On sale now!

it's away!

I just sent the manuscript to the editor!

All in all:
62 pages
10,514 words
1 play
30 poems by me
4 poems by other people

Next step: looking for a book cover, finalizing edits, and then off to the book designer

Look to see it out this Fall from Meritage Press!

battling gods

From website Killing the Buddha:

The idea of "killing the Buddha" comes from a famous Zen line, the context of which is easy to imagine: After years on his cushion, a monk has what he believes is a breakthrough: a glimpse of nirvana, the Buddhamind, the big pay-off. Reporting the experience to his master, however, he is informed that what has happened is par for the course, nothing special, maybe even damaging to his pursuit. And then the master gives the student dismaying advice: If you meet the Buddha, he says, kill him.

Why kill the Buddha? Because the Buddha you meet is not the true Buddha, but an expression of your longing. If this Buddha is not killed he will only stand in your way.

convergence

I now understand the current convergence of things in my life. Why Kali's blade. Why a book chapter I've been asked to write. I believe in paths and purpose. I believe in the convergence of experience and people as part of a greater lesson and message. I had been fighting with the why for some time. I had all sorts of crazy doubts and fears that had to nothing to do with that real purpose. They had been holding back. I had been holding back. This isn't just about a couple of books. It's about something more. A way to facilitate part of the journey. I have been set free.

This week's count

19 poems; 1 play; 44 pages

tower of babel

I'm working on a poem that contains four different languages, none of them English. Not to say I have a thing against English. If I had remembered any decent amounts of my one year of junior high school German, it would have been five. I'm not quite up to the way my friend L speaks English/Chinese/Spanish like it's one language. I still wrote out complete sentences. But there were times when I was taking French class that I wasn't exactly sure what language I was thinking in, much less speaking in and certainly some languages in my head pushed their way to the conscious lobes more often.

I was inspired by Ernesto Priego's Not Even Dogs, where in a few poems he mixes lines of Spanish, French, and English quite fluidly.

With the mix of languages, it's an interesting piece to hear read outloud. If I ever read it at a reading, I'm going to have to practice reshaping my mouth on the fly.