I learned to drive a manual transmission at twelve or thirteen years old, maybe fourteen, out in the Washington desert with my old man, in a car exactly like this. Usually as the sun set over the channeled scablands of the Columbia Basin. Usually Dad had a tall vodka with ice, neat between his knees. … [read more]
Fire, please
Fire, please pass me by Please pass by the firs, spruce, and pines, the cactus, grasses and wildflowers, the bears and lions, deer and foxes, turkeys and rabbits, jays, squirrels, spiders, snakes and unseens. Fire, please pass us by. Please pass by my friend Joan and her community in Santa Fe Please pass by Diana, … [read more]
Covid Dharma
Covid Dharma 23 January, 2021 I do my best to toe the line in these covid days. So I rarely start the car, rarely drive the twelve minutes down the 1,700 feet and six miles to people, conversation, culture, comida Mexicana, and gas stations. But I went for a haircut today, fantasized showing up in … [read more]
Dawn
A circle of friends shares the darkness and tastes the silence two hours each morning. The sun rises at seven. -Geoff Shōun’Keeffe October 2021
Avian Mishegoss
Avian Mishegoss Before dawn, sitting in the dark, all the zendo windows are open and the air moves gently, a perfect temperature for me in a Golden State Warriors t-shirt, breezes dry and savory with the smells of crisping wildflowers and high mountain grasses. As if on cue, a hundred crows, jays, woodpeckers … [read more]
Sun Ra on a hot summer day
Sun Ra on a Hot Summer Day It’s a languid, Sun Ra sort of afternoon, memories peek out from the shadows, thoughts soft and ill-formed. “Really, is that true?” I am left with, “I don’t believe I know.” We have thirty air conditioners for these hot days and they all open. Proper interior temperature management … [read more]
