Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Support writing, poetry and the arts by supporting Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Sunflower
Continue to Support this wonderful book center, Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 East Locust Street, Milwaukee WI 53212 (414) 263-5001 E-Mail: woddlandpattern@sbcglobal.net Wed Site: www.woodlandpattern.org/
On January 31st there was the 15th Annual Poetry Marathon & Benefit from 10am until 1am.
150 Poets read for 5 minutes each and over 400 people attended. Every hour on the hour for 15 hours, the room seemed change with listeners of the muses of many. It was my second year and it was fun reading and receiving the love as our 4-5pm MC ask the listeners. A years membership is $35 and supports great readings, workshops and special events. Join from far and near. If I ever figure out how to put my grand-daughter's 5 minutes today at a 5th Grade poetry reading I will. The kids were wonderful. Thanks for your support of poetry! the arts! the world!

trails of smoke and then...

Poem to Palestinian Mothers yesterday in response to a picture of rockets landing on children and families, supported by the government of the USA:

trails of smoke
falling into my village
not the trails of angels but of violence
against my family, my neighbors even those I do not get along with
why?
Why?
why?
trails of smoke from the rockets
marked by the USA
sold to the killing nation of Israel
to kill the innocents
trails of smoke in the sky
run for cover
pray for peace, yes, peace
and maybe quiet...

Monday, January 26, 2009

Taking Refuge

Taking Refuge

To take refuge in the Buddha means acknowledging the seed of enlightenment that is within ourselves, the possibility of freedom. It also means taking refuge in those qualities which the Buddha embodies; qualities like fearlessness, wisdom, love and compassion.

Taking refuge in the Dharma means taking refuge in the law, in the way things are; it is acknowledging our surrender to the truth, allowing the Dharma to unfold within us.

Taking refuge in the Sangha means taking support in the community, in all of us helping one another towards enlightenment and freedom.


(From my work at Fox Lake, Red Granite & New Lisbson Correctional Institutions with the Sanghas' )

Not Listening...a poem, roaming NYC

Not Listening

Everyone is talking…into plastic

Not talking to others, not living

Turn it off…

See eye ball to eye ball

Belly button to belly button

Be human not digital

Love, baby love! 6/17/06 NYC koshin

Thought for the week from Thomas Merton, a monk, a writer

Though there is no use in placing our hopes on a totally utopian new world in which everyone is sublimely merciful, we are obliged as Christians to seek some way of giving the mercy and compassion of Christ a social, even a political, dimension. The eschatological function of mercy, we repeat, is to prepare the Christian transformation of the world, and to usher in the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is manifestly "not of this world" (all forms of millennial and messianic Christianity to the contrary), but it demands to be typified and prepared by such forms of heroic social witness that makes Christian mercy plain and evident in the world....
Christian mercy must discover, in faith, in the Spirit, a power strong enough to initiate the transformation of the world into a realm of understanding, unity and relative peace, where [humankind], nations and societies are willing to make the enormous sacrifices required if they are to communicate intelligibly with one another, understand one another, cooperate with one another in feeding the hungry millions and in building a world of peace.

Thomas Merton. Love and Living. Naomi Burton Stone and Brother Patrick Hart, editors. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1979): 219.


Thought for the Day

Mercy heals in every way. It heals bodies, spirits, society, and history. It is the only force that can only heal and save.

Love and Living: 216


Saturday, January 24, 2009

My Baby is 32 Years Old Today January 24, 2009

THIRTY TWO YEARS, since you graced this earth

what a trip this has been

Japan, Tenn.. the world has seen your beauty,

your grace and your smarts

I am blessed to be your Dad

Adia - a gift from God, all the time

a Muslim/Swale (sp) name

that fits you perfectly

like the reality of this world

diverse in its creation and beauty,

you hold all in who you are

a fine mother

who loves and cares for her

two angels (angels, most the time, ha ha)

who cares for others be fore yourself,

without a doubt

We are proud of you Adia

love you and want only the best for you

have a great day, a great year towards #33

know your Daddy loves you Adia,

Karen loves you,

all the family loves you,

in fact, all the world loves you,

your Adia, a GIFT from God!

A Poem for my 11th Grandchild, Liv Mary Ingvoldstad born January 23, 2009

Welcome to this vast universe Liv Mary

we can't wait to meet you, hold you

and tell you how much you are loved

your parents are a wonderful pair

you three will have fun

on this journey called life

we are excited with all your couzins

uncles and aunts grandpa's and grandma's

President Obama is happy you are HERE too!

Have a great second day on earth

hi to your mom and dad

we love you Liv Mary, grandma Karen and grandpa Bob

from the cold but warm home in the woods

looking forward to your visit here some time...

see ya in Brooklynnnnnnn

Sent by email Sat Morn, 012409

Monday, January 19, 2009

tears, the moment, hope by ko shin


012009



I bet you enjoy a beautiful sunset or sun rise, I do

During these winter days, short as they are trying to grow longer\

The sun, shinning through the bare tree and pines,

Looking for a family of deer or other forms of nature that reminds us

Daily, they were here first.

I am trying to get hold of a feeling, an emotion, a sense

The kind that brings tears to your eyes for no reason,

At least not sadness or loss…

I watch the tube, the TV, the HD whatever it has become

I see what is happening on the Mall in DC

The joy, the high emotions, the diversity in the crowd

And I am moved to tears, not unlike the beauty of this creation

Brings us too often…

This is not foolishness,

Or a feeling brought by the moment itself, but much more…

It is a real feel, a sense...

