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Poetry

Bukowski, Roll the Dice

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

If you’re going to try, go all the

way.

otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the

way.

this could mean losing girlfriends,

wives, relatives, jobs and

maybe your mind.

go all the way.

it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.

it could mean freezing on a

park bench.

it could mean jail,

it could mean derision,

mockery,

isolation.

isolation is the gift,

all others are a test of your

endurance, of

how much you really want to

do it.

and you’ll do it

despite rejection and the worst odds

and it will be better than

anything else

you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,

go all the way.

there is no other feeling like

that.

you will be alone with the gods

and the nights will flame with

fire.

do it, do it, do it.

do it.

all the way.

all the way.

you will ride life straight to

perfect laughter, its

the only good fight

there is.

And I’m doing it

Enduring the long distance between us

Facing myself when there’s silence and darkness

Working while loosing my passion for it

Living in a city that left me long ago

Pushing time forward

Trying to live my dream

Holding my future closeby

Reading Wilde’s words

And still smiling

Because

I’m doing it!

Norman Fischer on Suffering

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

A great talk on the nature of suffering with correlations between Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish systems of belief and practice.  The formal talk is followed by a reading of some amazing new poems (even if you’re not usually into poetry these are quite good!).  I have a hunch that Fischer will resonate with fans of John Darnielle / The Mountain Goats, as both have a striking, compassionate way of crafting new mythological characters in an endearing first-person narrative.

Complete talk available here from Dharmaseed.org or cut into smaller mp3′s below.

normfischer

01 – Talk on Suffering

02 – Intro To Poems

03 – Prayer To Remove Fear And See The World’s Beauty

04 – Prayer For My Wife

05 – Prayer Of Gratitude

06 – Prayer For Laborers

07 – Closing Comments

Mary Oliver – The Journey

Monday, March 30th, 2009

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver