The crooked political parties do not need to disagree.

Jean Michel Basquiat

A four-way stop-sign interrupts my street, and beyond that some oak leaves swirl, lifted by an autumn wind. Late autumn moves toward winter, and this is an apt description of my life as well as the time of year. One can dream of the spring, or of the summer that has long passed, but what good is that? You cannot reach out to either. We live in each individual moment as it is, and that is a lovely thing. The leaves swirl as if in a dance, and I am the audience, breathing in, breathing out. Breathing still, breathing now.

james lee jobe 

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions. 

-Thích Nhất Hạnh

Link: Red Meat: Fragments of Stesichoros, a poem by Anne Carson

Jean Michel Basquiat

Citizens in the land of hatred.

Together, as one,
we were the ghost who didn't return.

Even our footprints in the soft mud
held only emptiness and silence.

Even our heartbeats were empty.
Our eyes.

james lee jobe

Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know....

–Bodhidharma

Link: from “. . . Again,” a poem by Mark Nowak

jlj

A dog sleeps in the park and life continues anyway. No alarm is sounded. No report is made. The police are not summoned. The crooked political parties do not need to disagree. This would be a fine time for a lightning bolt or a stroke to take me. The park is so quiet and lovely with fallen leaves. The bench is comfortable. Waking, the dog stretches, and takes off at a trot. 

james lee jobe

Spiritual practice requires imagination. If we really want to go beyond the surface of things to the deeply hidden, actual experience of being alive, we need imagination as an ally. The senses, reason, even our moral and emotional faculties are not enough.

Norman Fischer, “Saved from Freezing”

Link: Clarity, a poem by John Kinsella

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James