some small poems

"Self Portrait with Felt Hat" by Vincent van Gogh

A rainy day, gray and cold
Drinking coffee alone by the window
When a lone sunbeam breaks through
Hello world
I’m still with you

_______________

Things we have in common
Life, suffering, death
And the truth
Those things are always the same
For everybody

_______________

Dear snow geese, my old friends
Please cry out
When you pass overhead
On your long journey
It’s like we are saying hello again 

James Lee Jobe

_______________

Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.

Shunryu Suzuki

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monkeys mating in the jungle trees

her n me

A silver girl slowly bathing in silver water

Silver moonlight

A love that is silver, a silver heart

My cold, empty, silver soul

Her beautiful, ripe flesh

Kissed by my cold, silver lips

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In my dream I have somehow become a fast horse. And in this dream I gallop, trot, and prance. Yes, that's right. Actual prancing. It feels good to be a fast horse, in another dream I was a moose, and in still another I was a dog. There may not be an exact explanation, but there is this - it always feels pretty good. Excellent. In this dream I am a fast horse, moving swiftly across a grassy prairie. The bright sunshine is warm and fine on my back, and when I awake I see the saddle and bridle waiting silently beside my bed. 

Previously on Duanes PoeTree

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Like snakes entwined and spinning 

Like howler monkeys mating in the jungle trees 

Flesh on flesh 

Heart on heart

James Lee Jobe 

Conservatives want live babies so they can train them to be dead soldiers. 

George Carlin

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James  

The scent of rain, the scent of pine

The crows have come today
To count and measure the wounds of the earth
These wounds are large and numerous
And the crows announce them one by one
I am their witness

_______

Silence is a blessing

The perfect emptiness that binds you to the void

Embrace it

Raise up your arms and give thanks for silence

Give thanks for the vast emptiness of the void

_______

The scent of rain, the scent of pine

The sweet light of a winter day as the clouds break

And sunshine blesses the cold crisp air

The sound of my cane tapping the ground with each step

Walking this valley on a chilly morning in winter

James Lee Jobe 

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Link: A poem by Jordan Perez, O GOD OF CUBA

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If you want a revolution
grow a new mind
and do it quietly if you can

d.a. levy

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James  

the November of your one existence

I pray now that life warms you 

I pray that your flowered dreams 

Have blossomed like summer 

* * * *

Starlight to guide my steps

An owl to call me home 

Foolish owl 

Every step is my home.

Walking late at night

* * * *

If you can fly in your dreams   

You get to taste the blue steel of the sky  

You get to be free for a moment  

To be warmed by the bonfire of the sun   

Have good faith now 

Believe in yourself 

This is the November of your one existence 

Your year of living is winding down 

Fly in your dreams and be free 

James Lee Jobe

We’re not only Buddhas fully free from attachment and suffering—we’re also humans fully free to get attached, to experience personal love, and to suffer. What great freedom is this!

Santiago Santai Jiménez

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James 

a flash of rabbit

At dusk the sun dies

Every morning the sun is then reborn

And every morning brings another chance

For you and I to be better people

To grow     to learn     to love

It’s easy   

When the sun rises tomorrow

Just wake up and open your heart 

James Lee Jobe

“Resist much, obey little.” 

Walt Whitman

A flash of rabbit     a glimpse of squirrel

Owl-strike from above 

The wild exists

Even here among the rows of houses

Moonrise in the suburbs

James Lee Jobe

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James 

passing the days in peace

JLJ

Into November but there is no sign of autumn at all

California’s great northern valley is still bone dry

The yearly rains have not yet started 

The trees are still green

Eighty degrees today 

I helped a friend work on his travel-trailer a little while

Cooked stir-fry sausage and vegetables on rice

Lots of hot sauce on my own dish 

Drank coffee on into the evening 

Reading translations of Li Po and Dogen 

Reading Gary Snyder’s poems

Set in the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains

My wife and a friend have both been in the hospital
But tonight they were home for dinner

And good conversation

A waning crescent moon tonight 

The evenings grow chillier 

Perhaps autumn is coming after all

In just a moment I will close this old notebook

And go snuggle on the sofa with my wife

Sometimes I feel like an old man

And sometimes I don’t 

Either way the days and years pass in peace.

James Lee Jobe

“Caring is all we have. Cynicism is just a soft form of denial.”

Jenny Offill

No angels for me

No gods or heaven

No saviors

But there is the air

Clean after a quick rain

And there are the trees

Glistening and wet

That’s enough for me

James Lee Jobe

"I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against."

Malcolm X

A long storm

The two of us in that tiny cabin 

Just two rooms and one lantern 

Lightening and thunder

Rain on a tin roof

The storm drowns out the soft sound

Of our clothes dropping on the wooden floor

James Lee Jobe

"Work out your own salvation with diligence."

The Buddha's last words

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James 

the road of life

Take gentle steps 

Any place could be a grave 

For something or someone 

From the distant past 

So take gentle steps 

It’s all sacred ground 

Every bit of it 

James Lee Jobe

LINK: a poem by Tracy K. Smith, Everybody's Autobiography
            Such a brilliant poet.

There is so much death on the road of life 

And all of our lives are on the road to death 

With my third eye I see trouble ahead 

But also joy, there is joy if you look for it 

James Lee Jobe

LINK: a poem by Ilya Kaminsky, We Lived Happily During The War
          Man, I love this poem.

