If you are truly a damn fool, then follow me.

Grandmother went to sleep full of the emptiness that everyone is afraid of. She is sleeping across a blue landscape, under a green sky. This is a land that smells like jasmine, but that doesn't tell us much. Grandmother is dreaming of a day like this one, only in heaven, not here. She wants to take walks above the shore. She wants to sip tea and read those old books again, the ones she always loved. In a dream, anything is possible - flying, a new love, you can even be young again. Grandmother isn't afraid of the emptiness, she knows better than that. Look at her, smiling in her sleep. So peaceful, so relaxed. Grandmother isn't waking up again.  

-

If you are truly a damn fool, then follow me. Life doesn't really need any help from either one of us. Naked people pretend to admire each other when really they are only admiring themselves. The television sets are speaking to ghosts, and telling fantastic lies. Don’t listen in. I am not going to sink in the mud of it all. I am not naked, and likewise, I am not a ghost. Follow me. We can swim alone in the river of the sky, held aloft by waves of satire and rivers of air. We can break out, through the rings and moons of Saturn. This is a population of toads and goats, and I am from the tribe of Uz. Walk with me to the border, and then on into the sky. And after that, who gives a damn?

-

The arthritis in my knees makes it difficult to trim my toenails. Is this not the stuff of poems? 

-

One day our paths will cross and we'll talk over coffee, real talk, not chitchat, the truth about our lives such as they are, and when we part it will be with an embrace in case we never meet again we will, at least, know the feel of each other. 

-

Worth noting; I recently found a letter that the late poet Jack Hirschman wrote me 25 years ago. My mind can be scattered, I had forgotten it. Thank goodness I had put it away for safe keeping. The letter is sweet and kind and full of support for my poetry. It means so much to me. 

-

The empty streets of another world. You gave away all of your possessions, keeping only what could fit into one duffel bag. On the bus you couldn't forget your sins, so you counted them over and over in the dark, on your fingers. Miles and counties and states rolled past the bus window. Day and then night. Bad coffee and burgers. The end of the line was in another world. You disembarked, and with the duffel bag on your shoulder, you walked the empty streets of the next life, a life no better or worse than the one you left behind.

James Lee Jobe 

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

-

I see great things in baseball. It's our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us. 

Walt Whitman 

-

Do what you do as well as you possibly can. That's buddhist morality.

Brad Warner

MARCUS MILLER, Power

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? 

Vincent van Gogh 

-

Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us. 

Henri Matisse

Please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment. Thanks! 

James 

you lob-lollies, you whisperers in the dawn

Hello, you sunbeams, you blooms of spring, you dreamers, you cartons of delight, you treasures, you lob-lollies, you drummers, you singers, you whisperers in the dawn.

james lee jobe 

The foolish reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they think, not what they see. 

Huang Po

A prose poem 

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

Have no fear of perfection, you'll never achieve it.

Salvador Dali

The son died first and that was wrong

the father should have died first

and the sons and daughters should bury him

but no

the son died first and the father was left behind

to live on in a diminished life

a half-life

an empty basket of a life

not a real life at all

and that’s me

I rend my garment

and smear his ashes on my face and body

and I live

how can I die now when my suffering is so full

and complete

james lee jobe 

When facing a flat landscape, I see nothing but eternity.

Vincent van Gogh 

I am peeling away the words 'original sin' from the tight corners of the sky. It is like peeling plastic wrapping from a package you don't really want to open. This is taking a long time, longer than I would have thought. I have a new marking pen, blue, and when I have done away with 'original sin' I intend to write 'original blessing' in its place. As I work, the sun begins to set, and the sky is the color of a ripe peach. Friend, I chose this life for myself.

james lee jobe 

What happens in the world, and what business is it of yours?

Rumi 

Early spring

perfect blue sky

cool fresh air

buds on trees

flowers in bloom

such a fine day

even death would be sweet

on a day like this

james lee jobe 

You can't live in paradise- but you are living right here. Make this your paradise or make this your hell. 

