As We Drum
March 29, 2021
As we drum,
we are surfing
on a wave of sound,
riding the rhythm
we are all a part of,
singing the song
of our common heart.
Beyond the world of discovery that music has been for me, there was always the bigger world, the universe of questions about what we’re a part of, how it works, and how to best fit into the larger whole.
My love of words, a fascination with scientific, philosophical, and spiritual inquiry, and a quiet determination to learn how to be a better human (and a happier man) have led me on a path of shaping my experience, breath by breath, into poems.
Here are some of them.
March 29, 2021
As we drum,
we are surfing
on a wave of sound,
riding the rhythm
we are all a part of,
singing the song
of our common heart.
March 17, 2021
Nature pauses
between breaths
as seasons shift,
and birds
and buds
sing a song
of becoming.
March 17, 2021
It’s a shame that the alt-right has appropriated the phrase “All lives matter”, because of course, every living being deserves a shot at happiness and an end to suffering.
I matter too,
just because I am here,
just because I am human,
just because I hurt,
just because I feel.
I am not alone;
I am not lost.
I don’t need to be silent.
I don’t need to be anything
that I am not.
February 27, 2021
Everything we see and touch
is just a temporary arrangement of molecules,
which are temporary arrangements of atoms,
made up of a temporary arrangement of particles
which no one really understands.
It is all just a dance of dancers
dancing the dance of smaller dancers;
turtles, all the way down.
And we are the leaves
of seeing and feeling
ever floating on this sea of change,
marveling at each snapshot
in this endless panorama.
February 21, 2021
On this day, many a year ago,
my mother gave me the gift of life.
And today, my life has given me
the gift of another year.
What more could I ask for,
than this incredible adventure,
to be alive
on a new day?
February 17, 2021
I saw a flock of birds
reeling across the sky
with boundless Grace,
and thought:”How beautiful they are!”,
as if they were separate from me.
But if these eyes that see them
are part of the same One as they are,
then their Grace is not theirs alone,
but is mine, as well.
February 9, 2021
Don’t let your opinions
stand between you
and the world.
Let it in,
just as it is,
and all its wonders
will reveal themselves.
February 7, 2021
What if each of us
let the house of cards
that is our ego
tumble under its own weight,
or be blown apart
by the winds of change,
until we are revealed,
naked
in our true nature,
like snowflakes
in a snowstorm,
each as important
or unimportant
as the next,
each one
an expression
of the all?
Why are we blinded
by our own uniqueness,
numb to the warm embrace
of everything we are a part of,
that is a part of us?
When will we tire
of building ourselves up,
and let ourselves relax
into the beautiful chaos
of this life?
December 13, 2020
Meet the world with friendliness,
and each moment becomes a dance.
Meet it with aggression,
and it becomes an endless war.
December 1, 2020
You might as well
try to steer a train
as try to control
your life.
Trust the tracks
that chance and karma
have laid down for you,
and be ever alert
for moments of mindful action,
when you may switch
to a different path,
or choose to slow down,
or speed up,
or stop.
In all your other moments,
learn to sit back
and enjoy the ride.