Friday, June 25, 2021

A Deck of Cards (No Jokers) ~ Friday, June 25, 2021

A deck of playing cards, four suits, thirteen cards each, fifty-two card pick-up.

Damage done to a child is irrevocable, creates the conditions...

everyday I wake up, I pour this consciousness back into my body,

creatures of habit act tirelessly not to change and not to allow change,

kill him, kill the Buddha when you meet him at home, in your dreams, in your mind,

obviously, childhood is innocent, those games children play is mere fun,

for instance, fifty-two card pick-up doesn't mean: power differential.

Create the conditions to build character, strength, honesty and goodness,

as a child, I saw hell, I lived with dysfunction, it colored my worldview,

right now, I could have been a great leader, instead of an utter failure,

disappointment spirals out of control, childhood is a dangerous place,

silly people do harm, they act out of distress, imbalanced dynamics.

No jokers, no jokers, no more blind idiots who do harm as a game,

only at fifty-two, do I now realize pain and the damage done.

Join me in picking up the deck of cards, all alone in this world,

of course, they made this clear, crystal clear like a vase, an empty vessel, mind,

kill him, kill the Buddha, this mind is the Buddha, we are all the Buddha,

everywhere, everyone has the capacity to awaken from dreams,

reality, a dream we create together, collective unconscious,

still, I pick up the cards, my older brother laughs, time is but one moment.

Playing the Part ~ Friday, June 25, 2021

Try to be as sincere as possible,
remember you're playing a role, a part,
your character must appear genuine;

to imagine yourself as an actor,
of course, dispels the magic of the scene;

becoming the character requires space,
even if you know your lines, you must walk

as if you were not you as a person,
slipping into the role is difficult;

still, it does not matter if you are good,
in the world of acting, you are not you,
nothing but a vessel to pour yourself,
create the character in your movements,
especially in the way your body
reveals the character in how you bear
even your shoulders in a strange posture;

art is manifested when you carry
stepping with an original method;

pretend you have another persona,
one you wear like at a masquerade ball,
shining through the makeup, your character
speaks a language not quite your own, foreign
in manner of presentation of sounds,
believe you can be someone else on stage,
live for the lights, action, and camera,
end the day becoming yourself again.

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Slap on the Wrist ~ Thursday, June 24, 2021

It must be nice to be young and have friends,
to have planned ahead for our retirement,

maybe a shotgun is my solution,
under the circumstances, Hemingway
stuck to his guns, no one feels depression,
to say they know what I was going through,

babies born, I'll never be a father,
even if the world has too many kids,

never felt listened to or understood,
if I see you suffer, I don't know why,
compassion isn't my strong suit, I care
even if I can't show you my feelings,

talk to me about your next vacation,
of course, I've never been on one myself,

believe me when I say, "Nobody cares,"
even my family are complete strangers,

yes, you played the ethnic card well, I get
on the bus and head straight for the back seat,
under request, do my civic duty,
nobody cares if they can't make a buck,
give me a medal I would never want,

ask me what I really want, I'll tell you,
never to have been born, like that movie,
death means nothing within the big picture,

honestly, I've never met an honest
and forthright person in my life, but then,
venality is an absurd concept,
everyone now has their hand in the pot,

forget punishment and reward, ethics
rewrites the rules for each generation,
in my time, sell-out meant betrayal of values,
enter the new era, nobody cares,
nine year olds make millions reviewing toys,
despite being exploited by parents
serving their child's needs, who's kidding who, now?

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

The Leash and Collar ~ Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Listen. Trust me when I tell you: Your dog knows more than you about being a dog. Why don't you cut your pup some slack and pay attention to her needs while you go for a walk instead of talking on your phone, head in the Cloud, watching the latest TikTok video? Really, I don't know why anyone would bother to help while your dog chases a squirrel. We've all been there... except you can't see what we see. Just like your dog knows more than you about being a dog. Good luck! AdiĆ³s, amigo.

Monday, June 21, 2021

The Ulster Boy ~ Monday, June 21, 2021

Troubled by "The Troubles," the Ulster boy
harbored no malice in his black stone heart
even as he prayed on his knees to God.