Brad Warner

Please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment. I could use the supplement since my mobility issues no longer allow me to work. This and Social Security are my income. Thanks! 

jlj 

fields of corn and sunflowers

Painting by DIEGO RIVERA. 'Sugar Cane.'

The labor in the fields.
Your life was once a field of corn.
Your life was once a field of sunflowers,
a field of alfalfa. A field of wheat.
With hoe and seed and water and sweat
we worked the fields of the living
under the watchful eye of the sun.
Then, in the darkness between those days,
we worked the fields of the dead.

James Lee Jobe 

Everything is perfect and there is always room for improvement.

Shunryu Suzuki

Responses that arise from the subconscious often don’t make sense initially, but if we keep following the threads without judgment, it all eventually becomes clear.

Lama Palden Drolma

U2, Where The Streets Have No Name 

May the sorrows and hurts, each as they come, only strengthen my resolve to be a better person, and also this; that from these sorrows and hurts I learn all over again how to forgive. 

James Lee Jobe 

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

We were created to look at one another, weren’t we?

Edgar Degas

Still life painting by Vincent van Gogh

Focus, not on the rudenesses of others, not on what they've done or left undone, but on what you have and haven't done yourself.

The Dhammapada

The sky was doused with gasoline,
and set on fire. I raised my hands
up into the flame without hesitation,
but, friend, I did not burn.
The fat in the sky melted
and dripped down onto the earth,
making rivers, making the oceans.
ashes came down, too,
Making the hills and mountains.
The fire burned for a million years.
the smoke was thick and curly,
like a young girl's hair.
I twisted one curl-lock around my finger,
again and again.
It felt very human to do so.
Looking up, the girl smiled at me, and then
she cupped my face with her perfect hands.

James Lee Jobe

Of all the words that pour out of our mouths every day, how many of them are really ours, and how many are patched together from others?

Haemin Sunim 

Still life painting by Claude Monet

I proceed by trial and error.

Bridget Riley, artist

Link: Mouth, a poem by Dana Roeser

Link: The Sound Of Music, a poem by Kathryn Nuernberger

Please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment. I could use the supplement since my mobility issues no longer allow me to work. This and Social Security are my income. Thanks! 

jlj 

I am nothing. I am no one.

Don’t listen to my words for I am nothing. I am no one. An empty shell that should hold a man but instead holds emptiness. The Void. 

And don’t follow in my footsteps for I am lost. A fool with no sense of direction. I have no destination. I am moved by the wind. By distraction. 

No past. No future. The perfection of this moment. Hold on that and be free. If you can. To be aware in the moment is to know yourself. 

Goodbye. 

James Lee Jobe

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it. 

 

Dōgen Zenji

Line up the bullets like school children in line for lunch
in line to get on the bus for home
make sure each bullet is shiny enough to reflect the sunlight
say a prayer and bless the bullets
for surely a connection with death awaits them
talk to the bullets like a christian republican
speaking to a congregation
then load the weapons and move out
no one lives forever

James Lee Jobe 

Speak not because it is safe, but because it is right.

Edward Snowden

Those who are ill, may they be well.

Those are afraid, may they be well.

Those who are alone, may they be well.

Those without a home, may they be well.

James Lee Jobe

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

Otis Redding - THAT'S HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS

When one gets quiet, then something wakes up inside one, something happy and quiet like the stars.

William Butler Yeats

Writers, actors, musicians, visual artists; we must counter the acts of political destruction with acts of creation.

James Lee Jobe

If you wish to make a small donation to support this blog it will be appreciated and likely spent on food, not on more John Coltrane records or fashionable underwear.

Thanks!

James

Even the birds have gone silent.

