Early morning sun lit room up through curtains...sipping warm water and lemon before Hatha...Krishna Das on stereo with his "Pilgrim Heart" for company...and i stopped to do this...it evolved...and the title only occurred as i was finishing...SOLSTICE.

 

*

circa 6.30 a.m

GOLDEN GOJI HERMITAGE

30th/June/2014

 

 

S O L S T I C E / N A D O

*

 

 



on LARRY EIGNER : little books / little thoughts...

Whilst up amongst clouds in the house's upper reaches this a'noon, i pulled-out a little pamphlet by LARRY EIGNER = "Clouding", Portents #10, published in 1968 by Samuel Charters...

...and as i read and recalled, a little, those first lines on the cover and turned the page to continue, out fell another rare little pamphlet = PAUL BLACKBURN'S copy of LARRY EIGNER'S "The Music, The Rooms", DESERT REVIEW PRESS, New Mexico...i'd clean forgotten i had it! Probably bought it from Jack Shoemaker's SAND DOLLAR BOOKS in the 1970's via Mail Order.

 

It has always been Americans with whom i really connected...so generous and up-for-it...New Worlders!

It was Jack Shoemaker's Maya Quarto series, of letterpress chapbooks, which inspired me to start publishing under my own imprint = STINGY ARTIST EDITIONS, in 1978. The first publication was MONTALE'S TYPOS by Kris Hemensley (lucky to have a poet/writer in the family...THE poet/writer in the family)...AND the second publication was LARRY EIGNER's "FLAGPOLE RIDING" with whom i was already corresponding -(still living in SWAMPSCOTT, at the time)... i was put onto him by my brother, Kris, as Eigner was a favourite and i'd been reading him since i'd seen his poems in Clayton Eshleman's CATERPILLAR magazine and saw the adverts for BLACK SPARROW PRESS in it. i ordered "AIR THE TREES" by LARRY EIGNER, "THE DAYS RUN AWAY LIKE WILD HORSES OVER THE HILLS" by CHARLES BUKOWSKI and "FRAGMENT" by JOHN ASHBERRY:the beginnings of my collection...circa 1969...and the beginnings of a tenuous affair. BUT so many years later, after times of thinking that i would REALLY like to be like that original "Stingy Artist" and "disappear" into the mountains, i am more pleased than not, to have a "hermitage" full of some little thoughts and these attendant "little" books...

*

Golden GOJI Hermitage

27TH/JUNE/2014

* * *

 

 

 

i.m. CHIYO-NI

 

*  *  *  *  *

Golden GOJI Hermitage

 

25TH/JUNE/2014

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THUS HAVE i HEARD...A LAYWOMAN attended a short retreat at a nunnery. She threw herself wholeheartedly into the routines and practices...was always up at dawn for prayers in the chapel...observed the injunction against idle chatter at mealtimes and during work practice...and felt so enthused that she retired early to her cell every evening for more prayer and meditation. After a few days of these observances, she felt she did not have the strength to continue in this fashion for the rest of the retreat. She decided to ask the senior nun how the sisters coped with the long evenings after a whole day. "Oh, my dear child," said the nun, "in the evening, we just sit-around and watch television!"...THUS HAVE i HEARD...(Golden GOJI Hermitage - 25th/JUNE/2014)

TOWARDS A CLOSER COMMUNION WITH BIRDS : SIX POEMS

 

1) 

GO INTO A ROOM

AWAY FROM TRAFFIC NOISE

&

REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES

THAT WAY

THERE WILL BE NOTHING

TO IMPAIR OR IMPEDE

THOSE PURE NOTES

GETTING THRU TO YOU

*

 

 

2)

OPEN A WINDOW

THAT OVERLOOKS A GARDEN

WITH SHRUBS

AND/OR TREES

THEN  SIT DOWN

SHUT UP

AND BREATHE NATURALLY

*

 

 

3)

DO NOT USE BINOCULARS

OR TELESCOPES

IF WISHING TO SEE

MORE THAN TWO BIRDS

IN A BUSH

AT THE SAME TIME

*

 

 

4)

GO INTO THE GARDEN

WEED AND CUT GRASSES

TO DISLODGE SEEDS

TURN THE SOIL OVER

TO REVEAL

WORMS AND GRUBS

YOU MIGHT NOT

SEE THESE

BUT BIRDS

ESPECIALLY THE ROBIN

WILL

*

 

 

5)

YOU WILL KNOW IF

A BIRD

IS IN LOVE WITH YOU

IT WILL VISIT

EVERY TIME

YOU APPEAR

COCK ITS HEAD

ON ONE SIDE

AND SING

SOON

YOU'LL HAVE IT FEEDING 

OUT OF YOUR HAND

*

 

