Poem # 2 with visual response

And now to address the other end - the breath. In the midst of daily living I'm always grateful for a reminder to enjoy stillness and to be conscious of how I'm actually breathing. Nothing more complicated than that - just to be still and feel my breath.

Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.

My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine
rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding
around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but
vegetables.


When you really look for me, you will see me
instantly --
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.


Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.

~Kabir

Not rushing the clouds for three minutes (video)

A pause at the end of March

We didn't expect to go back to breaking ice and spits of flurry.
We were ready to let the protection fall. We were ready for sleeping with the window open.

Clouds fell in the forest today. Cold killed the smell of the earth pushed up by sprouts and
the smell the skunk left trailing through the tree line.

Stillness holds the sound to my ear.
We're closed in together - the animals are aware. I can hear the leaves roll and crunch as feet move
self consciously, purposefully.

I pause here.
Knees locked like the horse in the mud.

Breath in -
chill air behind my eyes
Breath out -
warm vapor
resting on my lip and cooling

I'm the blanket on the mountain. I'm the crow in the tree.

"Clump of Trees in Winter" by Joichi Hoshi (1913-1979)