Master Chang’s Pepper Talk

 

Coming through the
clear and cloudless skies
whereabouts known
the master comes walking to my home.
Smiling, herbs in hand,
stepping over dry wheat, star thistle, bindweed, dry land,
startling and scattering a guinea hen band,
onward walks that tall and dignified man.
He strolled past the fence and
into the gardened land.

”I see your peppers green, yellow and red,
spicy hot, like a sharp fajing strike
from that old fellow Chen Wang-ting’s
hidden fist’s bite.”

“Listen, a woodpecker knocks,
your garden becomes more mysterious,
the six sealings are all leaky,
the four closings are all openings.
Step back, raise your arms in joy,
play Cloud Hands in realms of cloudlessness.”

“Plant the seeds of progress with practice
daily, sun after sun, at dawn
to be done, by you,
the chosen one.”

“Do not neglect fasting the mind,
and, for you, fasting the flesh,
until you are as fast as the Tameless White Tiger,
lean as Xuan Wu’s Snake General,
still and strong as the Black Tortoise,
and worthy of Lao Tzu’s wisdom.”

“Become graceful, gentle, manly, clean.
Court the Jade Maiden, fairest Grace,
Go to Her for your fate to spin,
Weaving beauty till the end.”

“Let the Yellow Dragon stir
the waters of your blood and brain,
build up your bones, break bad habits,
root deeper into the earth, fill youself with energy,
strengthen your spirit, and lengthen your days.”

“Take these herbs with tea,
my friend in the five realms;
I’m going now,
flying west to the sea.”

I picked up the herbs and an acorn squash,
looked up,
and a single cloud passed by
in the clear gray cloudless sky.

 

 

Get a Grip

Sitting, reading, resting
recovering from leg surgery

Waiting and wondering, day by day,
about what will happen

Not being young anymore
it's easier for Death to knock on my door

As I slide downhill, can't stop,
careening from mini-crisis to mini-crisis

Limping like an old man
that I now am

Diabetes gobbling up my core
feet buzzing and legs sore.

Damn!  Stop feeling sorry for myself,
Get up, stand up, move, get a grip, don't be a wimp.
Smile, put up a fight no matter what ain't right. 

 

 

Will Soon Become Me

This peach, these peppers,
These grapes, these tomatoes
Will all soon become me.
Such a tasty fact.
I am That and That is Me. 
Bless the garden!
Bless the kitchen!

 

 

Kaputt!!

I was thinking about "the Absolute"
(whatever that is)
yesterday.  (Philosophers enjoy
the rush of mental masochism:
bondage to leathery ideas,
painful flagellation with cutting words,
the humiliation of utter confusion.)

Absolute Zero - Death!
Clearly, a deep shivering Super-Conducting
Absolute No.  

Then,
The Past: a second ago, a century ago...
Dead Time - absolutely kaputt!

 

 

Early October

dappled shadows on dropped leaves 
holes in the tree's crown all brown 
little pecans scattered on the ground
cold west winds from the sea blow round;
forlorn garden Gnomes' draped in dust
misaligned old garden gate hinges rust
rotting prune plums perfume the dusk
another day disappears as it must;

 

 

Pulling Onions Again 

Mother Nature is always pregnant. 
Time creeps, walks, runs and flies - it is all about moving things. 
Chaos breaks its own rules to allow Order to play. 
Dogmatists are less useful than dogs. 
Take life with a grain of salt, and a icy margarita. 
The best things in life are more expensive than you think. 
Rather than "love mankind," I'd rather admire a few good people. 
Some flourish when crowded together, others don't. 
Garbage In, Compost Out. 
It is more about You and Now, rather than Them and Back Then. 
Hunting for tomato worms- no mercy. 
A pocket knife will be its dullest at just the right time. 
While gardening the borders between work and play become blurred.
When gardening, look up more often.
Just the right words can be worth more than a thousand pictures. 
A flower needs roots; beauty a society of minds. 
A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a Green Thumb. 
A working hypothesis is far better than a belief. 
Only two percent of all insects are harmful.  Why are they all in my garden. 
Most laws of Gardening are merely local ordinances. 
Failures, disorder and death are the Grim Reaper of Entropy at work. 
Somehow, someway, everything gets eaten up, someday. 
The meaning is lost in the saying - a nature mystic's dilemma. 
Vigorous gardening might help more than a psychiatrist's couch. 
A wise gardener knows when to stop. 
Gardens are demanding pets. 
Gardening is but one battle against Chaos. 
When life gives you onions, you ain't making lemonade. 
Autumn Yellow, the mirror image of Spring Green. 
What you see depends on when you look. 
Beauty is the Mistress, the gardener her slave. 
A little of this and a little of that, and some exceptions - these are the facts. 

-   Pulling Onions by Mike Garofalo  (730 One Line Quips)