 

6)

IF

YOU ARE IN

THE HABIT OF

TAKING A SIESTA

DO NOT CLOSE

YOUR EYES

YOU MIGHT MISS

THE SHADOW OF

A SWOOPING BIRD

PASS OVER

THE DAY BED

WHERE YOU LIE

* * *

Golden GOJI Hermitage

14TH/JUNE/2014

*****

 

 



TWO NEW POEMS : 11/JUNE/2014

i.m. Chiyo-ni

 

CIAO, CHIYO-NI

CIAO, CIAO

AS CHERISHED

AS CHERRY BLOSSOMS

CIAO, CHIYO-NI

CIAO, CIAO

 

* * *

 

 Rengetsu replies to a question in one of my day-dreams

 

Q:

If you are no longer

amongst plum blossoms
where you now are 

maybe you did not 

attain Nirvana?

A:

Do not fret  

i took some to heaven 

with me  

i am a Non-returner.

 

* * *

 

Golden GOJI Hermitage

14/june/2014

 

* * * * *

A CONTROVERSY over the pronunciation of DOUGHGEN has been of some concern amongst the OLD HIERARCHY of late...IN THE WEST where there has been a REVIVAL of ARTISAN BAKERIES following the TEACHINGS of DOUGHGEN, springing-up like daisies, scholars have taken the unprecedented step of changing the pronunciation of "DOUGHGEN"...THUS (have i heard) "DOUGHGEN" is now to be pronounced "DOFFGEN"...following the OLDE ENGLISH of words such as "COUGH" rarther than "ALTHOUGH"...IT'S enough to make one LAFF...i mean "LAUGH" !!! Gotta run, now...i've got bread in my oven to check...(Golden GOJI Hermitage 11/JUNE/2014) "

SITTING OUT ON BEACH FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS THIS MORNING

 

 

 

*

"After a time, habituated to spending so many hours a day on my bike, I became less and less interested in my friends."

(HENRY MILLER,

MY BIKE & OTHER FRIENDS,

CAPRA PRESS, 1978)

* * *

Golden GOJI Hermitage

10TH/JUNE/2014

* * * * *



I'M GOIN' OUT IN A STORM

I'M GOIN' OUT

IN A STORM

WHEN THE TIME COMES

I'M GOIN' OUT

*

I'M GOIN' OUT

IN A STORM

AT THE RIGHT TIME

I'M GOIN' OUT

LIKE A LIGHT

*

I'M GOIN' OUT

WHATEVER THE TIME

FEARS OR NO FEARS

IN A STORM

*

I'M GOIN' OUT

IN A STORM

GOIN' OUT WITH CARESSES

KISSES AND TEARS

IN A STORM

* 

I'M GOIN' OUT

INTO THE LIGHT

 WHITE NIGHT

OF THE STORM

WHEN I GO OUT

*

I'M GOIN' OUT

I'M STORMIN' OUT

GONNA KICK-UP A STORM

*

Golden GOJI Hermitage

7TH/JUNE/2014

* * * * *

 



MY ART EDUCATION WAS SADLY LACKING

i remember terms
and terms
of lessons in HERALDRY

i remember only
one painting i did
of a PICKET FENCE
around a HOUSE
by a LAKE
sort-of
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE-style

i remember FLOSSIE
of the UPPER SIXTH
posed NUDE
for the ART MASTER
after school
neither was expelled

i think my ART education
was sadly lacking
but THANK-GOODNESS
for BALIERE'S ATLAS of ANATOMY
from which
us children learned
much at home

AND thanks
to the DICTIONARY of SLANG
in the reference library
in town
we learned to
love BOOKS full of WORDS...

* * *

Golden GOJI Hermitage

6TH/JUNE/2014

* * * * *

It is well known that DOUGHGEN'S TEACHINGS were formed when he found the true teaching in CHINA. He was always keen in later life to refer to the original words and thinking of THE BUDDHA. It is therefore critical for us in cotemporary times to find the words of a teacher of the stature of SHUNRYU SUZUKI who had this to say in his groundbreaking book, ZEN MIND, BEGINNERS MIIND the following passage = " Bread is made from flour. How flour becomes bread when put in the oven was for BUDDHA, the most important thing........In order to find-out how DOUGH became perfect bread, he made it over and over again, until he became quite successful. THAT WAS HIS PRACTICE."............(Golden GOJI Hermitage - 3RD/JUNE/2014)