Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A poem by KP

oh thou passionate and fragile being
thou who succumbs to the arrows and stones of thy harsh world
thou tortured soul and center of the world
thy ego shall be ignored forever in thy screamless frenzy
a narcotic escape into chaos
a pointless endeviour to find inner peace
until the ruptures swollow you or you take on new roles in some stiff and fixed order
a new found happiness in your mania

~ KP

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Not being too busy

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world
 we lose connection with one another and ourselves. 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

This kind of fire

sometimes I think the gods
deliberately keep pushing me
into the fire
just to hear me
yelp 
a few good
lines.

they just aren’t going to
let me retire
silk scarf about neck
giving lectures at 
Yale.

the gods need me to
entertain them.

they must be terribly
bored with all
the others

and I am too.

and now my cigarette lighter
has gone dry.
I sit here
hopelessly
flicking it.

this kind of fire
they can’t give
me.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Clearer and cleaner mirror

As you live deeper in the heart,
the mirror gets clearer and cleaner.

~ Rumi

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I have nothing to teach

Searching for words,
Hunting for phrases,
When will it end?
Esteeming knowledge
And gathering information
Only maddens the spirit.
Just entrust yourself
To your own nature,
Empty and illuminating
Beyond this,
I have nothing to teach.

Being dew

Like vanishing dew,
a passing apparition
or sudden flash
of lightning – already gone –
thus should one regard one's self.

Ikkyu

Monday, February 4, 2013

The woman who walks alone

The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd.
The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Napoleon to Josephine

Spring 1797

To Josephine,

I love you no longer; on the contrary, I detest you. you are a wretch, truly perverse, truly stupid, a real Cinderella. You never write to me at all, you do not love your husband; you know the pleasure that your letters give him yet you cannot even manage to write him half a dozen lines, dashed off in a moment! What then do you do all day, Madame? What business is so vital that it robs you of the time to write to your faithful lover? What attachment can be stifling and pushing aside the love, the tender and constant love which you promised him? Who can this wonderful new lover be who takes up your every moment, rules your days and prevents you from devoting your attention to your husband?

Beware, Josephine; one fine night the doors will be broken down and there I shall be. In truth, I am worried, my love, to have no news from you; write me a four page letter instantly made up from those delightful words which fill my heart with emotion and joy. I hope to hold you in my arms before long, when I shall lavish upon you a million kisses, burning as the equatorial sun.