Ephemera
You read these few lines On October 3, 2014 For a few seconds of your one and only precious life In an hour you probably won’t remember these lines In a month you likely won’t…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Happy
Happy when Amazon.com doesn’t faze me Happy shutting up Happy patiently watering the impatiens Happy to be Joanie’s Feldenkrais student Happy to enjoy I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss
Breakdown (The Only Way through It Is through It)
Some of you may have read this before (Some of you have lived through this with me!) I’ve been in many intense conversations lately Which have reminded me of the centrality Of accompaniment, which is love in…
“What Would You Think about…?”
It happens regularly I’m at a café Could be one of five I patronize And my friend and I are going at it I’ll notice that glow That wetness in the eyes That voice shifting…
Time To Get down to Business
“I always knew you were majnoon.” “I never denied it.” “But this time you’ve gone too far.” “It makes perfect sense to me!” “You want to learn…” “Judge ye not!” “You want to learn Korean,…
Three Anthologies
Cristina, As you continue your journey into the world of poetry, I can enthusiastically recommend the following anthologies compiled by Eliot Weinberger: The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry American Poetry since 1950: Innovators and…
Russia Ruminations
The Avatamsaka Sutra has this teaching: The one contains the all Today Anna Khodorovich and Zhenya Safina enthusiastically shared Their Russian culture in our Intercultural Studies class They gave us a fascinating overview of a…
How To Give Compliments
It’s easy Pay attention Notice little particulars about a person Exactly not the kind of thing that would be announced with fanfare on Facebook It could be her subtle flair for fashion, having a periwinkle…
Loveliness
In one of the Metta Writing classes this summer We wrote off a topic suggested by Sharon Salzberg’s book Lovingkindness: Our very own loveliness My loveliness is verbal: “You can do it” “Why not?”…
Poetry Is Endless
I keep in one file poems I love It’s my own anthology I read & reread poems at least a half hour every day I have many more to add… (Like Li Ch’ing-Chao, Du Fu,…