POET'S RESPONSE TO LAO TZU, Chapter 4

TRUE OF TRUTH

Is it true that truth is a deep water well

more ancient than divinity; a water well

older than earth, older than water?

A well so deep and clean that we

can draw from its darkness for

all the generations of human need.

The need of the first woman to

wash blood from the eyes and

lips of the first human child.

A child struggling between her

legs in the African grass where

the first human birth pains had

brought her to her knees.

Is it true that truth is an

unpolluted water well

in constant use but

never used up?

A liquid void, cleaner than time,

colder than space, as empty as

infinity, never fouled nor dry?

It was surely true that truth

was pouring forth to purify the

first mother’s first child.

Is it likewise true that those

waters will be waiting to

cleanse the final mother’s

final child?

- don brennan Tao Ch.4

Poet's response to Lao Tzu, Chapter 3

NO GROVELING

Groveling before the violent,

sneaking envious glances at

their greed as we bleed

has the desired effect of

rendering us irrelevant.

Theft creates both poverty

and the power to steal even

more, which is done to us

insidiously, with calculated

corporate efficiency.

And so we turn to teachers

of spirituality to inform us

of the benefits of virtue and

humility.

Without reaching out their

hands or writing us any

cheques, our gurus seek

to inspire equanimity.

Kindness, peace and love

are somehow superior to

wallowing in dollars, we

are assured, and

It is highly

recommended that we

stop our groveling, and

Look within.

- don brennan Tao Ch. 3

Poetic response to Lao Tzu, Chapter 2

THESE ORDINARY THINGS

These things which each day

run circles in our minds

create phenomenal performances,

using the brain for a stage.

Doing pirouettes, leaping higher

than air, thick or thin, they don’t

seem to care.

Attempting to drift like rose petals

in a storm, using our astonished

eyes all the while as spotlights.

Dipping low as rainfall

seeking its own level.

Twirling near, then far in

effortless pas de deux.

Yet their incessant drama seems

incomprehensible, beyond our reach.

These ordinary things are short as

time, and just as long; both right and

wrong, like harmony and song.

Still we pursue their meanings until

we stumble upon some ancient truth,

claiming victory with a gasp,

yet running last.

- don brennan Tao Ch. 2

Lao Tzu

A Lao Tzu Project:

I am working on a "re-interpretation" of Tao Te Ching, an 81 chapter summation of his personal spirituality compiled by Lao Tzu (551 - 479 B.C.E.). My interpretations are based primarily on the translation of the Tao Te Ching published by Stephen Mitchell in 1988. Then, in response to each chapter, I am composing a poem. The poetry below will eventually consist of 81 different pieces, each in response to its corresponding chapter of Lao Tzu, whose work, according to Mitchell, is "The most widely translated book in world literature, after the Bible." - Don Brennan 04-23-2011

1. NOTHING WE DO 03-06-11

Everything we look for

behind our backs or in dusty

corners is always waiting like a

birthday surprise, or a memory.

A single glass bead, fallen

from its broken carnival chain,

stepped upon, tripped over,

kicked behind the back into a

cranny amongst the dust bunnies.

In the search for what is lost

we tend to tangle ourselves

into slap-stick webs in order to

trip ourselves into miracles.

We even take hope from rubbing

noses with near death experience,

or even drugs, alcohol and other

petty methods of destruction.

But struggling in fear to find a way,

we lose ourselves even further.

Until in despair, in dread,

the search is abandoned.

In exhaustion and abandoment, the

desire to be found loses its strangle

hold, breaks its bones and fingers

upon the lies we have told ourselves.

Then, in our darkness within the

darkness, we are suddenly found

by that which we no longer seek.

- ã don brennan Tao Ch. 1