Author: Michael G. Smith

Guest Post, Michael G. Smith: Some Truths About This Night’s Sky

Michael G. Smith

Some Truths About This Night’s Sky

Photo of poet, Michael G. Smith at Shiprock, New Mexico by Susan J. Preston. Used with permission.
Photo of poet, Michael G. Smith at Shiprock, New Mexico by Susan J. Preston. Used with permission.

Anchor points

bright they have nothing to ask

and nothing to say

 

each blink blink twinkle

an axiom

to live life by

 

this swatch of sky

the same in Kathmandu

and oddly different

 

each starless speck

a handle-free teacup

reminding me

 

to drink only what is needed

beyond the cosmos

all filled to the brim

 

Orion’s sword in the dark

of the playful summer days

it will become

 

footloose

and steadying

these my wander years

 

that light shifted red

I stare at now

no longer

 

 

Author note: Hsueh Tou Ch’ung Hsien (980 – 1052) wrote “beyond the cosmos all (is) filled to the brim”. A Ch’an (Zen) master, he compiled a set of 100 kung an (koans, “public cases” of ancient events) that ultimately became The Blue Cliff Record.

Guest Post, Michael G. Smith: Ten Locutions in Praise of Growing Things

Michael G. Smith

Growing Things

 i.

what is the middle of green?

ii.

an earthworm has no beginning or end

iii.

where does the rain hide after the clouds melt?

iv.

walking east expresses arriving from the west

v.

is every cherry blossom unrivaled like every snowflake?

vi.

the Earth glides through the sweetspot of the Sun’s rays

vii.

who is more humble, a bee or a glacier?

viii.

glazing the stop sign, verve and moss

ix.

hotter, habanero flesh or fumarole steam?

x.

time infinite, multiverse varied, please add your own