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Ten New Lovely Unpublished Poems
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Monday Before The Recall
Sun on the hand so deeply spotted
Yours for the duration, though
Little allergy in the inhalation of the moment
Liturgy of gold crown
or is it radio electronico
electric hedge trimmers
actually the acacia
being clipped
In some kind of mantra of Glass
which surrounds and penetrates the air
Be deeply reverent as you move towards shore
It's getting pretty loud out here
What happened between June and September this year
was way too local to loaf
just watched the deer change its spots
and get older, awww cute!
Ate all the California poppies too
and if you want to go
Go
Just Go
October 6, 2003
September Panics
You got MY vote
just let me know
who you are
Is that a dog howling?
You are very alone
like everyone else
You have just finished reading
September's Vanity Fair
And the bright moonlight is empty
'I don't want to hear
your CRAP anymore!'
Your angst
and your country's pain
are often the same
So pick up that Manual of Buddhism
you threw on the floor
Consider being
like water running
reaching the other shore
and your mind won't be so bumming
by some suck up oppressor
September 23, 2003
The Psycho Pathic Personality
"I am the commander
I do not need to explain why I do things.
That's the interesting thing about being
President.
Maybe someone needs to explain to ME
why they say something, but I don't feel
I OWE ANYONE AN EXPLANATION."
USA TODAY 11/25/02
DIRECT QUOTE
RockHit absolute rock bottom Are you there rock? No? No rock on bottom Buddhism Without A Book
Well, you had to find it some
where another person passed simplicity
on to you, the practice of some syllables
the position of a seated body and you believe
a lineage of recognition of 'mind'
not perfect, but intimate
with suffering
and the futility of maintaining
those troublesome states
of fear and hate
"Try this
Lift the corners of your mouth slightly
and take three breaths
this is known as mouth yoga"* (*Yvonne Rand)
It has nothing to do with smiling
It has nothing to do with happiness
March 7, 2003
Sleeping With The BBC
At least they have a nice accent
when they talk about the bombs
and a slight
twist of voice
when they use the word 'Bush'
When we go away
how much do we need
to take with us
To take our beautiful country
to get the words right
Okay that's it
You've written it down
White light
coming through the water lily petals
The yellow green glint
at the center
May 1, 2003
Untitled
It's terrible what's happening in this war atmosphere
when 'your' government lies
to you and neglects the people
It's bad for your mind when the politics of connection
show ignorance and preference
for the stupid junta
that has slyly preempted the beehive
Time to dive for the Madhyamika school
the middle way ourselves
through the course of the oppression to come
phew!
I'd prefer not to have to bother
in this landscape of spring to judge
whether these apple blossom branches
are natural or not
I just want to be ordinary
and finish my toast
While Arthur Okamura is on the prowl
with his notebook and pen
sketching the dust
in the wind
May 11-15, 2003
The Distressed Look
From our 'leaders' -- please be
as frightened as you can in apartment
buildings, bridges & airports--
But really
you're on your own,
you rattled and oppressed citizens
of the 'free' world --
berserk jackals of the moment are after you!
Look carefully at those you know --
corporate crooks! have fucked
with your energy!
'Freedom' is dubiously hyped to a world
against which 'our country' seems to be waging a war!
Yes, a war against The World! which is full of
creepy crawly evil turrrists.
'You' my government,
have made us Totally Unpopular
May 30, 2002
BASHO SAYS PLANTS STONES UTENSILS
have individual feelings
similar to those of humans
A zillion little butterfly thoughts
simultaneously flap.
You are the sum
of all you 'know'
and the more you forget
the more ordinary
you are really nothing
special so why
all the anxious push-push
just hang
the clothes on the line
Put the black ones
in the washer
Feel the myriad little bits
of sensation
that make up emotion
As the Sun
rises high
in the sky
so does the arrogance
I'm still waiting
for the 'Buddhist'
poem to arrive
Darn it takes so long
for the Dharma
Up in arms
on the moral high road
wanting to sum it up
and END it
April 2002
Look! new moon
And you
have been born
into the world
for the first time
a mere puppy!
don't be startled
'life' is made up
of feelings
awareness
of being at one
with the flea
that you are
Look! I'm disarmed
except for my rotten thoughts --
The familiar old joke
of the self
turned on, to the moment
"Suddenly, while at the depths
(Zen Master it struck me like a thunderbolt
Bankei that I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN
1922-1693) and that my birthlessness
could settle every matter"
The birthless buddha mind
waits for life after capitalism
waits for a government
that survives a president
we can't afford anymore
along with his weird god
and his good sleep --
-- "I'm a patient man
and your five seconds are up POW!"
And your locker room jock
retires to his 'Turd Blossom'
Karl Rove
to get his brain tweaked
for the next round
Leaves one with Ridicule
as the least expensive
weapon around
towards a 'commander' in chief'
who insists he Must protect us
O protect us
from this protection
of war and coalition's aid
unwilling and overpaid
March 4, 2002
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 Joanne Kyger's work reveals her as one of the major experimenters, hybridizers, and visionaries of poetry. Kyger is very much a poet of place, with a truly strong voice -- delicate, graceful, and never wasteful; her poems explore themese of friendship, love, community, and morality, and draw on Native American myth as well as Asian religion and philosophy. Kyger's love for poetry manifests itself in a grander scheme of consiousness-expansion and lesson, but always in the realm of every day.
After finishing school at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Joanne Kyger came north to San Francisco in 1957 where she informally studied with Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer and participated in the San Francisco Renaissance of writers & poets. She also met many of the writers of the newly defined "Beat Generation." She went on to spend four years in Kyoto and India, before returning to California. Further travels took her to Europe and New York City before she settled on the coast north of San Francisco. She has published over 20 books of poetry. She teaches summers at Naropa University's Writing Program and at New College of San Francisco. She was a winner of the National Poetry Series in 1983 for her book Going On. Her most recent book is As Ever: Selected Poems from Penguin Putnam 2002. |
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