TAKING A LONG SUNNY RIDE HOME
(a series of haibuns about dogs)

(I) COMING AND GOING

"A monk asked the great Zen master Joshu, "Does a dog have Budha nature or not?"Joshu replied, "Mu!"

Mumonkan, Case #1 (+)

LeavingThey do not move at all when I put on my blue jeans. Sappho blows me off completely, not even looking my way. Miss Molly traces ( Read more... )

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From time to time, they erupt into this sort of fight-play-balette. More frequently when it's cooler, perhaps in the evening when the sun is about to set or right after a dawn. But always at at least once or twice during each time we roam. Sometimes they take a break, heal for a while, follow the leader, just like balanced dogs love to do. Then 'go ( Read more... )

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When I return home

I see the black dog's head
sticking out between white shades

Was she there the whole day?
She is gone

in a moment returns
with another dog, her head white
a dark spot on the forehead
as if the third eye

They look at me wagging their tails
I pretend I do not see them
do nothing, breathe deeply
from my hara, calm down ( Read more... )

It's hard to take a good snapshot of Molly because she is so uniformly black. So, she melts too much with the surrounding and, furthermore, hardly ever you can see well her face. Well, her face still disappeared but Sappho provided a very nice contrast, I think.


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