Man, I do not want to be chained to the machine that runs it all. This world, this nonsense. No, let these flowers be adored and fall with the rain onto the beautiful streets of tomorrow. No, let these children play as they wish in the blue snow of the singing winter mountain, in the creeks of the summer woods blessed with strange and colorful birds, and on the swings of the parks in heaven. Deny the machine, let a new sun and a new moon make love in the purple and red sky at dawn, crying out with passion and delight. Let that which is greater than you adore and dress this life with something worthy of worship. Deny the machine. The time we waited for is here, now, and every screaming second pulls us closer to our faith and our hope. This is the new beginning, cast off the pain and the lethargy of the years and decades that you waited, brother, sister, the joy that we wanted for so long begins now.

    James Lee Jobe 

Avoid the world, it's just a lot of dust and drag and means nothing in the end.

Jack Kerouac

Follow me on Twitter.

I read poems by W.S. Merwin. When I recorded this Merwin was still alive.

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.

Dōgen

The sorrow of the blue sky.
Even the birds have gone silent.
My son's ghost must be passing by again.

James Lee Jobe 

True happiness is based on peace. 

Thích Nhất Hạnh

Oh, you have no idea how dark it is.
Just as I know the universe has no end,
I know that there is a shadow across my soul.
Can you actually prove that we have souls?
No, but I can show you the shadow --
Are you up to seeing it?

James Lee Jobe

There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do. 

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Below the perfect yellow moon a street light is burning white White WHITE. Why is it even on? Once I have walked past, no one will be there to see it. From one of the valley oaks an owl lets out a soft vowel sound. Perhaps she, too, would prefer the moonlight on its own. I'll go and ask her.

James Lee Jobe 

Follow me on Instagram.

Please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment. I could use the supplement since my mobility issues no longer allow me to work. This and Social Security are my income. Thanks! 

jlj

the trees drink your most kind thoughts

Human beings become smoke
mountains also and rivers
time becomes smoke
then a wind is whistled up
and all blows away
ah
nonexistence at last

James Lee Jobe 

You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger. 

Gautama Buddha

Laboratorium Pieśni 

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

You are taking a walk beside the river. Look at the water, is it not more beautiful than the sheen of a diamond? Like tomorrow. Like love. Like the slender hands of the angels under starlight. The trees drink your most kind thoughts and are silver in return. They reward your faith with a new name. It is full-on winter and you can feel the cold crispness of a possible heaven with your nose and your ears. You feel a love for what might be a god and you look up at the sky, even though you know that the divine is inside of you, in your own golden heart. In your own diamond soul. A red eared slider slowly eases into the water without a sound.

James Lee Jobe

Life is not the taking possession of anything, but a taking part in everything.

Lama Govinda

My corpse burnt like a city in wartime
my life ended and forgotten
so shall it be
in time

James Lee Jobe 

Link: Ancestors’ wildest dreams, a poem by Kinsale Drake 

Laboratorium Pieśni 

Walking the broken streets I turned stones into flowers. There were roses of many colors. One purple iris I saved for my love. A bouquet of stone with the scent of a million tears! At the end of a long day this scent was everywhere, on your clothes, your hands. On your life.

James Lee Jobe 

Awareness itself is the primary currency of the human condition, and as such it deserves to be spent carefully.

Andrew Olendzki

Please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment. I could use the supplement since my mobility issues no longer allow me to work. This and Social Security are my income. Thanks! 

James

Jesus playing goalie for Toronto

Hasui Kawase

Here at The End Of Days

Jesus has returned

And this time he plays hockey

For the Toronto Maple Leafs

Mary Magdalene sells make-up

On late night television infomercials

And Judas Iscariot is a conservative 

Supreme Court Justice 

This morning I walked outside

And found that I was inside again 

Walking back in 

I found myself in the front yard 

Looking to the sky 

I could see the moon was still up 

Watching my every move 

James Lee Jobe

We are always in transition. If you can just relax with that, you'll have no problem. 

Chogyam Trungpa

JOHN MAYALL & BILLY PRESTON, Along For The Ride

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

Seeds

We are but seeds and our lives are the earth, the soil.
Tell me, what shall we grow in this garden?