Under the wooden floorboards he heard mice
listening to him pray under his breath,
silence stirs in words to God the Maker;
troubled by "The Troubles," God saw no end
even in His omniscience and He cried
real tears for the Ulster boy in pity.

Bothered by his bloody knees, his mother
ordered Liam to stop praying to God,
yet, the boy saw no other solution.

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

So man created Khot in his own image ~ Tuesday, June 15, 2021

It's impossible to war with nature
that nature is a concept of the mind
so we thus battle our own conception

in this sense we are a blip on the screen
mostly ignored, an ignorant species
possessed of gifts beyond understanding
of reason misconceived, abused, misused,
somehow we imagine ourselves greater,
sapient, wiser than dumb animals
if language is a tool, it's a crutch,
bull-headed, egotistical speakers
leave us thinking we are great with our thumbs
essentially, Khot left us without hope

troubled by our state of affairs, coral
overheated and dead in the vast sea

waging war against nature is child's play
a language game to no effect, unheard,
reeling in the wake of self-destruction

wicked candles burn fat from tallow, lard
incensed by the smell of dead animals
the congregation insisted on wax
honeycombs and plant-based methods produced

non-toxic odors, scents more appealing
as Khot observed all time within her mind
the self-same mind imagined by mankind
understood by humanity as grace
revealed within our conscious awareness
even though we invented Khot as God

Cassandra Speaks ~ Tuesday, June 15, 2021

What we put in is what we will get back
however much effort is expended
as if to work hard or to work smart makes
the difference, change comes from repetition

watching our past mistakes influences
every subsequent action we repeat

particularly if we know better,
understand why things are the way they are
then we can accept fault and blame, move on

in the past is the past, in the present
no one knows what will happen next unless

inside the top hat is a white rabbit
still a magician only knows her tricks

what is in the future remains unknown
however much history we have read
absorbed beyond the blood-brain barrier
tried to prognosticate what is to come

we try to know the truth in all affairs
even though the truth is Ineffable

when we speak the truth, unbelievable
incidents occur as dominoes fall
lithe and nimble as physics in motion
laws of gravity, inexplicable

given observable phenomena
expects to be interpreted, explained,
translated into several languages

but the truth hides in the dark where shadows
argue like sparrows regarding the light
calling into question all existence
killing all life before the day begins

Monday, June 14, 2021

No Cure for a Bad Hangover ~ Monday, June 14, 2021

Lava rising to the surface, frothing at the mouth, sliding down the lip of the belching volcano, the violent projection of magma, a slurry of sloppy wet, hot passion, sickness from deep beneath the exposed crater, the wasted remainder of a wild, drunken night at The Promontory. 

Sunday, June 13, 2021

On Karmic Consciousness ~ Sunday, June 13, 2021

Though all my thoughts, words and deeds fall on deaf ears, my actions create the karma of my awareness. Not the tit-for-tat of small-minded people but the big picture of Interconnection, cosmic bonds of transcendence, and the pure immanence inherent in consciousness.

Thus I choose to act with kindness, mindful of others in all my thoughts, words and deeds and choose to act through positive intentions.

But if I drop a few F-bombs and bad mouth the law of gravity when things fall and break, or talk smack about invisible deities, as people who couldn't care less, please forgive me as I take life way too seriously and none of it matters except our lives as insignificant specks of dust in time.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

The Buddha of Hyde Park ~ Thursday, June 10, 2021

Be glad, I am the Buddha of Hyde Park;
even 'that' is superfluous and unnecessary

given the rules of the language game states
leave aside all extraneous information
and envisioning a Buddha is far from meaningless,
drop away both body and mind, be still in this empty vessel.

I come not to chastise you like a child but to lift you higher

and let your spirit soar, not like poor Icarus,
mythological bird of flight and determination,

tranquil in both body and mind, arise
humble as the ashes of Holocaust victims,
enter the space where time ceases to hold you down.

Buoyancy is an art of awareness, seeing the big picture,
understanding context and perspective
driven by the unfolding of time-maps,
determines our level of patience to let be
all the things that annoy our consciousness

ordinarily swept under the proverbial rug
for someone else to find and deal with such problems.

