9/01/2024

monk - picasso - neruda



I do not pledge allegiance to any flag. 


I am willing to pledge allegiance to the music of Bach and Mozart. 

To Coltrane. To Monk.

And I am willing to pledge allegiance to the art of Van Gogh and Picasso, 

and to the poems of Neruda and Whitman. 

Borders are invisible; do they really exist? Prove to me

that there is a border in the Rio Grande River. Show it to me.  

Prove to me that a person born in one country 

is more worthy than a person born in another. 

I will pledge my allegiance to the hungry children, 

to people trying to find a safe place to live. 

I ally myself to the earth and the sky and the ocean, 

to the Sermon on the Mount. 

We all have to make our own choices, 

and then we damn well have to live with them.

james lee jobe




If we are completely present to whatever is arising, we can stretch beyond our self-imposed limits; we can endure what may seem unendurable.

Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi, “Full-Moon Mind”




When your fingers are long and painted, you can pick at the bones for those last bits of meat. 

God was thanked properly 
and most of the carcass has been picked clean. 
The other beasts are full, and indeed, you are also full, 
but still you want a little more.

It was so sweet, this meat, so delicate and rich, 
and the flavor on your tongue 
is like a flash flood on the desert floor, 
just one more taste. 

God isn't looking and no one else will mind, 
and the grease from the meat 
brings out the colors on your fingers 
for your eyes to adore. 

Go ahead, have some more. 

james lee jobe 







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james 

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