James Lee Jobe 

None so deaf as those that will not hear. None so blind as those that will not see. 

 Matthew Henry

Mourning Yin Yao 

Returning you to Stone-Tower Mountain, we bid farewell among ash-green pine and cypress, then return home. 

Of your bones now buried white cloud, this much remains forever: streams cascading empty toward human realms.

Wang Wei, 701-762 CE

Hasui Kawase

I Call Bullshit 

I heard it said that actors and artists
should not comment on politics.
What nonsense.
If the leaders are not helping the people or the earth
we should be quick to speak out.
A film or a play against war, greed, or cruelty.
A painting, a sculpture
that captures the evil being done to us,
or perhaps the beauty of human kindness.
Poems by the dozens that spew lava and truths
that burn through lies and the lust for power.
Poets, artists, novelists, actors - create!
Speak for those voices that are not heard.

James Lee Jobe 

You cannot simply stay at home and say, “I am already where I want to be.” It is only the journey that makes you realize your true potential, and only at the end of the journey will you understand that the goal is not to separate from the starting point.

Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche

Hasui Kawase

I need more poems about the quiet mice of the sky; their eyes are rain clouds.

James Lee Jobe 

LINK: The Moon Is In Labor, a poem by Gail Wronsky

Please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. 

Thanks, James 

the cracks in time

                     by Gustavo Ortiz

-

I wipe the stink from the blade. I carry the cup from mountain to mountain, from ocean to ocean, but I do not drink the blood. Not ever. I do not love the city for its lights or wealth. I remember well when the streets were on fire with the anger of the poor. Was there ever a time when this land was not at war? I do not listen to the priests anymore; I stopped when I was very young. I pray, yes, but not to the false god of damnation. I pray to the universe of the light and the creation. I pray that I will earn the kindness that was shown to me, and that I will, in turn, be kind myself. Turn and turn again. I remember my childhood as if it was a foreign country that I visited long ago. Where will I end up if I continue to walk this same road? I don't know, but I intend to find out.

-

You

Are as naked as the Sun,

And I am a naked Mercury, the planet

That rides closest to your fire, your light.

For millions of years I have circled you,

Locked in an orbit that I will never break.

Nor do I wish to break it, I love the fire

Of you, and I love your nakedness.

So here I will stay until the very end

Of the solar system, the end of time

As we know it, living as close as I can,

Naked, locked in orbit with the power of

You.

-

The mirrors are still at last, and you are so tired. You are listening to the wheezing breaths of the smokers. Even your mind is tired, and you don't really want to think anymore, but you don't know how to stop. From a dark corner of your consciousness you sense that the animals are slowly returning to the forest, and you wish that you could join them. You will die one day and until then you will never be free of this reality. Yes, there are cracks in time, you've seen them, but they are too small to slip through and escape. Your life is a slender being, moving from shadow to shadow, slinking in memory and loneliness. The room smells of disinfectant and the nurse with the cart is bringing the medication. You check the mirror one more time and then look up at the plain-faced clock and see that three minutes have passed since the last time you looked.

-

James Lee Jobe

by Gustavo Ortiz

Please support this blog with a small donation through the the Buy Me A Coffee link at the bottom of the page. Thanks.

-

Governments can readily allocate billions of dollars to fight wars and yet refuse to spend modest sums to fight poverty.

Jose Ramos-Horta

-

A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

Dalai Lama XIV

-

When my master and I were walking in the rain, he would say, "Do not walk so fast, the rain is everywhere."

Shunryu Suzuki 

-

LINKS:

Philomela’s tongue says, a poem by Melissa Studdard

A Monstrous Catalpa Tree Grows from a Drain, a poem by Regan Good

Radio Garden, explore live radio from around the world by rotating a globe

John Coltrane and band, live in Germany in 1960 (34 minutes)

Please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment.

James