a debt that can’t be met

Pat Mahony

The universe and I are of the same root. The myriad things and I are one body. That is zazen. 

— Kodo Sawaki

a purple dusk 

and once again the crows return 

to their nests by the creek 

they caw to announce their homecoming 

and settle in 

at my window in the town 

i can see the changing colors of the sky 

i could sound off as well 

but the crows wouldn’t hear me 

or care 

moment by moment the sky darkens 

-james lee jobe 

A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir — a constant source of energy, determination and kindness.

— Dalai Lama XIV

some things are hard to express in words

-  waking to the sound of birds outside of your open window

- the look on a child’s face as she runs

- love when it smiles on you in the warm light of the sun

- the sight of new snow on the boulders in the river

and the fool poet tries to express it anyway

(for Shinkichi Takahashi, 1901-1987)

-james lee jobe

In the Mountains on a Summer Day

Gently I stir a white feather fan,

With open shirt sitting in a green wood.

I take off my cap and hang it on a jutting stone;

A wind from the pine-trees trickles on my bare head.

-Li Po

a summer day 

heat lays upon the sacramento valley 

like a debt that can’t be met 

still it’s beautiful you know 

the sun 

the sky 

the shade from trees 

the sweet sounds of the finches in the jasmine

-james lee jobe

Red Tail Hawk, Yolo County, CA
photographer unknown

LINK: Untitled 1975–86, a poem by jason b crawford

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jlj