Zen Chaos Writing 

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 shield of sound...

Numbers and Lists I find myself Trying to forget the numbers Even as the umbrella shelters Four noble truths Three marks of existence Five disassembled aggregates Three poisons and five fences Ten perfections and four sublime states Twelve fetters and equal consequences And at least five suggested commitments Under the eight steps we choose to walk— I find myself Trying to forget the numbers As it goes beyond numbers That suffering is life’s inevitability Caused by thirst and clinging But not...

Poem From Eightfold: Wonderland I have dived down the rabbit hole Chasing the elusive hare, Forever late for meeting myself Caught in lost presence— Fixated and unaware. I’ve fallen into a void of nothing, Grasping at, for, everything— Finding bits and pieces, Within the barren vacancy— Cherishing and clenching Whatever my hands could hit. I have dined with the mad Around warm tables with fuzzy tea Sharing visionary and lucid dreams— Swept out of my right mind, And anesthetized off my...