Humble servant of mind and consciousness allow
your need to acquire more to drop away,
determine to accept others neglect to act with vigilance,
even the tools of compassion were not enough for you to learn how to care for others.

Perhaps I expected too much to show you the path past the stars,
allow me to reveal my mind to you in your state of distress,
to allow you to fluctuate like a Pachinko ball bouncing between steel pins,
kindness has always been our practice within mindfulness.

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

The Cleanest Cut ~ Wednesday, June 2, 2021

When the cleaver fell, my tears stopped, my whimpering and pleading stopped. The pain was excruciating. My hand was severed at the wrist. My mom just wanted to scare me at first. Then the adrenaline kicked in. The butcher's knife in her left hand swung up and fell in one fluid motion. From that moment on, I never stole anything from anyone ever again.

What happened next frightened me beyond my wildest dreams. My mother, a Roman Catholic, told me to suck on the bloody stump of my wrist as children of the devil would do to show their belief in the master of sulfur and volcanic ash.

She placed my severed hand in a clean towel in the freezer then called for emergency services to come. The paramedics rushed me to the hospital in an ambulance with sirens wailing. They put my wrist in an ice pack, elevated, and the blood cut off with a tourniquet.

The surgery didn't take long, maybe a few hours. I can't be certain. I went under as soon as they got me inside the operating room. Over the next few years, I regained all feeling in my right hand. I had to learn how to write with my left hand. It was a slow process of recovery but I was able to write with both hands as an adult. Strange.

I never saw my mom again. I became a ward of the state at eight years old. The insanity in my family line could be traced back for generations past. Making sense of madness as a child or as an adult takes time. Other people's actions, their violence, or acts of omission, neglect imbue the mind with a certain je ne sais quoi. I became unbalanced after my first year of college. It took me decades to process the harm done. What I experienced in a dysfunctional home as a small boy set me on a path to do wrong.

I stole. I lied. I drank. I smoked pot and took hallucinogenic drugs. I lost my way.

But now, I look back and realize, it was my own fault, my karma created the conditions for me to enter such a life.

The world is a strange place. Read on.

Fortune Comes for the Wicked and the Good ~ Wednesday, June 2, 2021

It was a miracle that I survived the fall. Naked as the day I was born. The paramedics had no idea how I got on top of the rooftop of the garage. But they didn't question what had happened. They only took me to the hospital. From that day forward it was called "locked in".

It would have been better if I had died. The shame my parents felt. My brother sent to a juvenile detention center. My cousin sent to prison for child neglect and endangerment. Not that any of this mattered to me. I was stuck inside a prison myself, inside my head. The mind of a six year old child cannot process the evil that men do. But I wasn't an idiot. I just wouldn't have a chance to move my body.

That in itself may be worse than prison. I will never know for myself. Nor will I know why my older brother and our cousin felt the need to torture a child, abuse a little boy, then force him to take off his clothes and climb outside an open window, naked and crying. The humiliation remains too much to bear within my mind, cluttered with thoughts, ideas, feelings, sorrow and resentment. Who would choose to kill a child's soul? Who is so sadistic to have zero degree of humanity in their hearts?

I never saw my family again as I became a ward of the state. In the care of licensed nurses and other medical professionals, my body grew but remained atrophied.

I would never be like other children. Swing across monkey bars, climb up a rope, run and chase after friends on the playground.

Sports were out of the question but I watched and learned about body mechanics and kinesiology as an adult. I studied anatomy, physiology, pathology and became a doctor who could never practice. I studied statistics and probability and made millions betting on sports teams and players. I could predict their actions, especially in football.

Technology advanced enough for me to communicate my ideas with like-minded people. Not other unfortunates like myself but people with ideas who thought clearly.

Sometimes I wondered what happened to my family but I was too busy to really care.

Because I could control my eyes and my breathing, I read up on Zen Buddhism. It came naturally to me being still. I could not even scratch my nose, let alone sneeze.

Being quadriplegic was no delight. But I learned how to make the best of a wretched situation and remain positive.

This is my story... read on if you like.