I could hear Old Coyote late last night 

He had an announcement to make 

“I walk this valley 

I eat and sleep and fuck 

And that is enough” 

Life can be as simple as you wish  And Old Coyote knows it

James Lee Jobe 

Give without expecting anything in return, not even a "thank you." That is unconditional kindness, everything else is ego. But remember to accept everything with gratitude, including other people's kindness, for it isn't something to which you are entitled, it is a gift we can all give to one another.

Timber Hawkeye, Buddhist Boot Camp

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JLJ 

ah, impermanence again

Geese cry out from the sky

High above the Sacramento Valley

The sound - is it lonely up there?

I look up, but they’re already gone

James Lee Jobe

“The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.”

Pema Chödrön

America 

Is a coin, not gold - it’s copper  

The coin is bent so badly that you cannot spend it    

A child keeps this coin as if it is a precious thing   

But it isn’t precious at all  

Just an old coin that’s all used up  

America

James Lee Jobe

"Happiness is in your ability to love others."

Leo Tolstoy

Everything is impermanent, every life, you, me 

Even the sun will supernova someday

And what will your efforts at perfection mean then? 

James Lee Jobe

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James 

from heart to heart

Malaquias Montoya

You are laughing when I picture you   

Sitting on the ground in the Joshua Tree desert 

Or perhaps on a small bolder at the Yuba River   

Eating the lunch that we packed in for our hike   

A young man with long hair and a huge laugh   

A lovable bear of a fellow   

I am passing food to you or you pass it to me  

From hand to hand and from heart to heart   

And you are saying something funny  

Our laughter fills the clean air around us  

A bright sun  a clear sky  a place so lovely   

You are laughing when I picture you   

My dear son who I will not see again

James Lee Jobe

Pack your bags and go to the station without them.
Catch the train and leave your self behind.

 Wei Wu Wei

I went to bed as a young man 

Only to wake up and find 

That my beard had turned white 

That’s a long nap indeed 

If I go to sleep again 

I might just wake up dead 

James Lee Jobe 

When I forget my true nature I’m not able to see the humanity of others and I begin to meet anger with anger and fear with fear. When we’re not paying attention, these poisons can lead us to unhappiness and suffering. Just on the other side is this great possibility of liberation and freedom.

Leslie Booker, “Guidelines for an Ethical Life”

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James 

a valley that was once a sea

Winter 

A full moon hidden by heavy clouds 

A cold rain begins slowly 

And goes steady through the night 

I trust the weather 

It will always be whatever it is 

Nothing more 

But nothing less 

Rain for example 

It’s there or it isn’t 

No half measures or ridiculous promises 

Dry isn’t wet 

And wet isn’t dry 

There 

I’m glad we had this talk. 

***

The washing machine and dryer were both very old

Maybe 20 years or so

The washer has been repaired several times 

And the door on the dryer was on one hinge

Out with the old 

In with the new 

That’s way of things 

Behind the old dryer were several solo socks 

Socks with no mates 

When one was lost the mate was tossed out

Why keep a solo sock 

New socks have been bought since then 

Out with the old 

In with the new 

But now I’m getting old too

Man 

***

Wind across flat land 

The Sacramento Valley has been my friend 

For many years 

Long ago this valley and the San Joaquin Valley 

Were a big sea 

Farmland now 

Dotted with towns and cities 

Cycles of time and the earth 

Nothing stays the same forever 

James Lee Jobe 

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James 

the world cannot see our weakness

This time we’ll wear dark glasses

to mask our blindness

This time we’ll wear cloaks

That cover and mask our wounds

So the world cannot see our weakness

We’ll enter the ballroom upright

Walking slowly, gracefully

And the world will go silent to see us there

Proud as we are

Undefeated

***

At last even the dogs were locked up in work camps

“Everyone must do their share of the work”

Said the president “there must be more profit”

Well not the white dogs of course but all the others

***

If this world was a mirror

A human life would leave no reflection

It is that fast and brief

James says to slow down and stop

As often as you can

James Lee Jobe

"There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it."

Amanda Gorman

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Thanks, James 

a perfect imperfection

Joshua Tree National Park

The air is low tonight, pressed down to the ground, and it welcomes me like I am a victorious soldier just home from some distant war

The ground kisses the low air and caresses it, whispering sweet love words that I cannot make out, even though I listen closely


There is moonlight, star light, the street lights, headlights from passing traffic, and a sort of blue light from television sets filtering through the windows of the sad houses

Even with this light I cannot make out the tops of the trees or the roofs of the taller houses

Walking in this world brings me a loneliness, a melancholy that lingers long after the night is over

A new days begins, so what can I do but begin again as well

So I do

__________

Hanshan, the old monk, on Cold Mountain

Meditation, poems, and laughter

The winter wind howling

Across the surface of the frozen snow

__________

After dinner, standing outside in a light rain, I am connected to all creation. A perfect imperfection.

James Lee Jobe 

When you are a good flower arranger, you give each flower enough space. A flower needs space around her in order to radiate her beauty, her freshness. Therefore, you don’t need a lot of flowers.

Thich Nhat Hanh

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Thanks!

James