THERE IS NOTHING HOLY or spiritual in my usually getting-up early each day. i do not get-up in order to "practice" hatha yoga or just to sit with the lightening skies. i do not have an alarm clock to be woken by the sound of a bell. i am up early because i usually go to bed early. This is the way i am. Uchiyama Roshi, as a young monk, asked Sawaki Roshi , that if he sat zazen, would he be strong like him. NO! said Sawaki...i have always been like this...A violet will always be a violet...it cannot manifest as a rose....

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IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING AND (supposedly) summer in England and i'm ready for hatha yoga routines, sooner rather than later. The skies are lightening, as is my attitude to practice, whether it be zazen, yoga or diet etc......People refer to these sorts of things in their lives as a "PRACTICE" or their "PATH"....... Moreso and moreso i am stepping away from these terms as they tend to infer that there is some end or goal in mind....a destination........WELL, this could be self-limiting and as far as i'm concerned, the possibilities are various and infinite.......KRISHNAMURTI talks about the PATHLESS PATH and what it is TO BE HUMAN..........ON THE WALL in front of me, as i pause from this writing, i smile at the EINSTEIN quote tacked-up here = "Two things are infinite : the universe and human stupidity - and i'm not sure about the universe."....... Hmmm.....to think "we" can solve "things" with our rational minds is a great conceit......

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY : EIGHT

SUEZ 1950/1 ?

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Our four-bodied family returned to England from Egypt when i was four years old. i have no memory of my father - who was always carrying me - up until this point in time. Apparently, he was always "rescuing me from my baby tears and fears," and the trials of prams and crabs...orchards and sandy beaches. He did not think i should be left to cry.

I remember we are staying with my mother's sister and her husband, in a small bungalow called "PENSELWOOD" on the  Burseldon Road in Southampton, where the honeysuckle grew at the front door... and where the coffee-grounds were emptied ritually at its roots each day.

I think my brother and i slept on the floor in the front-room.

I remember my brother and i going into the bedroom occupied by our parents.  Our father is the only one in there - lying on the bed. We clamber onto the bed and into his arms. One on either side.

I recall warmth and the sweet smell of sweat.

I remember wetness from his skin to mine as i nestle close to him.

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DO(UGH)GEN : NEWSFLASH

"We" are fortunate to have found - in an old bread-bin -  "INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FAKER-BAKER". DO(UGH)GEN, as you may well be aware, kneaded to know the TRUTH from an early age. This essay is believed to be from his long-lost work = SHOBOTENZO - thought to have been written in China. While we are not - due to copyright reasons - allowed to reproduce this, the elements are as follows :-

BAKE JUST TO BAKE.

MAKE BREAD IN A ROOM THAT IS WARM IN WINTER, COOL IN SUMMER.

EARLY MORNING IS BEST.

SI(F)T QUIETLY.

DO NOT TAKE A RISE OUT OF FELLOW BAKERS.

RESIST THE KNEAD TO TWIRL A FLOUR.

DO NOT GO OFF HALF-BAKED.

KNEADING (TO KNOW THE TRUTH) IS ESSENTIAL.

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4 POEMS : i.m. Berthe Tawa

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BREATH PERMITTING

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(Typo in poem #5...should read = PERMITTING, not PETMITTING, as printed. i looked at proofs 4 times and did not notice.)

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OVER THE GATE : 7 POEMS : 2013

 

1.

time to sit

to look out the window

listen to music

& read

other people's poems.

 

2.

back to the view

but good to know

it is there

at a turn

the sweep of the bay

the fort

the island

& an ear

for the music.

 

3.

leaves fell

& my girl spoke

of "acorn trees"

would that we were

beating the bounds

with willow wands

& turning stones

we turned on

bands of coloured flax.

 

4.

over a flat roof

the crackling pitch

and melody

of "bricc fair"

 

a phonograph

shadows and bicycles

hoeing the land

gentle furrows

 

the table

in half-light

an evening awash

over stones.

 

5. ribbons (1)

hop-scotch &

long shadows

of her

across tarmac

stoops to pull

at socks

ribbons fall

pattern of

held hair

uncoils.

 

6. ribbons (2)

something to keep

with me

all day

twirling them

around and around

in the pockets

of my coat

red and blue.

 

7. for Larry Eigner

views of the

world close-in

a morning of mists

and chimney-smoke

a poet's plan

to go to Swampscott

& peep over the gate.

 

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Golden GOJI Hermitage - 2nd MAY 2013

 

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