Enactment: A Bit of Everything

When the phone rings,
I never know,
To whom I’m going to speak
(No caller ID, you see)

And so it’s
Always a surprise.
Will it be unpleasant?
Or will it be pleasant?

Will it be a telemarketer?
Or a long lost friend
Or a telephone survey again
Or somebody I’d like to know better.

This uncertainty
Brings me back
To life itself,
What it’s all about

But this too I do not know,
Of meaning neither,
Although I’ve searched for it
Off and on;

It appears incurable,
This hankering after
People to talk at
And yet, so few seem to listen.

But, today that’s okay,
I’m back at work
With plenty to do
And time to do it in,

It sure is a relief,
This sense of purpose,
Which arises by itself,
No matter what I do.

Enablement: Unsatisfactoryness and Nirvana

Unsatisfactoryness!
Ah, I’ve been seeing it
And recognizing
What is happening;

Then, walking down the street
I noticed unsatisfactoryness
But wondered, ‘what is that?’
And I investigated

And what I thought I found
Did astound!
For I thought
It looked like nirvana!

Then in my mind’s eye
I saw a benevolently smiling Buddha face
Floating in mid air
And I asked my question.

The reply was a wink
And a “what do you think?”
And I could make
No sense of it.

Then, today I thought
Many thoughts,
I looked at my slippered feet
And the looker and the looking

And I saw what I saw,
Which was most likely
Nothing at all!
But I enjoyed it anyway,

Tying everything up in knots,
Getting all entangled
In disentanglement
And then letting it all go.

Enabling: Mindfulness and More

When I stay
With what’s happening now,
Letting go of stories
About cause and effect,

The burden of the past
Drops away,
Leaving behind
A lightness of mind;

There’s only
A transparent,
Liquid
Flow,
A continuous awareness,

A viewing of thoughts,
A feeling of feelings,
A cascade of sensations,
A consciousness of consciousness,

Yet, nothing separates
Me from me,
Or one moment
From another,

Mental images
Come and go,
Ideas and impressions
Pass by,

As if, sitting on the shore
Of a moving stream,
The watching proceeds
As the water passes,

Sparkling in the sun,
Carrying thoughts like leaves,
Containing feelings and sensations
That ripple and resolve.