just 3 lines: October 2021

386. the bag couple

he: hey, it’s halloween

….let’s head out and party!

she: how’s my hair look

385. a better world

a better world

creating community

bird by bird

(A friend of mine one said, perhaps there is hope….a better world will be created by neighborhoods of people living in harmony with one another creating and celebrating the simple values of family, home, productivity, and community. May this be true.)

Hope and action make things happen.

384. still

frozen in time

just like the stars

….the two of us

as a little kid

i adored my big brother

….still do

(One day, idly gazing into storefront windows my eyes rested upon these two sculptures and immediately brought me back to my childhood and thoughts of my brother long gone now yet still so alive in my heart. I think that I’ve always been an observer of life in the moment…it’s a good skill to hone and carry in your pocket wherever you happen to be.)

383. words

where do words come from—

who first named the world, the world

or the sky, the sky?

(I enjoy wondering, wondering about things: the who….or the what….or the why of things. It can be a source of information or the basis for creative action or merely a pleasant past time. Wondering keeps the mind open and free.)

381. starry night

harvest moon

keeping a watchful eye—

a scarecrow

(and the scarecrow noted)

starry night

and the moon is full—

pumpkins bloom

(This is a detail from a charming children’s painting posted on the grounds of the Woodmere Museum. There were in total four paintings, each representing a season of life: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.

Traditionally in Japan, the subject matter of early haiku was always nature, not the human world. Later haiku, fortunately, often were imaginative or subjective as they reflected individual thoughts and feelings.)

380. seeing

day after day

traveling the same old path

a new unveiling

(The haiku scholar and poet, Buson: “You must look down at your feet and write about what you see there—the grass, the flowers in bloom. Take your materials from what is around you…the materials for poetry are all about you in profusion.” And here I might say: The materials for discovery and enjoyment are all around you, if you would only open your eyes and heart to see.)

379. reflections

etched in stone

between the lamp posts

a shadow

378. yesterday’s prayer

like a child

filled with wonder and delight

gazing at the sky

(I have long thought to myself, there is nothing so beautiful as the miracle of the sky. I never tire of its endless, ever-changing presence. This is my prayer: Dear God, when my time is near, let me look up at the sky one more time.

377. jonesing to get away

jonesing—

i hop in the car and drive….

BATS here i come!

(Sign on the dressing room door of BATS, the Bryn Athyn Thrift Shop, a sure cure for the blahs!)

376. things got you down?

underneath it all

we’re all just a bag of bones

and the grass never sleeps

underneath it all

nothing is right or wrong

everything changes

and in the end

we’re all just a bag of bones

and the grass never sleeps

(I can just hear my mother saying, “ oh honey, not to worry….and this too shall pass.”)

375. his majesty

lording his kingdom

the hawk sits on his throne

the sky is blue

(wu wei. The Taoist principle of effortless action, a noble state of being in harmony with all that is, always poised for the right moment to act.)

374. too many choices

like a game:

riding around naming cars

no winning no losing

(When I was a kid I could name all the cars on the road….life was simple then. Now?….forget it.)

373. in awe

lounging on the grass

that’s all—so simple, so free

beneath the blue sky

inside the cloud

or perhaps the lily

floating on water

not thinking

not remembering

not wanting

but listening

just listening for His voice

….astonished

(This haiku verse conveys my own thoughts inspired by Dan Ravasio’s photo together with the words of a Mary Oliver poem.)

372. enjoying the company

hand on the wheel

holding on for dear life—

a hitchhiker

(Zoom in on this one. On our way out to dinner on highway 309, we spotted an unexpected passenger on the outside mirror—a honeybee, hanging tight, wings shaking, 60 miles an hour. What was he thinking, I wonder.)

371. among the sure things

among the sure things:

the singer, the poet, the rose

raving on and on

(Life is a beautiful mystery, don’t worry too much about the why or how of things just do your best to take care of things. The things we take care of with love, they last a long time.)

370. taking a break….

after I’ve gone—

tell them I took pictures

and wrote haiku

(In the Japanese tradition of haiku poets, here’s a farewell haiku. This isn’t my first and it won’t be my last. And when I’m gone, it won’t be forever….just for a while, while I take a break.)

369. riding the rhythms

down….down….down

spiraling round and around

….things are looking up

(Finding myself in a bit of a slump, I stop resisting and just flow with the feelings of going down, allowing the feelings to turn things around. Everything is all just the rhythm and flow of energy— what goes up must come down and what goes down will surely rise up, sooner or later….it’s all a matter of time.)

368. full moon rising

moon on fire

spilling over the ground

coloring me

(“Color speaks it’s on language….you can’t live without it”—Vincent VanGogh)

367. to a tree

leaves on my limbs

red or yellow or brown—

what does it matter?

(Leaves or skin—whatever….these are only the outer covering of the unseen force of life deep within, integral to everything and everyone.)

366. a gulp, a groan, and a clock

i heard a gulp

then a hauntingly haunting groan—

tick-tock-of-the-clock….

(19 days to go to Halloween!)

365. the ways of life

zoom in and see

life goes round and round and round—

just look at a tree

(Somewhere in the Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu tells us….if you want to know about life look to nature. Albert Einstein tells us….look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better. In the book of life it is written: keep going….your story doesn’t end here.)

When was the last time you looked deeply into nature and pondered?

364. making friends

out on the trail

on a sunny autumn day

halting….

oh, no….

oh no—a red banded snake

oh no—a shoe

pass by, my friend

it pays sometimes to be

conspicuous

(Every picture can tell a story.)

363. the river of life

poetry is everywhere

open your eyes and ears and heart

just look around:

in the billowing clouds

in the birds that soar and sing

in deep ocean blue

in creatures that crawl

in flowers that blossom and bloom

even shadows of trees

“Poetry is a river. Poem after poem moves along in its own way and time; almost everything, in the end, passes. But the desire to make a poem, and in the world’s willingness to receive it—indeed the world’s need of it—these never pass.”—Mary Oliver

362. in the bird house

i must have said

the wrong thing at the wrong time

again!

(Oh, well. Another one for the oh, well pile. Think i’ll throw an Oh, Well Party and invite the neighbors!)

361. october dawn

another summer

gone now, the only sound

crickets

everything else

in the cool october dawn

oh, glimmers

(There is a holiness in the cool, darkness of early dawn. It beckons the heart and mind to listen, just listen for a moment to heaven’s song.)

360. another tree, another leaf

fallen leaf

it’s life reaching out to me—

look again….

(In the book of life it is written: nothing dies. Life goes on living, on and on, changing it’s form and color and music. And there will always be another tree, another leaf. Have you noticed?)

359. the red door

doors and windows

open/close, seeing/not seeing

outside and in

(Out on deliveries, slowing down—which door, which red door? It’s dinner time and the door-dash driver is scanning houses with a careful eye, searching for the “red door.” So there he sees it and sits….wondering which door is it, which red door?)

Red is my favorite color, I love the color red….and I love to wonder about life….and then I begin to think about love and wonder….and which skill would I be willing to let go of: to love or to wonder….

Funny, the stories we make up….how the mind meanders.