ON LAO TZU CH. 19

WHAT SHALL WE DO?

What shall we do about the

Wise and holy men who offer

Perpetual war and the

Death of the planet in exchange

For industry and profit?

Abandon them.

Pay attention to our own selves.

On Lao Tzu, Ch. 18

HUMMINGBIRDS AND THE SUN

Pretending to be good,

we often forget the innocence of the sun

and the divinity of hummingbirds.

Terrorized by rape,

we tend to rage at our children, and to

think of that as love.

In despair of freedom, we ask that

the most dreadful men condescend

to be our masters.

Believing ourselves lost,

without protection in

space and time,

burdened by impotence,

We abandon the courage to see

that we are all as innocent as the sun

and divine, like hummingbirds.

- Don Brennan

on lao tzu ch. 17

DARK AND SILENT (soliloquy)

You’re always dragging my ass out into these bright shiny places you love so much.

Don’t you get it? Truth travels in the dark as well as in the light.

And this noise, this shouting out your various ecstasies. . .

Missing out on silence isn’t my idea of a good time.

And just where, may I ask, did you acquire the need to find spotlights everywhere and to dance in them?

Quiet conversation seems to whisper, in your ear, only of loss; stir your mind’s most profound fears, as though your soul were fragile, ephemeral, about to head for the black holes; to disappear forever.

Don’t you get it? Truth, joy, faith and hope also whisper in the dark; also dwell in the silent places you’re determined to avoid.

The light is lost in itself without darkness, and without them both, we cannot see.

Also, noise and silence need one another, just like I need you and you, I believe and hope, need me.

- don brennan Tao, Ch. 17.

On lao tzu ch. 16

PEACE

When your neck snaps

like an awakening,

Jerking you back as a

cur on a leash about to

roll in something dead,

You are reminded.

Progress does not flow

from wallowing

in a Lazyboy.

You growl in protest.

This world is suffering.

Only emptiness is peace.

- Tao, Ch. 16

on lao tzu ch. 15

LEGENDARY TEACHERS

You might see, from time to time,

one of those profound and subtle

teachers striding carefully, as though

crossing an iced-over stream.

You might notice that she is acutely

alert, as though murderers and thieves

had been reported in the neighborhood.

Yet you might marvel at his courtesy

under duress, as though he were a guest

in your home.

These legendary teachers are themselves

fluid, like plunging waterfalls, yet patient

as hewn stones awaiting a sculptor.

She can often seem dark and mysterious,

an immense cavern beneath the earth,

as opaque as muddy water.

Who can wait without complaint for the

mud to settle? Who can be still until

action is necessary?

Legendary teachers, who need not seek

fulfillment in what is transitory, find

a way to live without clinging

to desire.

- don brennan Tao Ch. 15

on lao tzu ch. 14

EMPTY US

sometimes we creep to the

edge of the void, lean way

over, squint our eyes, and

see nothing.

so we close our eyes and

just listen for some clues,

yet hear nothing.

so we reach way over the

edge, stretch out our arms,

but find nothing to grasp.

that is how we learn to

stand, to turn and to walk

our paths through this

transitory life;

neither seeing, nor hearing,

nor in possession of our own

emptiness.

- don brennan Tao Ch. 13

on lao tzu ch. 13

HOPING FOR SUCCESS

Success and Hope love to dance

at a dizzying pace, like mismatched

ballerinas or underweight strippers

bumping and grinding on a bartop

for five dollar tips.

Failure and Fear are always in the

audience applauding, jeering,

wishing they too might take the

stage one day; get their own

stockings stuffed.

Outside in the cold night air,

the soul of humanity waits

patiently for the show to be

over.

- don brennan, Tao, ch. 13

on lao tzu ch. 12

WHAT SHE SAID

what she said filled my eyes

with too many colors to see,

deafened my ears that were

straining to listen.

she was attempting by her

silence to convince me to

stay by her side after she

dissappears.

what she said strengthened

my desperate heart, drew

my attention to all that

must be left unspoken.

each life means everything

is what she said.

- don brennan TAO ch. 12

Response to Lao Tzu, Chapter 11

BIKE WRECKS

Without emptiness we

would lack, at best,

our three dimensions.

Bike wrecks would be

unavoidable.

Flowers would remain

unarranged.

Left without rooms,

would we simply be

crushed?

Not-being sustains

all that exists,

Does she not?

- don

Response to Lao Tzu, chapter 10

THE STRUGGLE

A mind overrun by monkies, a

Body made rigid by age, an

Inward vision lost in fog, a

Desire to control, shrinking

the soul.

What is to be done?

Surrender.

Response to Lao Tzu, chapter 9

DISTRACTION

This carving knife is dull.

I apologize, and also beg your

Pardon for spilling your tea.

Pehaps I am distracted by

My fear of poverty, or

What you might think of me.

Poet's response to Lao Tzu, Chapter 8

VIOLENCE AND DESIRE

Violence and desire

are not unknown

to one another.

For whatever reasons,

these two sometimes

hang out, have a few

drinks together in our

brains, in our hearts.

Get drunk and

disorderly for their

pleasure in the two

most lavishly decorated

rooms of consciousness.

On such occasions,

violence and desire

like to bully peace and

justice, torment them;

Slap the virtuous prigs

around; force the pair

to seek refuge in deeper,

darker, quieter, simpler

regions of the mind.

Force them to turn for

reassurance, for intimacy

to humility and kindness.

- Tao Ch. 8