New poem: "The Donald"

 

The Donald

 

The Donald is all that he is,

and all that he is not, both

his real and false self, a man

so full of himself that when he

speaks we cannot tell which self

is which, the authentic man or

his inauthentic shadow. Does

he speak the truth when his “I”

is false, and does he lie when

his “I” is true? Can we judge the

one and deny the other? And if

he wins the race with Kamala

Harris, can we trust the Donald

with the Oval Office?

 

Composed in Tiny Beaches,

Georgian Bay, Southcentral, Ontario

Saturday, August 14, 2024

New poem: "The Great Debate"

 

 

The Great Debate

 

When we look at a tree, do we all see

the same tree? And when we listen

to someone speaking, do we hear what

they’re really saying? I watched the

great debate on Fox News Media last

night between the former president

of the United States, Donald J. Trump

and the current vice president Kamala

Harris, and then I watched and listened

to the public’s reaction to the great debate,

and what came to my mind were those

famous words from that ancient text,

“Though seeing, they do not see; though

hearing, they do not hear or understand,”

and what I took away from the great debate

was that only when we stop judging the

character of these two candidates will

we see and hear them clearly and know

who’s calling to the Oval Office

is true or false.

 

Composed in Tiny Beaches,

Georgian Bay, Southcentral, Ontario

Tuesday, September 11, 2024

New poem: "The Poet's Eye"

 

The Poet’s Eye

 

Can the poet’s eye see too far

for the mind to understand? And

if so, why would poets bother

to point the way of what is to come,

the way that lies ahead for the world

to follow? Are poets the hierophants,

the seers and prophets of moral order

and balance who add up all the twos

and threes of life to give us the bigger

picture of the choices we make? Is

this why poets are blessed with eyes

that see beyond the ken of mind, why

Emily Dickinson wrote, “The Truth

must dazzle gradually, or every

man be blind”?

 

Composed in Tiny Beaches,

Georgian Bay, Southcentral, Ontario,

Friday, August 23, 2024

New poem: "Diary of a Holistic Runner"

 

Diary of a Holistic Runner

 

I felt nostalgic the other day, and I didn’t

know what to do. And then it came to me

to read through my manuscript, THOUGHTS

IN MOTION: Diary of a Holistic Runner,

which I kept 35 years ago, from August 1, 1988

to January 8, 1989; and coming upon my entry,

“My Dream of a Ball of String,” dated Sunday,

August 7, 1988, I was instantly brought back

to that Work time in my life when I was deepest

in the heat of my becoming, the most intensely

transformative period of my life when I made

my inner and outer self into one self, whole

and complete, as every path in life impels

us to do; and I set my diary aside and reflected

on my running life, and out of the blue it came

to me that a life lived in full is the most satisfying

life that we can live, and my nostalgic feelings

disappeared and I put my big seven-hundred-page

diary away and went on with my day.

 

Composed in Tiny Beaches,

Georgian Bay, Southcentral, Ontario

Friday, September 6, 2024

New poem: "Life Is So Much Richer"

 

Life Is So Much Richer

 

Life is so much richer

when you have knowledge

of your past lives, why you’re

suddenly drawn to certain people

and instinctively avert others;

the woman, or man, you fall

in love with the moment you

meet, and why your infant child

died in the crib before it had

a chance to live, the motor vehicle

accident that changed your life,

losing your job of twenty years,

so many twists and turns that life

takes, all your doubts and fears

go out the window when you

know the reason why.

 

Composed in Tiny Beaches,

Georgian Bay, Southcentral Ontario,

Monday, July 29, 2024

New poem: "The Work"

 

The Work

 

Maybe Gurdjieff was right,

that people really are asleep to life;

but he was wrong to believe

that we are not born with a soul,

and whether the mystic philosopher

knew how to “create” our own

immortal soul was a matter of dire

commitment to the Work, the path

that wakes one up from the hypnotic

sleep of life and sets soul free from

the false shadow self that keeps

everyone asleep to life.

 

Composed in Tiny Beaches,

Georgian Bay, Southcentral, Ontario,

Wednesday, July 31, 2024