Cosmic Equanimity

For every Yes in the Universe

there is a No.

Every time a flower blooms,

a light goes out, as if a lightning bug

ran out of battery.

This universal balance proves why there is

as much dark matter as trillions of

powerfully lit galaxies.

What does this mean for us lonely humans

mired in the 21^st century?

Whatever we do or don’t do on Planet Earth

will be compensated for.

None of our attachments,

as gloriously as they feel,

will affect cosmic equanimity.

Now go through your day

remembering   Ahimsa,

the harmlessness that creation is.

                       

In the Art Studio

She was a sexual object.

He was a sexual subject.

They met in rooms and alleyways.

They dined alone, but always within

sight

of one another.

They dreamed of asexual reproduction.

They had wicked affairs with

candy canes and fur-lined gloves.

They told other people everything

but the truth.

They sat and gazed at the utter

nudity of creation

and

came up blank.

The Loiterer

This poem won't ask you any questions.

It won't reveal anything you can't see, taste, touch, smell or hear for your self.

This poem won't charge you anything,

not even in the fine print.

This poem won't offer any pithy advice, though it was surely tempting.

This poem won't plagiarize an old headstone that wished to leave someone

eternal encouragement.

This poem won't lament social, political or environmental blunders,

and I'm sorry if that's disappointing.

I guarantee this poem will be temporary,

like a sunset, like the beating heart so quiet in your chest.

This poem will not cite statistics to prove anything

remotely like the dilapidation of life on Earth.

This poem will not offer you discounts, rebates or subsidies,

though you're awful kind to be reading this far.

This poem will not memorize your preferences and pop up subtle ads like google eyes.

This poem will not charge you interest or raise prices to

keep you busier on the treadmill of work.

This poem may occasionally, sigh,

and roll on the ground, like a neighborhood kitty.

This poem may hover silently like raindrops,

pausing at the ends of branches, reflecting the entire world.

This poem may scream like children in a schoolyard

or a game show contestant having won that special prize selected just for them.

This poem will sleep with your best friends, but only to watch over them,

like dust over a piano.

Eating a Pomegranate

It’s a mess. 

Children crowded into an orphanage. 

You know you are supposed to choose one,

but they move together like a Greek chorus. 

They seem to be dreaming.

You don’t wish to hurt any of them but they

cry tears of sweet blood.

They hide so well, like cloistered monks

secreting away morsels of divine guidance.

Can you promise them something more

than desert rain?

When you’re finished,

without clothes or regret,

they will forgive you.

Inheritance

                        

think about how many people

how many beings loved their time

and passed it on

and we’ve picked it up

as deftly as a 4x100 sprinter

takes the baton

as innocently as a child

picks a shell along the shoreline.

and what have we done it with it

since?

struggled, aspired, resented, competed,

and ….occasionally

rested

in the beauty

waiting there,

behind the cloudy day.

and then it happens,

one fine day in May,

you’re standing at the edge of the forest

and the haunting call of the wood thrush

brushes your tender

heart.

and your plans come crashing down

like an Antarctic glacier

no ones watching.

you wish there were a vine

you could leap out on,

return to the jungle.

but

others rely on you

and you rely on them.

so you dry your tears

and carry on,

yet someday you’ll get

to pass it on,

for someone else to juggle with,

and you can follow the echo

of the wood thrush

or that beam of pinkish light

shooting up, through the cirrus,

or wherever, whatever

your spirit

wishes

to delight in.

Planetcide

in the natural world,

there are no questions,

there are a series of events,

water falling, meandering, birdsong echoing,

trees creaking, animals hunting, sleeping,

nature cleaning up its brief messes –

bloody carcasses swiftly cleansed and

returned to the elements.

in the human world

there is much drama

obsession with human survival,

habits, shortcuts,

a religion called “money”,

a small wish to benefit all beings,

that has been drowned out by the noise

of construction, war, coffee machines,

many ostrich heads buried in the sand of the

internet.

next month a meeting in Paris to decide the

fate of the two worlds,

many people will surely die if there is no

turnaround, many other beings will suffer death as well.

but there is little belief in universal sharing – the sun,

the wind, honest labor in the fields.

instead there is a crazy belief in GNP, in non-stop

growth, like cancer,

that glass and steel, concrete and oil can cure.

