zen is like the air
it’s not always clear
but, it is there

like a river
is just a river
until it’s mentioned
it is like life and time
and flows one way
to an end

or spring
is just a season
till you mention autumn
and how one’s life
is entering winter

and water
is just water
till you fill a cup
half full

or a single drop
bands together
with more drops
to make a wave

air is just air
until you mention
life in every breath

zen is not always present
but it is there
like air

 

Art~

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Zen is addictive

I search daily for one defining moment of zen. A new perspective, a peek at the world in a way I haven’t yet seen it. I even get frustrated when I can’t find zen that day (meaning a new look at life) the other day it was 9 pm at night and I went for a short walk with the dog and thought I was not going to find zen that day when I found it, in a rock at my feet (that poem is coming, I edit and re-edit till I am satisfied with it) Like the story of  ‘the oyster,’ a zen tale that has been in my drafts for way to long because I don’t feel it has matured yet.

But the other day, I was at work, taking a short break, the cotton gin had caught on fire, they nearly burned down the last remaining operational cotton gin in Texas (ran by the state) but the inmates saved it. The smell of the fire was in the air, as well as millions of cotton fibers, floating everywhere. At first they appeared to be little butterfly’s till I narrowed it down to cotton fibers. But that was what spawned this poem. Not being able to find zen, it is sometimes transparent like air and I re-edited till the cotton fibers no longer existed in the poem any longer so I added this foot note to explain the poem’s birth and hopefully inspire others to search everyday for zen.

have a zen-filled day