Table of Contents
Who are these men of ZenME and ZEN
by Jack Hriniak
living within the other of each other.
Who see something in nothing and call it everything.
With eyes so aware of another there
where
footprints run in the everywhere
and
in the nowhere
of
time and time
again.
Only
to reappear right here
where they have always been.
Eventually,
I step lightly
over
all and all
but
somehow
I
stumble and fall
into nothing in all.
Never will I comprehend Zen.
My mind as it is, apart from thought,
just lies in dust and rock.
Then and there I smiled a thought,
all I was not
I
am.
Praise & Blame, Loss & Gain
by Richard Denner
To be peace, empty, clear, compassionate in this
mad mix of good and evil and not escape through sleep
through normalcy, through wrapping myself in the flag
A prayer tree flutters in our town square
the prayer for war to disappear in this warm breeze
the leaves are prayers blowing in the deadly winds
On A Four Letter Word
by Shelly Reed
When I came for dinner,
an arrangement of scallops, asparagus,
the gift of pears over plain, white china
like a Bellanca canvas and as modest.
You wrapped yourself around me,
a shawl the last night in Autumn.
We sat together beneath
sibylline sky, comfortable
in our extending silences.
When did we discover this
consonance in day's good night?
We became cartographers,
mapping out our recluse.
When we took out seats the first dusk
of Winter, it was not frost
on my face I felt, but your hands,
warm like meditation and still
as breath held just before harmony
passes through it.
Love is a slice of blank;
it cannot distinguish when it began
or if there was a day when it was not.
and behind the curtain call of his eyes
a lost count of leading ladies
and the children they wore
beneath costumes
the knife he used to cut himself
free and exit stage left
through manmade sunsets
his mother's smile
and her chromatic hands
exercising along viola strings
then flaccid in the middle
of Brahms Hungarian Dance 5
the lover he came to know
with eyes the color of glaciers
against flawless sky
who as beautifully
made the call back
and prompted his disappearance
from playbills permanently
37 days
by Yosh
if it takes 37 days to figure out who won an election
how many years does it take to find Bin Laden?
and hope we limit our resources,
thinking about what's going on over here
we are in dire need of some direction
how many years does it take to rebuild Iraq?
and I hope we think about what we're doing
worrying about what's going on over here
a friend got laid off today
and by no fault of her own
had to cancel her communication lines
cause of course she couldn't pay the fines
and the spin is in the rhetoric of what's really important
listening to the news and sitting praying in the pews
it really doesn't matter if you're one of muslims, christians or jews,
it affects all american you's
it do it do
what about for you?
and if it takes 37 days to figure out an election
we should pick our fights with better selection
and worry about our own direction
even robert frost wouldn't want to get fired
for writing poetry on the job
yet who would pay the cost of being tired,
for writing poetry for the mob
pretty soon she'll find some work
hopefully something she's qualified to do
and not for some hard-assed jerk
as quickly she'll be through
and we are in tight times, of slight rhymes
of light minds, and fight lines.
"let's go to war!" some seem to say
while others scream, "don't waste our day!"
I'm feeling quite aroused by this,
I don't know what to do,
cause war seems real fun and nice
til the draft-card's stamp finds you
yet I know I'm probably okay
cause I have a trick bum knee
yet my 18 year-old brother's day
will seem to the government free
and for him I'd go to death
against someone I didn't care,
because it's kids like Seth
that shouldn't go over there
if it takes 37 days to figure out who won an election
how many years does it take to find Bin Laden?
and hope we limit our resources,
thinking about what's going on over here
we are in dire need of some direction
how many years does it take to rebuild Iraq?
and I hope we think about our direction
cause young lives we can never have back
What Color am I?
by Jasmine Javid
What color am I – we all bleed the same
Am I my skin or more than a name?
What labels am I that I don't qualify?
What choice to be born and still destined to die?
Are flowers in a garden all from the same seed?
Am I trash made by God because I'm not your pure breed?
untouchable, unlovable or just not your kind?
If you look deep inside do you fear what you'll find?
How plain a world would be with no color, no spice
-a uniform clone where boredom would suffice.
Don't mix me, just fix me – if only I could
I may be different but my heart's not of wood.
Dare I be sorry for not fitting your mold?
Do I deserve stones or somebody to hold?
If you should prick me, will I not cry?
What right to existence do we share, you and I?
If you look within, you may find me there
We're all refugees who seek to belong somewhere…
Letter to the Editor: Cherie Staples (skyearth1@aol.com).