I see Ghandhi-ji in a corner of the room, spinning

the white thread, smiling that far away smile.

And in the distance the sound of elephants and

whales, loons and lemurs – asking…

how will you vote?

what will you tell your children?

Gauging if you are a CREATIVE SUCCESS

Are you trying to decide whether or not to continue a creative endeavor

on the basis of whether you’ve been “successful” or not?

Does engaging in the endeavor itself, feel transparent to you? (like breathing)

example:  I love to cook and when I get in the kitchen and start whipping together a

grouping of fresh ingredients (some from my garden) I quickly become immersed (in a most positive way).  The finished product, whether adored or merely tolerated does not matter.  The cooking itself is reward enough.

Are you trying to sell your creative result and do you judge its success on $ales figures?

Many artists never even attempt to sell their art because their artistic creation is intrinsically rewarding or it hurts too much to contemplate the rejection(s) of prospective buyers.  This question really boils down to how “identified” you are with your artistic work.  If you are trying to get personal approval through your work, you are likely to get more hurt and pull back when being rejected.  If you can separate from your work and let it navigate its own way, then you are more likely to have the patience to see through a work to its fruition. 

Usually publishing houses simply choose what they believe has the greatest chance to sell effectively period.  (staying in business is job #1)

Can you earn the bulk of your life survival expenses without creative revenue?

You’ve probably heard, “Don’t give up your day job!” enough to know that very few creative people make full-time salaries from their work.  Most artists build up their following over several years, if not decades.  Staying humble, soliciting and listening objectively to others feedback, while continuing to produce and submit are the marks of mature artists who gradually earn a living through their creative work.

Build long-term relationships with successful creative arts media people.

When you finally breakthrough and get that first work accepted and produced, nourish the relationships with the key people that made that endeavor a success.  It is much easier to replicate a successful production with channels that are proven.  Example: Even great actresses like Meryl Streep had to know how to be as well liked by agents, producers and distributors as her large audience following.

Set and evaluate realistic goals

Make a five-year chart,  Start with modest goals and a gradual increase.  At quarterly intervals mark special recognition activities for the people who help make your work a

commercial success.  Thank you letters, in-person visits, gifts, postcards, public acknowledgements, whatever touches the hearts and keeps your hard-working fans continuing to invest in your (hopefully mutual) success.

Are you vulnerable and transparent about your artistic work and process?

People inherently wish to help others.  If you are open and vulnerable about your work, you are way more likely to engage the marathon-supporter organ of teammates, their hearts.  Be up front and truthful about what you wish in specific, time-detailed terms.

“I would my short story to be published in a major magazine, like Harpers by the end of 2015.”  “I need help getting in front of the publisher at Harpers, can you help me?”

Build a small cadre of acquaintances, who give you reliable feedback on your work

Don’t subject your friends and family to being your sole art reviewers.  Patiently recruit others who find the occasional review refreshing and desirable.  When you reach a critical mass, say 9, of people who give you definitive approval and say things like, “this is as good as anything I’ve seen in our Metropolitan Museum.”, then move forward full speed ahead.

Make your creative time sancrosanct and well-known to everyone you know

If everyone knows that from 7-9am you are in your studio, making “xyz”, you will not be disturbed, and you will have every opportunity to fulfill your daily creative productivity quota (set this in advance!).

Set non-negotiable daily rewards and practice them and your artwork like clockwork

Every day of the year I meditate, do yoga and get a walk outside – the three take about 90 minutes out of my day and they make my life a work of art, regardless of whatever else happens.

Do you find you are more prone to acceptance, happiness and patience when you are practicing your artwork, your daily rewards and maintaining good boundaries in all your obligations?

