New poem: "The Way"

 

The Way

 

Every way is the right way,

and every way is the wrong way,

because every way is the same

way; and that’s the mystery.

 

Some people find the way, most

don’t; but whether we find

the way or not, everyone

lives the way.

 

PERIOD.

New poem: "It's a Catch-22"

 

It’s a Catch-22

 

They’re damned if they do,

and damned if they don’t; but

what are they to do? They said

they will do OCTOBER 7 again,

and again, and again to avenge

their oppression; but what good

will that do? They bomb to wipe

them out, but they’re imbedded

within their own people; so, what

are they to do? It’s a catch-22;

and—devil be damned! — they

will do what they have to do

to save their people,

New poem: "A Desperate Man"

 

A Desperate Man

 

In 24 months, his father died, his wife’s mother

died, his mother died, his wife’s father died,

two of his cousins died together in a small plane

crash on a weekend fishing trip, and his wife

suddenly fell out of remission and died of cancer,

lucid to the end; but nothing ever dies, he said;

energy just changes form. He couldn’t speak fast

enough, pouring his life into every word; but

his voice betrayed him. He believed in physics,

because his wife’s close friend and family doctor,

with whom he was having an affair, had a scientific

tradition to uphold, and he fought back his tears.

Fear stalked him. Doubt was more convincing

than his heart, but he could not dispel his soulless

conviction and listen to the voice within, “The

only death is the death of ignorance.”

 

Composed in Nipigon, Ontario

Date unknown: 1990-2000

New poem: "The Train Station of Life"

 

The Train Station of Life

 

We had coffee again. He was standing

on the station platform waiting for his train.

I had come and gone two, three, a hundred

times since our last cup of coffee, but he was

still standing there waiting for his train. He

talked of fixing his fence again, but his mind

was torn between cedar posts or pressure

treated lumber. “If I go and cut cedar posts

they’ll be good for the rest of my life; but

that’s a lot of work, and I don’t have a truck.

On the other hand, treated lumber costs an

arm and a leg, and I can’t afford that right

now. My train pulled up and I got on,

leaving him standing there again.

 

Composed in Nipigon, Ontario

Date unknown: 1990-2000

New poem: "The Self I Never Was"

 

 

The Self I Never Was

 

It’s not a very nice thing to say,

but the world has to find its own way;

not that I wish for it to be this way,

it’s in our spiritual DNA; —

 

Born into a world that spares no one pain,

I grew into the person that I became;

because I was destined to find the way,

and free myself of karmic shame; —

 

From one lifetime to the next, an endless

repetition of much the same, the world

became too heavy to bear, and I had

to find a way to ease the pain; —

 

Many tried, and many failed; but some

did climb out of Plato’s cave and saw

the light of day; and those were they

who showed me the way; —

 

Gurdjieff came first, blazing the trail

for others to follow, and one way-shower

after another, I followed the scent

wherever it went; —

 

And the more progress I made in my quest

for self-awareness, the straighter the gate

became, and I had to abandon all hope

for the material life I craved; —

 

But the more I let go of what I was not,

the more I became who I am; and

now I lavish in my true nature, the self

I never was but always am.

 

Wednesday, November 23, 2023

Georgian Bay, Ontario