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.
May 9, 2020
I do not need the internet
to tell me how to feel,
and I don’t require a pundit
to show me what is real.
My eyes and heart are open
to what may come along,
and my mind will sing in harmony
with spirit’s sacred song.
April 18, 2020
what does it take
to feel truly alive?
stop,
wherever you are,
and look around you,
and see everything
as if you’ve never
seen it before.
see it without words,
without a history
for each thing.
then you will not
be living in a story,
and life will not
be separate from you.
YOUR life will fall away,
and you will simply
BE life.
April 16, 2020
(with gratitude to William S. Burroughs)
Language is a virus
from inner space
to other
inner spaces.
Our words
can infect the minds
of our fellow humans,
just as another virus
can infect our bodies.
Bad ideas
may kill;
good ideas
may heal.
April 3, 2020
I heard a sad story
on the radio today.
An elderly couple
was held on a cruise ship
for three days,
then kept in quarantine
for fourteen days.
It was a time of suffering,
full of stress and fear.
As I listened,
I felt anger welling up,
until I stopped to think,
“What would my spiritual teachers
have to say about this?”
Perhaps they would say:
“Look beneath your anger,
and most likely,
you will find sadness,
or helplessness,
or hopelessness.
Then, you may look under that,
and you may find compassion,
enough for yourself,
and for everyone”.
March 28, 2020
There are things
we like to have and do,
and things
we like to avoid.
And suddenly,
life will change the menu,
honing down our options,
to a whole new set
of “cans” and “can’ts”.
And in these times,
we may suffer greatly,
constrained within our little boxes,
unless we learn to stretch and bend
with life’s openings and closings,
to be as flexible and resilient
as life itself.
March 28, 2020
A virus
is just a molecule
that wants to be alive.
It will stop at nothing,
mindlessly striving
to hijack life
for its own ends.
As we hunker down,
waiting for its reign to pass,
there is time to consider
how our own selfish genes
have run rampant over other life,
causing needless suffering
throughout the ages.
A virus has no mind,
but each of us,
its distant cousin,
has been gifted one.
And so,
while we may not lay blame
on the humble virus
for its rapacious mindlessness,
should we not consider
our own?
March 3, 2020
At any given moment,
disaster may strike,
and I might be
in its midst,
or, just as easily,
at its periphery,
a horrified bystander.
Or I may likewise be
enveloped in some great joy,
gratefully accepting
life’s surprising beneficence.
In these moments,
all my expectations
will come to nothing.
So I will learn to let them go,
and be alert and ready
when life happens.
