omens

from afar

farther than birth cries

uprooting winds
are coming

taking you where

taking us where

salutary flames

back to stars of afar

prayers of rain

salutary flames

rolling us over the sea

taking us where

uprooting winds

back to stars of afar

brushing us off

earth’s hardened edges

into our arms they fall

lights of ripened pains

scars of hollowed trees

thoroughly bitter

thoroughly sweet
the stars of afar

                          

 mandrem, 24 april 2012

sleep

i offer you what resistance i have
for you consent to dig deeper into me
in your nearness sleep
shuffle of change resounds no more
wish to be burdened with heavier fruit

branches stretch out bare in the cold
flow of your sap stiffens the roots
where are we heading in this dark
why is the wind harsh on me
blowing out the ashes’ glow
before i take heart to the woods

after the rains

in this roar
nights many
and days
successively
slumber
reawaken

it floods and flows back
beyond your questioning

words not opening
not emerging from silence

their retreat
perhaps a sign

distances growwithin
wherein you raise
wherein you fade

growing too
with enclosures
walls
moss
caking stones of wells
paddies lavishly swaying
your questioning
blind


mandrem, september 2007

hishiryo

in the heart of autumn
i sit on a cushion
covering golden slopes
with my robe

day and night
the rain’s voice pummels
chilling the marrow
of trees and beasts

am i thinking
am i nonthinking
dripping beyond thinking

meeting the face

its destiny you said
encounter of destinies
should one time we meet

it was an overnight stay
in a rundown hermitage
stars spread over the sky
greet your dark flame
some hidden sorrow of the sea

you see my hour go blind
you see shades roll over me
for i need to step aside
to let your echo pass
in the growing mountain

le rocher da la baume, 2000

passage

so drifting
is part of the stillness
sea's vast stillness
heaving heart of eternity

is this death now
tenderly dissolving me
in green reaches of water

is this still me
some human rest
murmuring with shells
in echo of distant tides
breaking on the beach

mandrem, winter 2006

ashen

night is mute
withholding secrets
if secrets you call them

revelations no one needs
to stand upright in the cold
and sustain the hunger of trees

silouhette of tales
blooming

sequence of events

sitting among highland grass
overlooking a dormant valley
at blue mountains’ waning light
eastern crags blurred in mist

pointing to this terrain
shaded in old plum-trees
heard tokuda say one day
fine resting place for monks

on one of the steles
your name
and this epitaph

kyuzan tetsu-un

journeyed far
when a cloud
now only
mountain peace

atlantic

ocean crossing
back to montreal
same journey as before
then it was some garden in england
now water everywhere
how much has changed
how much hasn’t

time’s remains
who’s remains
who remains

where it matters
little matter for change
things go through turnings
yet the same breeze
arrests you at the threshold

you are yourself
endings and beginnings
of paths converging
paths effacing
journeys to come

june 20, 1984

elixir

a word to you blazing full moon
you have made of this night
a thick potion where you brew
sunlight of azure skies
dregs of pitless howls

a river of pain
is what you pour into me
i feel it broaden as it runs
serene into the sea

room on the cliff

hours pass by
day begins to drift
twilight colors enshroud the sea

alone with roar of silvery waves
in a cliff-hanging room
and rocks' open-ended reply

it’s a single voice
where merge the caller
and the called

in deep slumber
find you lying next to me
from distant shores returned
face awash with moonlit waters

from where surfs whistle you return
in the garden of swaying palms
you become queen of the breeze

grace

glance behind the shoulder
over spent springs
winters to come

you are but a breath
enacted for a dream
shudder
running down a shade

yes
it's me
this kneeling animal
with frosty eyes
starring outside
into vacant spaces
no its inside
no its nowhere

yes its nowhere
yes its inside

nothing divisible
in this void

not even wind
not even time
even pain
repletion of pain

friends on the road

here is a song
for the songs i lost
written on the strand
with lucency of waves
and fingers of storm

vanished
you vanished well before me
witnesses to this crossing
once i named you
now we go without witness
nameless with no crossing
straight into the sand
straight into the sea

here in this dark
a votive in my hand
i bless you with oblivion
compañeros
bless me too with oblivion
compañeros

does a dog have buddha nature

barking complete
barking so full
you can no longer call it
dogs’ work
god's work

it comes from everywhere
everything is barking
houses
trees
streets

seamless tapestry
pervading night’s remote confines

it becomes space
night is barking
stars are barking
world is barking

clamor
no one can stop
ruthlessly alive
dislodging you from your hiding

pains exposed
shames exposed
lumps in the throat
thawing in the dark
barking in the dark


mandrem, 2 january 2012