A sense of hope, of "we can", things "might" change…

Now what they ask?

Who knows!

The Buddha is helpful here for all

Live in the moment ko shin, everyone, not in illusions of the future

Or running from the past…

Skillful and un Skillful come to mind…

Will we act skillfully in all we do as citizens, government, administration?

Or continue a seemingly conscious program of unskillful actions, actions of violence, torture,

And distrust…

Maybe that is the feel, the sense, I am pointing to in myself,

I believe in this moment, this hope is real

I hope you do too.

Not for the feel-good but for the future of the earth!

"may I have your right hand" the guard in the lobby asks me as I enter,

Not the senior dance, but the prison blocks, to be checked at least twice until I leave…

Sitting in silence, in zazen, with my dharma brothers, while the world celebrates

A new time.

When will their new time come?

Yes, when they learn to be skillful in all the do, say and think…

Yet, are we housing people who did unskillful things and hurt folks

Or, like our government, our nation, our communities

Are we willing to empower transformation with all the risk that takes?

Zazen, meditation, silence, focus on the breath, quiet is what finally creates the new earth.

Not the magic of an outside force or spirit

But grasping, now, in ourselves the spirit that is us, our being.

I reflect on President Obama, what do I see?

I see a human being who has grasped his being, at least for this moment…

Oh, that you and I can follow that model,

Not for perfection, but for skilful means, actions and peace.

It is time to listen to our spirits my sisters and brothers of this wonderful and troubled universe,

We are beginning again, and again, and again…

Peace…ko shin,

Tears, reality and the Moment (ko shin)

012809 edited a bit


beginning again and again, inside the cell, outside in our own cells…..

I bet you enjoy a beautiful sunset or sun rise, I do

During these winter days, short as they are trying to grow longer\

The sun, shinning through the bare tree and pines,

Looking for a family of deer or other forms of nature that reminds us Daily, they were here first.


I am trying to get hold of a feeling, an emotion, a sense

The kind that brings tears to your eyes for no reason,

At least not sadness or loss…

I watch the tube, the TV, the HD whatever it has become

I see what is happening on the Mall in DC

The joy, the high emotions, the diversity in the crowd

And I am moved to tears, not unlike the beauty of this creation

Brings us too often…

This is not foolishness,

Or a feeling brought by the moment itself, but much more…

It is a real feel, a sense...

A sense of hope, of "we can", things "might" change…

Now what they ask?

Who knows!

The Buddha is helpful here for all

Live in the moment ko shin, everyone, not in illusions of the future

Or running from the past…

Skillful and un-Skillful come to mind…

Will we act skillfully in all we do as citizens, government, administration?

Or continue a seemingly conscious program of unskillful actions, actions of violence, torture, And distrust…

Maybe that is the feel, the sense, I am pointing to in myself,

I believe in this moment, this hope is real

I hope you do too.

Not for the feel-good but for the future of the earth!

"may I have your right hand" the guard in the lobby asks me as I enter,

Not the senior dance, but the prison blocks, to be checked at least twice until I leave…

Sitting in silence, in zazen, with my dharma brothers, while the world celebrates

A new time.

When will their new time come?

Yes, when they learn to be skillful in all they do, say and think…

Yet, are we housing people who did unskillful things and hurt folks

Or, like our government, our nation, our communities

Are we willing to empower transformation with all the risk that takes?

Zazen, meditation, silence, focus on the breath, quiet is what finally creates the new earth.

Not the magic of an outside force or spirit coming in to fix it for us,

Bur we are the fixers in our own being,

But grasping, now, in ourselves the spirit that is us, our being.

I reflect on President Obama, what do I see?

I see a human being who has grasped his being, at least for this moment…

Oh, that you and I can follow that model,

Not for perfection, but for skilful means, actions and peace.

It is time to listen to our spirits my sisters and brothers of this wonderful and troubled universe,

We are beginning again, and again, and again…

Peace…ko shin,

Friday, January 16, 2009

Welcome

Welcome to ko shin's blog! Please leave a comment or two, maybe we can connect somehow through this maze of blogging...have a wonderful day and night...

Here are a couple of recent poems for ya all, enjoy and respond, love conversation....and you!

We search and pray for balance

In all things in our lives

in the life of our world.

Peace is all we search for

even when it seems impossible

when will we learn?

when will we learn?

I often find the quite of the place I dwell,

almost unreal, so quiet, so beautiful,

when others must look out for violence entering their space...

where is our balance as a world?

leaders bragging they broke the laws of human rights, tortured others in our name,

and we do nothing, our new leaders seem to do nothing...

we see it happening the we argue about arguing

when will we learn?

where is the balance?

oh, it is here, where? you ask

search in your heart, that light, the Buddha within

yes, the balance comes, the peace begins with me,

with you, with the Sangha, the community of spirit,

whatever the path...begin to live your path for, in, peace...

early morning, Jan. 13, 2009, tons of light, quiet snow, and the winds of peace, ko shin


thoughts become words

behavior,

habit,

values,

destiny


woman’s voices

sing ancient texts

fresh water falls

time to leave

autumn leaves falling

new life, old journey

no map, same path

no end, only rest places

the sun always comes

the leaves fall

the creatures sleep

life is grace

An orange sun sets

evening cool

everyone is mine

red pork chop

little bugs

barf

ha, what a feeling...

092602 Ann Arbor