How Long Must I Wait - A poem

How Long Must I Wait

“Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.”
From the Four Great Bodhisattva Vow

You would think we’d grow tired of it:
this need to murder
in the desert
and then lament
those who have died.

Yet, when faced with
the twisted sinews
of the mind, frayed
and torn by so many years of –
is it neglect? misuse?
the wrong path taken again and again?
whatever it is,

I run straight to the temple
looking for answers,
to the question
of my suffering

as if that were the issue,
the thing that is
at stake,

How long must I wait?

Even the question
being asked,
keeps taking me further
from the truth.

How Long Must I Wait - A poem

How Long Must I Wait

“Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.”
From the Four Great Bodhisattva Vow

You would think we’d grow tired of it:
this need to murder
in the desert
and then lament
those who have died.

Yet, when faced with
the twisted sinews
of the mind, frayed
and torn by so many years of –
is it neglect? misuse?
the wrong path taken again and again?
whatever it is,

I run straight to the temple
looking for answers,
to the question
of my suffering

as if that were the issue,
the thing that is
at stake,

How long must I wait?

Even the question
being asked,
keeps taking me further
from the truth.

Annexed by Desire - A poem

Annexed by Desire
“To fill a Gap
Insert the Thing that caused it-“
Emily Dickinson


But you can’t
Fall again - in love -
not like this,
with the red and yellow leaves
crackling beneath our feet
we shouldn’t be
holding so close
together

up from the ground,
as if to show us
exactly where we are,
a slowly oozing mud,
while halfway around the world,
an opening of hatches,
military aircraft
resuming their assaults
on terrorists.

Whatever caused us to believe
these stories about happiness we tell?

Even the sparrows
don’t care to stay and look,
as my hands slide down
your back,
quickly,
into enemy territory.