16. THE PRACTICE or EVERYDAY ZEN 3

All there is:
The cushion,
The breath,
The body.
Returning thoughts
To their rightful status: 
The mouth waters,
The gut farts, 

The brain thinks.
There is no
Primacy here
Only
The cushion,
The breath,
The body.

15. EVERYDAY ZEN 2

Out to dinner with a friend,
You notice that your heart’s not broken:
Sushi, the simple beauty of the
Ginger pile, wasabi mound, the
Little dish for dipping. And
Companionship: its
Warm embrace, the
Depth of conversation,
Topics ranging from
What bike to buy to
Sitting meditation and to
How the kids are doing.
This moment, when you notice
That this is all there is.


*******************************

Note to the Reader: For those of you who wondered, here's 

"Everyday Zen 1," written a few months back.

Trust me when 

I tell you that
Today’s the day
That everyone will
Wake up sane, when
All the problems
Of the world will
Disappear and
Peace will come to
Heal the planet.
    Writing this poem,
     I stop the war. 

14. YOUR MOTHER'S KEEPER

From the Alzheimer’s Diary

Because it wasn’t ever really what you cared to do,
you do it badly. You see to all the paperwork,
prescriptions, petty cash for laundry and
the odds and ends that keep things running.
Her aides see to her body’s needs, but 

no one's in your mother’s house to
sit with her and love her, to feed her heart
which keeps on beating, feeling, knowing that

it’s lonely. You wish you were the kind of daughter
who could care for her because she'd taught you how.  

Instead, you pass her building every day, in disbelief
you are still wounded by the ways she failed you,

clenching teeth to try and stop the tears, 

you go to dinner with a friend, as if your heart’s not broken.