P'u-t'o Temple

By Yuan Mei
(1716 - 1798)


English version by J. P. Seaton






A temple, hidden, treasured
in the mountain's cleft
Pines, bamboo
such a subtle flavor:
The ancient Buddha sits there, wordless
The welling source speaks for him.

rain blots gold soundz

rain blots gold soundz waiting for the bell i'm 9 years old dripping dry under a playground cover by now my dad is miles away woke up in a haze cartoon noises pop tarts getting dressed a wild ride in the backseat down glassy city streets




~me

from the vaults

Monday June 6th, 2005


slightly stone cold crazy
going places i never wanted to go
no more burn only silky sips of salvation
things fall apart fresh & raw
old rasputin a knife in the dark
black moor the hounds are at the gate


get behind me satan
jesus check your head


falling from a great depth
now i got worry
marcello mastroianni
cold fusion nuclear solution
living fossil newborn waste
blue olive blue orchid blue train
dreamland iris recognition manic depression


my chemical romance is a mephisto waltz
time passes
we leave two-step imprints
across the chronal surface
night and day
grim fandango and me






~me

from the vaults

Tuesday June 7th, 2005


perhaps the atoms just let go
(how to destroy the earth)
a promise lost leftover languishing
smoke & whiskey smoke & whiskey
swirls on the ice
my funny valentine break my heart
into the black into the black
swirls on the ice
how to destroy the earth
let go night people let go
the hounds are upon us


~me

from the vaults

Saturday June 11th, 2005


jesus went to the whisky a go-go with a whip 
and he said
"the world's a mess... it's in my kiss"


---------------


there's no sun up in the sky
grinding down in this empty space
to languish in an ambient grief
resolve replicate repeat myself
needle stuck in the groove
what comes after my blues
have covered the earth?
where is the end in sight?
to sleep in in an all-night reverie
on a cloud of flannel sheets
and cat whiskers in my face


~me

Proverbs and Songs

Proverbs and Songs


By Antonio Machado
(1875 - 1939)


English version by Robert Bly




I
The eye you see is not
an eye because you see it;
it is an eye because it sees you.


II
To talk with someone,
ask a question first,
then -- listen.


III
Narcissism
is an ugly fault,
and now it's a boring fault too.


IV
But look in your mirror for the other one,
the other one who walks by your side.


V
Between living and dreaming
there is a third thing.
Guess it.


VI
This Narcissus of ours
can't see his face in the mirror
because he has become the mirror.


VII
New century? Still
firing up the same forge?
Is the water still going along in its bed?


VIII
Every instant is Still.


IX
The sun in Aries. My window
is open to the cool air.
Oh the sound of the water far off!
The evening awakens the river.


X
In the old farmhouse
-- a high tower with storks! --
the gregarious sound falls silent,
and in the field where no on is,
water makes a sound among the rocks.


XI
Just as before, I'm interested
in water held in;
but now water in living
rock of my chest.


XII
When you hear water, does its sound tell you
if it's from a mountain or farm,
city street, formal garden, or orchard?


XIII
What I find surprises me:
leaves of the garden balm
smell of lemonwood.


XIV
Don't trace out your profile,
forget your side view --
all that is outer stuff.


XV
Look for your other half
who walks always next to you
and tends to be what you aren't.


XVI
When spring comes,
go to the flowers --
why keep on sucking wax?


XVII
In my solitude
I have seen things very clearly
that were not true.


XVIII
Water is good, so is thirst;
shadow is good, so is sun;
the honey from the rosemarys
and the honey of the bare fields.


XIX
Only one creed stands:
quod elixum est ne asato.
Don't roast what's already boiled.


XX
Sing on, sing on, sing on,
the cricket in his cage
near his darling tomato.


XXI
Form your letters slowly and well:
making things well
is more important than making them.


XXII
All the same...
Ah yes! All the same,
moving the legs fast is important,
as the snail said to the greyhound.


XXIII
There are really men of action now!
The marsh was dreaming
of its mosquitoes.


XXIV
Wake up, you poets:
let echoes end,
and voices begin.


XXV
But don't hunt for dissonance;
because, in the end, there is no dissonance.
When the sound is heard people dance.


XXVI
What the poet is searching for
is not the fundamental I
but the deep you.


XXVII
The eyes you're longing for --
listen now --
the eyes you see yourself in
are eyes because they see you.


XXVIII
Beyond living and dreaming
there is something more important:
waking up.


XXIX
Now someone has come up with this!
Cogito ergo non sum.
What an exaggeration!


XXX
I thought my fire was out,
and stirred the ashes...
I burnt my fingers.


XXXI
Pay attention now:
a heart that's all by itself
is not a heart.


XXXII
I've caught a glimpse of him in dreams:
expert hunter of himself,
every minute in ambush.


XXXIII
He caught his bad man:
the one who on sunny days
walks with head down.


XXXIV
If a poem becomes common,
passed around, hand to hand, it's OK:
gold is chosen for coins.


XXXV
If it's good to live,
then it's better to be asleep dreaming,
and best of all,
mother, is to awake.


XXXVI
Sunlight is good for waking,
but I prefer bells --
the best thing about morning.


XXXVII
Among the figs I am soft.
Among the rocks I am hard.
That's bad!


XXXVIII
When I am alone
how close my friends are;
when I am with them
how distant they are!


XXXIX
Now, poet, your prophecy?
"Tomorrow what is dumb will speak,
the human heart and the stone."


XL
But art?
It is pure and intense play,
so it is like pure and intense life,
so it is like pure and intense fire.
You'll see the coal burning.

40 or how i'd rather have a slow dance as the Earth's crust breaks beneath our feet

 the joy of physics or how i've been living afraid of death there is a spot on Jupiter we think we know what it is from here we can see it speculate meaning estimate rotation and velocity but we'll never feel it not enough time to come to terms with time touching the invisible surrounding us unhinged i think my vision improves but who knows ? a phoenix rose burned and crashed again ~ the mind of nature under my tree sit in space draw the circle wait


truly


i'd rather have a slow dance as the Earth's crust breaks beneath our feet Ella + Louis or Cohen's Blue Alert complete the circle one more orbit with you




~ me