Restlessness and soft addictions (procrastination, food-binging, etc.) are the signs of a moldering integrity.  When you are fully engaged with both your art and your life, you are a happier human being.

Are you regularly surprised by how your work touches others?

Years ago I met a woman in a hair salon whose husband had just died.  I read her a poem from my book.  She bought a copy and said, “I will read that poem daily so my husband’s soul will rest easy.

How to decrease CO2 and alleviate climate change?

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20 Ways to Make a Low-Carbon Difference

1.     Walk, bike, and use mass transit

2.     Grow more of your own food

3.     Make some of your clothes

4.     Use more durable goods e.g. shoes that can be resoled, a swiss army knife

5.     Add solar PV and hot water systems to home and/or business

6.     Share an all-electric car w/family and/or neighbors

7.     Use a push-mower and an electric weed-wacker

8.     Canoe or kayak instead of gas-powered boat

9.     Write with a fountain pen instead of throwaway plastic ones

10.  Wear durable hemp clothing

11.  Hang dry your clothes instead of a dryer 

12.  Carry a backpack or canvas bag, a stainless steel water bottle & and glass storage containers (only buy items with minimal and recyclable packaging)

13.  Plan long-distance trips via sustainable transportation (electric car, electric train, sailboat, bicycle, horse, kayak) – airplanes produce 2% of greenhouses gases

14.  Vacation locally (“staycation”) less than 200 miles from your home

15.  Eat vegan or vegetarian frequently

16.  Avoid and replace plastics whenever possible

17.  Live close to work or create a community-based business where you work in and around your home/neighborhood

18.  Source the majority of your food and other products from within 200 miles of your home (farmers markets, CSAs, bulk organic, homecrafters)

19.  Initiate alternative activities to the “entertainment/sports industry” (a very high-carbon industry) – e.g. community pot-lucks, meaningful movie documentaries, volunteering, helping disadvantaged neighbors, community gardens/farms, teaching/learning resilience skills and organizing fun/engaging community activities that forge trusting and cooperative neighborhood relationships.

20.  Get more safe and accessible bike lanes in your neighborhoods so students will bike.

These are actions you can take at the personal and community levels.

Let’s look at how you can influence the next three levels – regional, national and

international.

Regional Influence

get to know the “power players” in your region who are making significant reductions

to greenhouse gases and providing working alternatives to high-carbon and toxics.  also get to know who are the “power polluters”, companies with especially high levels of carbon/toxic output.  Contact some in both camps, complimenting the power players and asking them how you can help them be even more effective, providing constructive criticism of power polluters and finding out how they can be supported to implement healthier solutions. 

Identify opportunities for lowering carbon and still providing effective products and services.  If you, as I do, believe that the Postal Service could utilize all-electric delivery vehicles (esp. in urban areas!) contact your Federal Government reps and your local Postal Service executives and encourage them to take action.  Research other countries that have solved this problem successfully and what manufacturers have provided those vehicles.

Washington State residents get 91% of the electricity from hydro-electric sources.

The state’s last coal-fired power plant is set for de-commissioning soon.  Your state needs much more support for their utilities to acquire decentralized power producers

(windmills, micro-hydro, solar PV, etc.) and retool the electric grid to store and optimally utilize renewable-generated electricity.  Get involved at planning meetings, volunteer to help make it happen.

Regional organizations are particularly suited for the wide-scale adoption of electric-assist bicycles/scooters and electric cars.  Find a successful independent landscaper who uses only manual or electric powered tools (mower/blower/trimmer) and feature them in an article or in other ways (like at a regional landscapers association conference!) that helps other landscapers replicate the same winning method.

Talk to the company public information officer of a regional trucking company and find out if they are re-investing in clean electric rail or other low-carbon alternatives to diesel trucks (even using 20% biodiesel!).  Encourage them to shift their investments, especially to keep their profit margins healthy!

The concrete industry is one of the highest CO2 emitters.  Ask a regional concrete manufacturer what they are doing to provide CO2 lowering alternatives like HempCrete.

