NOVEMBER GRATITUDE

2014
Once upon a time in Massachusetts

In November
by Lisel Mueller

Outside the house the wind is howling
and the trees are creaking horribly.
This is an old story
with its old beginning,
as I lay me down to sleep.

But when I wake up, sunlight
has taken over the room.

You have already made the coffee
and the radio brings us music
from a confident age. In the paper
bad news is set in distant places.
Whatever was bound to happen
in my story did not happen.

But I know there are rules that cannot be broken.

Perhaps a name was changed.
A small mistake. Perhaps a woman I do not know
is facing the day with the heavy heart
that, by all rights, should have been mine.
~*~


2016
Today in New York City

 Our Superintendent dropped seeds into the Street side Planter in August. I'm Grateful that he has finally been rewarded with one absolutely perfect green gem.

I'm Grateful we have heat this morning, and grateful that this afternoon my Massachusetts friend Jenny, in town for a dance event tonight, was here for several sweet hours...

Grateful that my writing group was full of surprises tonight and Grateful for the dark night downtown when I emerged. A speeding bicyclist became invisible,
and so did I.

~*~

PICTURE PERFECT

March 10th

Anywhere I hang my scarf,

I'm home.

"Understand clearly that to comprehend 'The self is itself buddha' cannot be called understanding buddha-dharma."

"If the comprehension that self is itself Buddha was the buddha-dharma, Zen Master Hogen would not have used that saying for guidance or made such an admonishment."

 

"From the time you first meet a good teacher, just genuinely inquire about the manners and standards for practice, single-mindedly engage in the way of zazen, and do not keep your mind stuck on a single knowledge or half comprehension."

*

Four Cats 

"Mona"-"Rhodo"-"Betsy" and "Sissy"

*

"There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools, singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white, Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone."

 -Sara Teasdale-

And the Holiday-tree is still Beautiful

*

Sunday

New York Times with Daffodils

*

March 13th

Afternoon Concert

 

*

 March 15th

Lyman Conservatory

Smith College Botanic Garden

Northampton, Massachusetts

All the Hemispheres
Hafiz

Leave the familiar for a while.

Let your senses and bodies stretch out
Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.

Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.

Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.

Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting
While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You.

Birds and Bulbs

Orchid

Clitorea Ternatea

 

Olea Europea tree with orange flowered Clivea miniata

Chinese Fringe Bush

"The wondrous method of Buddha-dharma

is not without meaning."

May you be Light

 *

Last Morning

https://youtu.be/2FlnxHmQ9Vk

ALL THIS and EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

Friday May 22nd

Art Benefit and Reception

The Creative Center for Arts in Health Care

Lori Kent's Painting

 Robin Glaser

Our talented and dedicated Director

The Left Wall

Lower left corner my photograph of Gertrude Stein's Bench

"I am because my little dog knows me"

 (Central Park Zoo, New York City)

 I just liked this but didn't note the artists name, and

also liked the portrait you see half of

The Right Wall

Lower Right corner my water color and marker piece

"All the Little Fishies"

 Un-noted photographer sorry

"Pitcher and Street Scene"

 ~*~

Friday May 22nd through Sunday May 24th

I tuned in on and off to Live Stream with

Krishna Das and Friends

~*~

Saturday May 23rd

Neighborhood Thrifts
Bearing a big bag of Donations

Scored this $3 Shirt

 Sunday May 24th
Incident, Care Package, Garden Visit, Poetry Event
On The Front Steps an Elderly fellow, not drunk or stoned, just tired and a bit disoriented,  On their own two police from across the street made him move along.  As he left, wearily making his slow way, limping to Second Avenue, I found myself speculating  about him.  He seemed confused.  Alzheimer?  Perhaps he was lost and just wore himself out.

 The police should have asked him if he knew where he was, where he was going.
I wish I had.

Then the Care Package I was waiting for arrived
direct from my dear Massachusetts friends 

 Delivered via Jeremy Scanlon and Richard Loder

Here on a mission of mercy to retrieve important items

for another friend who is hospitalized and extremely ill.

 The bounty began with fragrant lily of the valley
fresh picked before dawn.

 Continued with home-made, home-grown Quince Jelly,
Basil Pesto and Massachusetts Maple Syrup

 White Cheddar Cheese and Quinoa Pasta

 Not Yogurt
A quart of Jennifer Scanlon's very special Chili

 Best Flax Crackers

 A loaf of Jeremy's hearty Oat/Spelt Bread and 

Jennifer's to-die-for Lemon Loaf Cake

Once the food was stored, I walked over to the garden

Ah, the Iris!

Late Afternoon

Headed downtown to the Metric Poetry Season Finale
Featured poets were Alicia Stallings from Greece, Sam Gwynn from Texas, Claudia Gary from Washington D.C and Janice Soderling from Sweden.  The house was packed and the reading super fine.  Shot just a few photographs:
David katz and John Marcus Powell

 Walter A.

Quincy Lehr, John Marcus Powell, and R. Nemo Hill,

with Sam Gwynn talking to someone out of frame.

~*~

Monday May 25th
East River Walk, Barbecue, and
more poetry

Past a beautiful stand of Little Leaf Lindens
at Peter Cooper

 Cove Park
Watched sea planes.
There was a warm breeze

There were Geese

Geese, ducks, warblers, pigeons, and people walking, bicycling,
sharing food, reading, writing, sunbathing, and sleeping

At home again
Across the street cops made food for other cops on duty, while a heckler challenged them--first just by his presence and stare. then talking loud on his cell phone to his Mother.  They ignored him.  He heated up, threw insults, demanded to be arrested, called them 'cowards', 'pussies', and much worse. Cops came and went in and out of the precinct as he persisted.  It went on for at least an hour at varying levels and they did nothing.  Finally he left.  Later I spoke with them, said I admired their restraint.  They know him.  He's a regular.

The teaching within the "Art of War" by Lau Tsu
is the skill of prevention.

At 7:30 I strolled down Irving place to Shades of Green Pub where the 'Saturn Series featured poets Babette Albin and Robert Kramer as well as open readers.  I read a new Poem.

~*~

Tuesday May 26th
Hot Day
Resting in shade on a wall by the church

Triple bloom

 ~*~

Wednesday May 27th
Sweet Neighbor's
Nineteenth Wedding Anniversary

~*~

Thursday May 28th
Atmosphere
Dusk coming on and promised thunder storms still pending, sirens, the sound of pigeon wings landing on the window sill, chirping birds settling, muffled voices, door slams, foot steps on the stairs, church bell tolls seven times.

~*~