Doing

do you control your activities

or do your activities control you?

Existence

Existence

does not exist

except as a concept

in your head

Food Paradox

More people die

from eating too much food

than for too little

Blinds open

I open the blinds

life resumes

the blue tit at the nut feeder

Creation and The End

The world begins

and ends

with a cup of green tea

Hanging out the Washing

Hanging out the washing

is as important

as finding a cure for cancer

The Day Begins

The day begins

well no, it doesn't

there is always day

before we wake

and after we go to sleep

when there is night

there is also day

we are just an atom

in infinity

our perceptions

an atom's view

of the infinite

Scotland Needs Koans

Scotland needs koans

It has religions

it has politics

it has ideologies

it has identities

it has fanatics

it has bigots

it has issues galore

and beauty galore

but it doesn't have koans

and Scotland needs koans.

This is a koan.

Work on it, Scotland

Holy Communion

Early morning

I have communion with green tea

I connect with all

Mind Moments

There are always moments

moments with others

where eyes and ears

and sometimes touch and smell and taste

are all engaged

moments alone

where eyes and ears

and touch and smell and taste

are all engaged

but in a different way

than with others

and there are moments

mind moments

moments when the mind

conjures up imaginary worlds

not real but like real

often too too realistic

dream worlds of love and hate

lust and peace

great evil and great kindness

moments there

then gone

gone moments

gone forever

Stuff

Wow!

Stuff

More stuff

always stuff

pouring out of LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Twisted

Fatuous

Libelous

Stuff

we could do without

Stuff

we should do without

In place of Stuff?

Non-stuff

Quiet

rest

peace

no more stuff

In This World

In this world

you can get lost

in so many different ways

It's hard to remember who you are

when you are lost in those ways

Caught up in trivia

mired in a funny film

hellbent on purpose

in a search for meaning

that doesn't exist

Thank God then for the sages of old

to whom all this was foretold

that we would all be drifting

through a war of idiocy

and that we should accept it all

without rancour or fanaticism

leave to Fate that which is Fate's

and it's all Fate's

enjoy the ride

put up with the bumps

and don't ever believe your deepest thoughts

It is time

it is time

time to go

time to go home

time to know home

time to have no home

time to have no one to be home

time to not be

time to not know

In Sorrow

They live in sorrow

now and tomorrow

and forever after

they, without laughter

though laugh, they do

a pretence for you

In secret pain

again and again

they live with such grief

and with no belief

they see it all through

just for me, and for you

but in their quiet breath

they long for sweet death

to come as their friend

and make it all end

there they'll find release

and know they're at peace

Expectation

I sit here expecting.

Expecting what?

Expecting nothing.

I wait and then it turns up.

Nothing.

Nothing?

I'm disappointed.

I was expecting something better.

Today He Wrote Nothing (For Daniil Kharms, Russian Poet and Short Story Writer)

 February 3, 1942

Daniil Kharms was full of charms

so they let him die a death

he wasn't absurd

wouldn't have liked the word

to describe his type of breath

the psychiatric ward

for this literary lord

was in a prison hospital

all those who went there

received little real care

which generally does belittle

The NKVD

Have a remarkable CV

when it comes to destroying lives

whether farmers or writers

police or fire fighters

even both husbands and wives

So the day before this

Kharms died in his cell

today he wrote nothing

tomorrow as well.

forever now he will write nothing

and nothing

and nothing again

until his nothingness fills every book in this world.