Cheer on regional builders who are using salvaged materials and give them great PR. 

Support regional carbon taxes that benefit those who are demonstrating lowered CO2 output.  Take from the high carbon emitters and give to the low carbon ones.

Whose maintaining your regional forests?  How are Weyerhauser, Plum Creek and other “timber” companies doing to shift their businesses into more sustainable resources – pulping paper “farms” are touted as “sustainable”, but are they if they permanently remove habitat and kill off other species?  Who is planting fast-growing tree areas and encouraging the sequestration of carbon?

Home and office heating produces about 1/3 of your regions’ CO2.  Are businesses dialing down heating systems in off hours?  Is there regional financial support for home and business owners to finance an alternative system e.g. solar/wind generated electricity powering heat pumps and/or radiant-floor heating systems? 

What products are shipped long-distances into Puget Sound?

Which of these could be made in the Pacific Northwest?

What are local substitutes for far-shipped goods? e.g. blackberries instead of bananas

National

The Puget Sound region is one of the healthier regions in the country with mild climate, copious hydroelectric, mondo recycling/composting, extensive gardening and high levels of climate awareness.  What we can do is to take solutions we have and offer them to areas of the country that are currently challenged.  Waste recovery, composting, electric transportation, home/neighborhood food production, bartering are just some of the areas that could be made available to other regions of the US.

Start with those you know in other regions.  Call them and have an engaging conversation on which areas they have challenges and who the key players are that could turn that around.  Which of these key players could be introduced to our solvers?

It could be as simple as showing them how to start a carpooling system.  Or demoing alternative transportation – electric cars, bikes and scooters.  Or giving a slide show on a particularly successful p-patch (Picardo?!) and what it took to make it flourish.

Find out which agencies give grants for work to spread sustainable solutions to other regions and apply.  You could partner with one of the Scallops groups – e.g. Sustainable West Seattle to have an organization behind your effort.

What feasible renewable energy options are not being developed in your area? identify areas and prospective suppliers, reach out to one, e.g. contact a medium-sized municipality in Utah and find out why they aren’t developing solar technology to full advantage.

You will be amazed by how much of the US doesn’t recycle, compost, build renewable energy systems, use alternative transportation, demand organic/non-GMO foods or simply take global climate change seriously in specific areas.  The key is to be open and accepting of those who are unaware of these opportunities and baby feed them ways to get started. 

Many regions are suspicious of government agencies introducing changes, but might be open to trusted local people making suggestions – hence empowering a known local person to

take the lead is much more likely to succeed.

Win-Win scenarios are a must.  Whenever you ask people to make changes they have to see benefits in it for themselves.  To get someone to try out an electric car, you have to show them a well-written spreadsheet of costs associated with a conventional car.

Gas, oil, other repairs & maintenance, durability (how long is that car going to maintain its functionality and value?), serviceability (parts and mechanics).  If the change is going to substantially improve their bottom line, they might consider it.  One great way to proceed is to appeal to groups (churches, community orgs, schools, non-profits, etc.) because group-adoption is much easier when individuals know that several other people are taking the same risks right alongside them.

International

This is a much more difficult undertaking because of language barriers, distance and the challenges of transferring solutions to another culture.  One of the best ways to approach this is to educate people from other countries here and get them to take the lead in their communities when they return to their country.  EarthCorps (in Magnuson Park) is a great model organization that teaches young people from other countries skills in land reclamation/remediation that they can take back with them.  Another approach is to contact an American companies doing business (e.g. has a factory) overseas and find out if they would be willing to empower their international employees with sustainability tools.

If they see enough positive PR for their sales/marketing they just might take this on.

Another way to look at this is to use what I call the digging out the dandelion from the bottom of the root.  For example, GreenPeace has proceeded to get the Japanese whaling fleet to desist from killing whales.  As long as there is a strong demand market for whale meat products, it is likely that someone is going to hunt whales for that market.  If you introduce an alternative food –say a raw vegetable combination that could serve as a tasty

alternative to the whale meat and that gains popularity you have found a way to change the market demand (the “root”) without wasting time/effort trying to change (the “leaves”) i.e. the effects – the habitual ways a large market desire is satisfied.

