The Eternal Moment

There are Bowls
There are Drawers here
There are Hidden Shapes & Accessories

There are Small Kingdoms in Passing Moments
There is a Treasury of Doubt
and the Currency of the Inner Smile

There is Me Here
and there is You.

You: The one I have lost & found,
lost and found, lost & found.

Me: the one who stands
on Solid Ground
and spins around
and around
and around.

And then, there is the Sound.
The sound of Naked Waterfalls
filled with Diamonds of the Sun.
The sound that bubbles up
from deep inside the Ground.
The Hum of a Million Birds
The Stampede of the Butterflies of the Heart.

All is Sudden.
All is Changing.
The Ancient takes constant Birth
in the Soft Glove
of the Eternal Moment.

The Company of Truth

I seek The Company of Truth.

In this Lifetime, this space,
this Tiny Bubble I occupy.

I have long-known The Company of Truth:
the Color of their Eyes, the Clothing they wear;
the lack of Disguise.

The Company of Truth is the blessing of sharing time
with those who know, those who have walked
the path of Inner Freedom
amidst Outer Struggle;

Those who have crossed the threshold of the Open Heart,
and who celebrate the Beauty of Living
the consciousness of This Silent Glorious Song.

This is not trivial;
This is not the Popular Path of Lemmings;
this is not the Calling of Convenience,
the Temple of Day-to-Day Commerce,
the Sacrament of Obligation
to those who pull our Every String …

This is Monumental.
This is the Unconstructed Tower of the Spirit Of You.
This is the Fragile Sprout of your Innermost Core:
seeking maturity to Flower, To Vine, To Tree,
to Seed: to spread Abundance in the Wind,
Dandelion Birds soaring to unspoken Heights.

Unhinged.

The Company Of Truth is a Gift.
From one eye to another.  From heart to heart.
From empty caverns flow the Voices of Full Rivers.

From need, from Necessity,
from the Sincere Longing
to Know Home
to Go Home…
comes the Journey Itself.
The Map.
The Vehicle.
Driver & Destination.

The Company Of Truth
is Truth Itself.
Revealed in the Glorious Form
of Humans …
Being …
Rainbows ….

Support & Clarity

There are two items on the Human Menu that became important for me today.

Support & Clarity.

The issue of “support” arose, because life is a challenge, period.  No matter who we are.  Everything from the basics of literal survival to the arrangements and intricacies of relationship, business contracts, living spaces, health struggles … and on and on.

In our societies, we are taught the value of “independence” as a strength.  Rely on self only.  Be strong.   Don’t depend or lean on others.  And yet, as human creatures, we are very fragile.  In fact, extremely fragile.   We break easily.  Our apple-carts get upset easily.  Because of this “independence” vein that’s programmed in there, and also because of the way societies are structured, we tend to get isolated easily.   Alone in our own little room, so to speak.

The point is, we need others.  We all need help along the way.   When the illusions we protect ourselves with wear thin, we see and feel and know our own vulnerability.   We need a hand to help us row the boat in the storm; but more than that, we need the voice to ask.  This is the tricky part.  Who wants to appear weak?  Helpless?  Homeless? In dire need?

The beauty of humans helping each other is that so much more can be done.  One plus one truly becomes eleven.  Two pairs of eyes, four pair of hands, a dozen strong legs … this type of spirit can truly build a city.

Clarity has to do with our purpose, our innate reason to be alive.

Most of us think that being alive has to do with fulfilling the fundamental mundane requirements of day-to-day life, being comfortable and happy due to a protective layer of material “padding” around us.   For some of us, this no longer works.

The answer to why we’re here has to be deeper.  It has to be more fundamental – it has to resonate with our “core”, our spirit, our true heart.   It just can’t be tied to the “fluff”, the packaging, the eye-candy, make-up and gimmicks that propel the market-driven world along day after day.

There’s a voice inside of us that longs to be heard; longs to be listened to attentively; longs to have those deep, silent necessities take wing, be expressed by the heart and to the heart.  We need not only to communicate with the deepest pearls inside our own “cave”, but we need also to bring those pearls out into the daylight – to celebrate them, to share them with others, to remind and affirm to our fellow travelers, that there is so much more to life than the mundane; there is so much more to feel, to drink deeply from, to celebrate, to share, to acknowledge.   There is a dance to do that we all wait for, long for, pray for.

This “dance” IS the essential reason, the central purpose of human life.  We know this in our core.  Not because it was part of our educational or parental programming, but because we were born with it, we came into the world with it.

So, how important IS this?  We, the weary travelers who come and go.  We, who know in our guts that we’re just passing through, that we really don’t belong here, that this is really NOT our true home.  How important is it to acknowledge the inner gift, the higher purpose, and to remind each other, so that we’re not lost and lonely in our isolated little rooms of discontent, attempting to “manage” the unmanageable – the meaningless day-to-day trivial pursuits that drain us, frustrate us, and exhaust us …?

