all my life
I have practiced spinning.
as a child in cornfields,
as a swimmer underwater,
as a dancer making spirals
with her feet
with her veils.

all my life
I have practiced spinning
so I may keep my feet
when the bright rush
of gnosis
makes me wheel.

Not every day ( Read more... )

Realize there is nothing.
Know it in your soul
as an utter truth of reality.

Embrace that nothing
with self obliterating joy;
this is the key that unlocks your prison.

Become aware;
you now have everything
that can ever be of value,

and laugh,
and laugh,
ang laugh.

Tear away all the illusions
See nothing.
Be united in all that is,
be one.
Our lives can be simplified
to a chain of out, in, out, in.
our breath.
A string of sensible numbers like
zeros and ones,
Computing for ever and ever
the 100th name of God,
which is silence.

On a hunt for chanterelles we stepped ( Read more... )

Briefly this afternoon ( Read more... )

Every day
I find myself having
to invent
new words for where I am.

I read
the ghazals of the past
to show
myself where others have been.

I write
these poems on scraps and napkin backs
to give
others an idea of where I have gone.

There are times
I am afraid
my heart will lift itself,
ribs cracking, flesh shredding,
free from my chest,
and dissolve into yours.

In the act of lovemaking
I find my arms crossed
over my breasts to keep my heart
a captive
when it should be free
to rise.

"What we believe does not exist.
A mighty king sleeps
on his throne
and in his dream
becomes a beggar.
Seeing his kingdom vanish
before him
he greatly mourns -
such is our condition."
-Ravidas

Ravidas was a contemporary of Kabir.  More on Poetry Chaikhana.We believe we have lost things when they are not ours to lose ( Read more... )

This particular post is deeply personal. I will delete comments on it that make me feel uncomfortable and I will probably not be able to handle being teased about it later ( Read more... )