In Africa, providing clean cookstoves to mothers/grandmothers who do the lions share of food preparation, is one way to reduce greenhouse gases and provide healthier environments for child-rearing (google “Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves”).

In many cases poverty is the root cause of expedient choices being made in Third-World countries – they need a quick, working solution and they choose the most cost-effective and available solution.  Case-in-point: if 2-stroke motorcycles and scooters are what is being made most available – Thai hill-tribe leaders will choose these for their villages.

Who in Thai government and industry is responsible for transport vehicle imports?

Yes, it may be challenging to install solar PV-electrical generation equipment in Hill tribe country but what is the best long-term solution for all parties?  Finding equipment providers and installers may be difficult initially but once these get established they will grow and proliferate throughout the region and serve as potential models for nearby countries. 

Another way to influence international sustainability efforts is to participate in eco-travel geared toward meeting villagers/urbanites who are already making changes or open to them.   Celebrating small steps: installing LED lighting, using alternatives to ICEs (internal combustion engines) push-mowers, solar cookers/hot water.  Most gains are to be made in urban areas, where sustainable solutions will serve and influence the most.

Lagos, Nigeria is a place where electric transportation could make a huge difference.

Once again, choose an area that has little or no stewardship.  Do you know who monitors or works with international shipping companies that use Bunker “C” oil (one of the most polluting fuels out there) in their freighters?  Which ones are open to alternatives – modifying their ships to use sail support (large para-sails which cut fuel consumption significantly) or bio-diesel/electric engines and PV arrays?

If every citizen in China installed solar PV panels on their residence, how many coal-fired power plants could be de-commissioned?  If India taxed carbon and gave subsidies

for bicycles, electric bikes/scooters and electric rail travel, how quickly could ICE cars

be replaced?

What if regions that have over harvested their forests planted hemp to give them fiber they could use for fires, clothes, fuel, food and more?  Hemp is one of the miracle plants that grows with little to no inputs (fertilizers, pesticides) and yields tremendous quantities of fiber and seed.  Find a place in just such a need and send them hemp seed (sourced from Canada).

One of the greatest challenges is fostering self-sufficiency and resilience in international regions.  Much of China produces export commodities made in huge factories to satiate the voracious desires of Western consumers.  A tremendous quantity of these items are made of plastics and quickly break, ending up in landfills (and often out in the sea where they are hazardous to much sea life).   How do we encourage Chinese workers and owners to make more durable goods (less obsolete goods) and help resist the demands of Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Home Depot?  Many Chinese-Americans are acutely aware of these problems and open to influencing their connections still back in China.  Work with them by showing them examples of Chinese-made products that have broken and the more durable replacements.

Summary:  how you live serves as a model for many others and powerfully influences choices of people all around you. E.g.  I ripped out my grass lawn after moving into a Seattle home in 1997, and after 16 years of organic gardening I can look up and down my block and see organic gardens in front of almost every home.

Every solar PV installation is generating capacity that doesn’t need to be supplied by a new fossil-fuel fired power plant.  Every bicycle or EV (electric vehicle) trip is carbon that is kept out of our atmosphere and vulnerable oceans.  Every serving of home-grown fruits or vegetables is food that doesn’t need to be grown elsewhere and shipped here.   Every durable good from a hemp hat to a Swiss army knife can provide decades of dependable use, reduce landfills and slow down global climate change.  Every time you don’t get in an airplane you influence others to take “staycations” and choose local/regional trips that help the planet breath easier.

There is no doubt that living lighter on our planet takes more awareness, discipline and attentiveness but with 7 billion of us living on the planet, if we don’t succeed in creating

sustainable cities, suburbs and rural areas – we are in for some very scary scenarios.