Clarity: knowing self, reminding self, reminding others.

Every tiny spark of light helps us all see the way.

We Ride in the Rain

We Ride in the Rain.

We are happy, we seldom complain.
Something about moving, the quenching,
the drenching, the Softness of Nature’s Hand
on our parched linens.

The Gladness of Man
the moving of the Seasons,
the Ancient Rhythm of commerce,
the Hum of the Marketplace Mantra.

Aromas of Humanity sustain us
as we move sideways, vertically
frantically, erratically, measuring carefully
our pace, our dance, our stance.

We Ride in the Rain.

Love captures us once again.
From old withered hearts,
parades of Color will start;

and who knows the Art?

Sitting in the Saddle
of the Smile of Krishna
the Benediction of Buddha
the Mercy of Christ
the Wisdom of Allah

We live for the Color of Love.

the Season of the Dove.

the Warm soft hand of God

inside our Velvet Glove.

Hello, My Name is Art …

Hello, my name is Art.
You’ve probably seen me, here and there
in your helter-skelter life: bobbing around back alleys,
blowing dandelion seeds in hot summer’s air,
chasing Soap Bubbles across Mystical swamps & Quagmires
in Northern Ireland & who knows where …

Hello, my name is Art.
I’m a Frozen Frame in your Rancid Movie of Old Spaghetti.
I’m a Lame Duck in a Missionary Prison,
a Fragrant Fart in a Sanitary Landfill,
A Raven-God in a house of handicapped Crows.
I don’t wait for anybody – especially you – to approve me,
reject me, exalt me, connect me, destroy me, employ me or bisect me.

Hello, my name is Art.
You’ll see me sun-tanning with Negroes,
Playing Chess with Chinese,
Hanging by my toes in a White Man’s corporate Boardroom,
Leading a Revolution in a Small Latin-American Country,
and all the while Dreaming I’m a Shaman in a Sweat-Lodge.
It’s whatever your careless heart cares to dream,
on this Eternally-Raining Sunny day.

Hello, my name is Art.

You’ll look for me,
but never find me,
until you’ve found
your own Heart.

If my name was Jim
or Sum Dim, or
Cousin Slim, or
a languid Swim in
Designer Lakes …

You’d still make Mistakes
and put on the Brakes
before you’d perfected
the Real from the Fakes

but! for Art’s Sakes!

Do what it Takes
To Love all it Makes
and Caress the Creases out of your War-Torn forehead
before you put the Hummingbirds to Bed
and Instead … make a brand New Start.
Your own journey to your Sweet & Special Heart.
Yes! It’s Valentine’s Day …
Goodbye, my name is Art.

Eye Passing, Life Catching

The Precious Moments of Life are Slipping By
It is noon, it is midnight, it is an Orange color moving through the Sky
Pets are fed, Rumi is Dead, mother has baked another Perfect Apple Pie
The Dogs on the Sled, the nuns in the Bed: all perform effortlessly as they
look in my Eye … And Life keeps Passing relentlessly by.

The Precious Moments of Life are Moving On
The Trains, Planes and Cargoes are catapulted through the Orange Colors of Dawn
Mystery Speaks; Ghosts in the Closet Squeak; Neighbors on acid Freak …
and Dead Poets, Live Lemmings, Drunk Singers and Retarded Swingers
all Dance in Synchrony, as they look in my Eye
… And Life keeps Passing Relentlessly by.

The Sad & Happy Moments of Life are Departing
Like a Drunken Missionary, embarrassed by his own Farting
They Walk out the Door, They look relaxed and Sore,
They claim to all Know the Score (of Hockey Games to Come)
In God’s Kingdom On The Run; in Buttered Club Med in the Sun
… As Life gazes Lovingly in my Eye and relentlessly passes on By.

The Family Tree is Bearing the Fruit of Ecstasy
Relatives living and dead, lost uncles buried in my head
Aunt Jemima’s bejeweled vagina and Cousin Leroy’s recurring Angina
And the long sullen list of Februaries missed and Octobers’ Toenails Kissed
We’re all waiting in the Shooting Gallery of Love,
for the Silent Soldier with the Pearly Glove
to pull that Trigger – we figure – that will lift us all Above.
… And the tears roll out from the Elephant’s eye
as Rivers flow on … and Life Passes by.

whale communion

whale communion
and all the spirits that sip
the license, the grave, the sunglasses, the speeding car
we all drink from the fiesta of the sun
Novocaine aspirin run-ons bears
seemingly brave eyes in your headlights
glare back and kill you with their love
before they run over your heart
with the steel-toe boots
you gave to charity
a millennium ago.

will you come back and watch your own movie?