Poem - On the Way

on the way he asks me what is the point
i say the point is there is no point
only kindness towards self and others
we drive for some time
and go under a vast wing of grey overcast
on the way to his appointment with superior court

------

Vista
9.30.2011

News - Marguerite Avenue

CM Evans Cartoons and writing has been posted to a new eclectic website/ magazine called Marguerite Avenue. Writers and other artists are invited to submit.

Poem - BAH!

a mahasiddha on the road to abolition
travels it the same silly buoyant way as i would travel
to a girlfriend

BAH!

a mahasiddha sees right through
any hope i'd have at the start of the day as a harmless
slight slip

BAH!

Poem - this dawn laying red / diesem morgen über das blut

this dawn laying red
like a bar of molten steel
under cloud machines


hammers the sun
day into a broad blade
and polishes it on
sky blue water

**

diesem morgen über das blut
wie eine bar aus geschmolzenem stahl
unter cloud-maschinen


hammer der sonne
tag in eine breite klinge
und poliert es auf
weiß blau wasser

----

Lake Henshaw
9.24.11

Chung Tzu - Good Luck With the Writing & Oh Dear!

I threw away the good story. I threw away the good poem. I got a whole bunch of leaves and garbage, and I put them on the table. The wind blew on them, gently. I'm watching this, when Chung Tzu comes into the backyard, holding a large worn paper-bag.

"What are you doing?" asks Chung Tzu.

"I'm writing the next Great American Novel." I reply.

"Oh? What is it called?" inquires Chung Tzu.

"Garbage and Leaves On a Table." I say.

"Well, good luck with the writing." says Chung Tzu. He fishes around in the big paper bag.

"What's in the bag?" I ask Chung Tzu.

"Oh, nothing. Just an old greasy sandwich. You'd hate it. I can think of nobody else who would appreciate it."

"Lucky you!"

"Oh Dear! My precise good fortune, is your good fortune too. Don't forget to write about that!"

-------

9/18/2011
In the Backyard
Escondido

Poem - hooking my mind up to a feeling or a thought

hooking my mind up to a feeling or a thought
of anything that is not in front of me
is buying into an opinion that may be right or wrong

if you are not here there is no way to check to see if it is correct
therefore i should refrain from being invested
in anything but the here and now

Poem - i listen and the man gets up

my sawdusty barbed wire mind
'what do you mean by that?' the old man asks

i halt and see how full i am
'what do you mean by that?' the old man asks

i tell a joke about meetings
'what do you mean by that?' the old man asks

i shut up and i listen
'what do you mean by that?' the old man asks

i listen and the man gets up
'you better look in the mirror' says the old man

Johannes Kepler Facts

Historians write about history from their educated historical perspective. You can't blame them for wanting to clean history up a bit, to make it more important and serious. Otherwise people might start thinking that history is a sham, or a series of bizarre accidents, or historical persons were as nutty as we are today. To help clear things up, here are some less-known, historical facts about Johannes Kepler, with the books/ documents they appear in:

1. Johannes Kepler was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by his high school class. See 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium', by Nicolaus Copernicus, pages 123- 24.

2. Johannes Kepler hated yarn and macrame. See 'Meine Ausgezeichnete Astronomie Buch' by Tycho Brahe, page 22 and Chapters 3, 6, and 9.

3. Johannes Kepler cheated at monopoly, and was a jerk when he got caught, spilling the whole board and ruining the game for everyone else. See 'Cyclopaedia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences', complied by Ephraim Chambers, vol 3, pages 304 & 405.

4. Johannes Kepler sometimes bragged he made Tycho Brahe knock over a telescope, so Johannes could catch it before it hit the ground, thus making Tycho look like an ass in front of Nicolaus Copernicus when they were hanging out. See 'De Falsa Volume Incredibilis Rerum', vol 11, pages 33 - 44 and vol 12, pages 4 & 8, by Pope Lucas Watzenrode the Younger.

5. Johannes Kepler was a vampire, from Mars, and he did wrestle robot-George Washington for 2 years under the Potomac River, and he did make Superman's mother pregnant on Krypton, and Johannes Kepler was Moses, and Johannes Kepler personally built 1. The Statue of Liberty, 2. The Empire State building, and 3. Ellis Island* -- but Johannes Kepler was not able to be a daywalking vampire. Because daywalking vampires do not exist.

---------


* And J. K. invented the languages English, Spanish, German, Italian, Greek , Milwaukeian and Las Vegan

Poem - nothing but a dip/ in the cold pond

cherishing me
in my comprehension
or struggle to know god &
at the same time the above
having no opinion
/
thoughts only appear
to affect us
if we appear
to not let go of them
/
all of the above
any worry
nothing but a dip
in the cold pond

Crying when the National Anthem Played

So many of us experienced the anger, grief about the attacks on 9/11 for a long time. I have no relatives or friends who were directly taken by the terrorist attacks. But today, with the media reminding me wherever I go THIS IS THE DAY -- 10 YEARS, I find myself reliving some of the reactions I had 10 years ago. I'm also annoyed, because the news started 'ramping up' for this horrific anniversary about a week ago. I noted how the pressure for 9/11 was built up over the days. When the outlets were doing this, I was confident I would resist the emotionality of the day, faced with all the footage and audio they'd be broadcasting. But I can't see the pictures and watch the video clips without being moved, and I think about what happened that day, and all the people who died. I'd have to have a heart of stone to not feel the pain.

The entire day of 9/11, my wife and I were wrapped in a cushion of unreality. We watched the TV, helplessly. I heard people say, over and over again, "It is like a bad dream -- but made real." Then two days after 9/11, when I was driving to work, the radio station I was tuned into said something about the attacks on the United States of America, and played the National Anthem.

I grew up believing, though we can disagree on many things, every decent American is a patriot, at the core. Being 'for your country' was like having common sense. But when I heard the National Anthem two days after 9/11, I cried half way through. I've never cried to the National Anthem before, or since.

At the Intersection

At the intersection with the sedan window open, she looks at her hand that has several large fantastic rings. Sitting at the light, she looks at her dazzling french nails. She turns her hand that I can see this way, and then that, feeling a kind of poetry. She loves looking at her luxuriously pampered hands, sleek and soft, like they are moving underwater -- like a scattering of doubloons on white aquatic sand. Near a wrecked ship full of dead men. The light turns green.


------

Pacific Coast Highway
Newport Beach

Poem -- Bud

bud. he put out his fire
so others may have it
also showed them
it could be quenched

a teaching more valuable
than all thing-a-ma-jings
and explained why
wealth is unneeded

where ya gone, bud?
he's in the moon!
he's in my hair!
he's in this poem!

-----

Thanks
9.06.11

Two Quotes

(I don't mean to be obtuse -- I've had these quotes bumping around my head since I've read them in the two books I was reading. - CM)

**

"Nothing is more outwardly visible than the secrets of the heart, nothing more obvious than what one attempts to conceal. Hence a man of true breed looks straight into his heart even when he is alone."

'The Unwobbling Pivot'
Chung Yung

**

"The monks...did not conceive of their status...as merely meaning freedom from something -- such as freedom from the bonds of nature and society -- but also as conferring on them the freedom to serve their fellow man."

'Vedanta: Heart of Hinduism', page 182
Hans Torwesten

Poem - without any resentments/ whatsoever

say 'yes' or 'no'
without any resentments
whatsoever

listen to others and their advice
without any resentments
whatsoever

be glad sleep or eat
without any resentments
whatsoever

love smile and sleep
without any resentments
whatsoever

fail abide win
without any resentments
whatsoever

without any resentments
whatsoever
without any resentments
whatsoever

Poem - if god says hello/ say hello back

if god says hello
say hello back

i think that is
the thing to do

\

or possibly
be tao does

and not think
where i is

-------

The Backyard
Escondido, CA
9.01.11