poetry, photography and reflections on life, aging, and dharma
just finished a long walk around monte rosa in the swiss/italian alps. after ten days of intense activity and massive sensory input, there was a real decompression. summer is drawing down. back in my own mountains, there’s a subtle change in the air. winter won’t be long now. this is a small piece- more to … Read more
I recently had the immense good fortune to spend a week hiking the Kungsleden trail in Swedish Lapland. Well above the arctic circle, the sense of space is almost incalculable. Everywhere is running water, clean enough to drink as it must have been in most of the world at one time. What we have done … Read more
old wood this is a country of sharp stones and small flowers, deep snows and dry summers. we sing here but we’ve learned to sing softly, melding our voices with birds and the wind with the moans of the earth as she turns. here lies the old wood broken and bent here is the teacher … Read more
love hurts they say, but this can’t be the half of it love is beyond hurt, love is a knife with no handle, love is broken glass on a concrete floor, love is the muffled voice from another room determining your fate, love is the point of impact, love is the raptor’s shadow and the … Read more
shortly after the apple the labeling began, all the this and that, the these and those, all the ins and outs – who decides? this discriminating mind as useful and as dangerous as a knife –what makes one bloom a flower and the next a weed? here is a power beyond all words– choose to … Read more
Abandon all hope of fruition -Lojong slogan Avoid the trap of hope and fear -Shambhala Buddhist teaching Isn’t hope a good thing? When we bump into these teachings on “hope,” we trip. It can be really confusing — aren’t we taught that we should be hopeful people? Yes and no — “hope” can … Read more
we learned a couple of days ago that a young man (mid 20’s) who went to school with my two sons recently took his own life. I know of two other cases here in our little town of young men about the same age choosing the same sad end. beyond that, I know of maybe … Read more
as the first clouds of the coming storm ride up and over the mountains, catching and casting the gold of the late day sun, while in the valleys arrayed to the east deep cloud-shadows slide up and over and around, caressing the long curves of her hills, then fall away, smoothly like the silk of … Read more
A while ago I talked about the thousand small decisions that make up the guts of any commitment– after the rush of initial enthusiasm, the essential drudgery of sustained action (carrying water, chopping wood.) Today I want to speak to two old friends of mine that come up once you’re committed – I call them … Read more