One day Jesus was walking with his students, and they passed by the carcass of a dog.
The students said, "How this dog stinks!"
..But Jesus said, "How white are it's teeth!"


"Revival of the Religious Sciences"
Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī
11th Century





**





http://ghazali.org/ihya/english/ihya-vol3.htm

the devil is an innocent
marred only by a kind of pride

i am hard at work dreaming
aim to outdo even him

my fallen nature burnishes
dullness into brass

but the devil knows
all my plans will fail

and only one place
i will return to

even beyond the damned
and his plantation hell

so the devil urges me on
do your best always

doing perpetuates
more doing

the ultimate sin


*

The man in the wilderness asked of me,
How many strawberries grow in the sea?
I answered him, as I thought was good,
As many red herrings grow in a wood.

-- From an annotation in "The Whole Duty of Man" (1733)

don quixote
knight of the sorrowful face

el caballero de la triste figura

hero to those
who are out of their prime
but still dream
with a youthful heart

for true imagination
and inspiration
never age

they cannot

highest flights of fancy

these come from
some other place
beyond our own sky

a place with its own
stars and loves
compelling



*

magic for this day
you

loved

nobody like you
in the whole wide world

people smile
you make hearts go boom

where you'll go
what stories you'll tell

finding out
your life that will be neat

go and look

climb the mountains
see the views

take this love with you

nobody like you
in the whole wide world


**

For Phoebe Lee
1.16.17

Driving Home

- 8 that night
clear all the way
to the horizon

only clue to how far
was a red full moon
coming up

crisp and clear
serene beyond any
notion of news





**

(reprise)

dark night

flying geese

you could hear their
in and out takes of
breath flapping in unison

nothing more
needs to be known
or remembered




**

the view of a street
of the yellow facade
of the 2 flight-up
side-by-side row
bright brick houses

the view of a street
brave now in a
sunshine in december
light becomes stronger
gloss yellow wood
on banisters with red
corbels

the view of a street
hesitation commitment
rattle of plates
always was going on
one or two in love
or out of love

brave sun
the view of a street

---

13th ave ne
Minneapolis

is there any real
don quixote?

he was the first
gentleman to set
foot on the moon

everyone knows this
just as we all know
his famous mustache

his daring eye
his fiery glance
glare gleam like a lance

his genuine weeping

we know him
for how he was
sad and thought
chivalry was dead

reading drove him mad

as we know him
for how he saw
beautiful angels in
billboards and

heard heaven
in the whispering flight
of geese

{midnight i see
12 geese gently breathing
as they flew north
into speckles of snow

did they have
a warm place to go
passing over the
brightly lit holiday
convenience store

passing overhead
just higher than the
streetlamps

you could hear their
in and out takes of
breath flapping in unison

nothing more
needs to be known
or remembered}

morning at the park
you can hear cars
touching their brakes
just a bit as they
go down the hill
halfway, at walter

the sun is out
and it is perfect
like a spring day
december 28th
san francisco

couples in love
or not in love
walk up and down
talking or taking
selfies

young or old
to be in love
at duboce park

sunny warm
san francisco
in the morning


12 28 16

whatever i see
i am

my heart is filled
with longing and wonder

if i could be
in all places in all times

each house
or natural feature's history

i feel i have
lived in or just missed

and how wonderful
it was


12  28 16

i sleep in the forest of my mind
its a nice big forest full of things

as big as i want it to be
i've lost track of all the trees

but every one i see
i remember and i recognize

each one is a memory
a feeling as sense of something

but i started out in warm space
clear and without need of any marker

no mountain top or valley
with wilderness uncountable



**

snow ice
i drive on the way

the river
tree silhouettes

move fast
over silver backdrop

see how
curtains of steam

almost like
phantom mountains

cross the
mississippi river

from one
factory to another

the sun
shining hard on water

like dreams
unfold and bring us



**

the last time
i saw you
on your way
to dying

you were
all scheduled
as if going
on a long trip

preparing to
be totally
swept away

with some idea
how imminent
yet not knowing
exactly when

i said i'd
be back in
two days but
i left town

you gentle
a bit distracted
happy and in
constant pain

your face
nearly hairless
sharp and focused

inside with a
burning intensity
your whole body

never to see you
to not see you
after the big change

and laugh about
farts pretty girls
poetry or endings

i said i'd
be back in
two days but
i left town

your living room
the positions
of the 2 side tables

computer and books
recliner papers
fill up my imagination

just like pretty girls
fart jokes poetry and
endings

you really knowing
me just barely
comprehending
you letting go

for latif

----------

Orgyen Menla Medicine Buddha

OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PEMA TO TRENG TSAL BHEKANZE RADZA SARWA SIDDHI PALA HUM AH 

let things
not find their
mark

through no
effort other than
not minding

neither a
denier nor a
battler

even a fool
can learn to
let go



**

i wish you well
for 2017

let it be
encouraging

happy
like a tune

like when
you are

singing

on the top
of a mountain

feeling
fine and free

seeing
everything

from high
high up