One evening on my porch In August 2020— After a day of dodging stressful calls, During a week, month, and year That I have very much panicked And sobbed my way through, A mechanic algorithm Shifts joyful immersion In celebratory songs To mournful ballads Stealing cultivated lightness of being And souring goodness of mood With suggested songs That tug on the corners Of my angst But still, I stay locked in Because I crave it Until In the midst of melodic wailing My emotional sh

A Poem of a layperson: Part I I move closer to Nirvana By the presence and attention Worthy of every moment of life— Not just the quiet, The easy, The planned, And the expected. That’s what they say, And sitting atop A black and white mandala Embroidered on a meditation cushion Or walking step by step Over grassy knolls and concrete sidewalks With a focus on the immediacy of existence, I’ve seen it to be true— For a minute, anyway Here and there, anyhow In between recurrent

The poem Immeasurable refers to Buddhism's Four Immeasurables--for the hopeful, a prayer of sorts; for the secular, a way of reforming one's intentions towards others via active reinforcement of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

For those likewise caught up in the thick of it, here is an intention to set for your upcoming week: Embrace Flowing Emotions...Name Them... Throw Them Back!

Meeting We meet each other Wearing coats of practical invisibility To the souls beyond our shells— Mere glimpses Of that collection of aggregates That forge our personhood Blind to who we are And who we might be We grow to see the other To both share And find Discontinuity To love Until we find the edges Of our borders To learn Where crossover And impassivity Exist To experience The connections That foster closing distances Between ourselves And the limits to our linkages Bur