Best of luck and skill crafting a sustainable livelihood for you, your family, your community and your planet.  Mother Earth and your great-great-great-great grandchildren thank you.

Oregon, Illinois, Christchurch NZ

Solution

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you are phenomena,

like aurora borealis, rainbows, 

cherry blossoms basking aloft, then dancing in the street.

the meaning of life is written in sign language:

fingers of sea-foam tip-toeing up the long shoreline…

the purpose of life is to be here always,

like the Buddha’s smile,

smiling the world awake,

love abiding.

play long notes, tune the orchestra of gifts.

give attention to what is working,

what could work ever more

harmoniously.

release your struggle, 

like you do each garment, every night.

there is no better place to go, all is here.

see like sunlight, 

lighting up dust motes,

lost in their turning.

leave your wants, as stacked rocks, 

balanced at the water’s edge. 

your job is to teach and learn,

receiving w/ humility, giving w/o strings.

welcome what is uncomfortable,

the screaming child, the terrified adult,

they are but a cleansing storm.

there is no security to hoard,

money, so much desert sand...

invest in each other,

in hummingbird-flowers,

in oases, where every creature is celebrated.

there is no need to survive

ask a tree root

given passage

through the boulder.

Scrawled

what does graffiti tell you?

I mean, that graffiti, high on the train trestle,

30-40 feet above pavement

it could be code, anthropologists stay up nights,

to crack

could it be pretty nonsense? 
silently pointing to 
subtle, magical presence

it mocks modern infrastructure,

lost in speed, efficacy... metallic somnolence

a sudden cartoon, an ugly tattoo to obliterated commons

abandoned buildings celebrated by the dispossessed.

anonymists, sucking toluene perfume, 

climbing insane

angles, reclaiming the terrified night, 

have disappeared…

like cockroaches, like bats.

Stop us in our tracks,

let us SEE the world 
we have defaced.

In the time of ingenuity and indifference

Whether the sky is blue or gray, the civil war still proceeds
across America.
The polemics, (a couple in upstate Michigan?) are as original as sin..
the definition of marriage
the status of a corporation
the right to arm the temporarily insane
freedom or responsibility

i don't know if the red states and the blue states will
resolve their petty differences short of warfare,
but it is certain that neither can rest without ceaseless
recrimination

kindwhile, the swallows and bats and occasional nighthawk
appear at twilight
to help both
with the mosquitoes

Wilder than Anyone can Imagine

How many donuts do they eat in West Texas?

and how many cups of bitter coffee does it take to wash them down?

While how many songs of love-gone-wrong wail in the background?

But maybe you’ve seen the orange dirt,

sculpted up on a coiled outcropping,

smiling like an original piece of the Sun,

happy to wander alongside the orange pronghorns.

Maybe the coyotes, sagebrush, copperheads and turkey vultures

are relieved we keep to the interstate.

The “something wild” flavor of Earth didn’t disappear with ground down

dinosaur bones.  And it won’t go away when those eerie petroleum pumps,

laboring away in the Sonoran desert,

suck up empty like straws at the bottom of finished milkshakes.

There is a boulder country just northwest of Ft. Collins, Colorado

where I swear

the rocks ARE buddhas,

dreaming up new forms to occupy emptiness.

like the male peacock (Awe-Awe-Awe-Awe),

who displays our passion for this beautiful planet.

However long or wide your bountiful valley runs,

each day,

lay down like a neighborhood kitty,

roll in source material.

it won’t be long till we’re dating again

like some dashing new version of hermit crabs.

All the Flourishes

See the little adornments,

a pearl earring,

a flimsy scarf,

a brightly painted metal rooster along the walkway,

a basket of fuchsias,

a grouping of grandma’s knickknacks.

what can you say when life is slipping away

from a loved one?

“Thanks for all the flourishes.”

look at the winter witch-hazel, awash

with fragrant blossoms,

while other plants slumber.

I’d like to sprinkle petals where you’ve gone.

wink at you like a firefly

reach back to the bright child,

offering,

giving away what no one owns.