in the idea of a tree (for me) and change makes me anxious so I want to focus on the stillness of a tree with change happening like wind in the leaves. But at the same time I seem to want to honor the changes.

Now you go.

I've decided in the last week I was adding a lot of anxiety to my situation and that I need to reconfigure how I "am" around everyone I encounter over the next week and a half. This exercise helps.

The Prompt: Now

Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara. 

'Today I am" is the essential condition and that is no other than the essence of Zen Buddhism.
            – Eido Roshi

Again, first task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.

The Drawing

My Haiku

…inspired by the drawing. 

Wind through the branches
Seasons of the century
Leaf by leaf by leaf

The Reflection

A tree came to me as my image of the now, the long, dramatic life of a tree, harassed by all the elements, overlooked by many, but outlasting all the seasons of its life. 

Now it's all you.