The Trouble with You, Bella Levenshteyn
The trouble with you Bella Levenshteyn Is not that your soul is too small The “trouble” with you Is that your soul is too big It takes in and encompasses Everybody
Category: Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
Dostoevsky Wrote That Beauty Will Save the World
Years ago A friend gave me a Thomas Merton book– New Seeds of Contemplation— He inscribed it with the following From poet W.H. Auden: “The funniest and kindest of mortals Are those who are most…
When I Listen and Re-listen to Your Messages
I listened to your voicemail at 3:21 am today Or is it tomorrow? I’m lost, but it doesn’t matter Because I always have your voice messages to reorient me Working the night shift 14 hours…
United States of Ch’an (Round up of the Last Week)
Reading Penelope Fitzgerald is ch’an Stretching out on the beach is ch’an Quitting your suckey job is ch’an Sitting and not being productive is ch’an Befriending your arch-nemesis is ch’an Attending to your 13th patient…
Le Monomanie Merveilleux
Learn it by heart Sur mes cahiers d’écolier Summon it when staring into the abyss Sur toutes les pages blanches Translate it into new millennial American English Sur l’écho de mon enfance One year, translate…
Beautiful
6:00 a.m. Already 88 degrees Dear Bella In Spiritual Practice class yesterday I asked the students to make a list Of their ordinary daily activities They took a few minutes And came up with a…
Candor
Perry When we ran into each other On the sidewalk in front of Gelato Supreme And I asked you, “Hey, when can we get together again? Last Monday was so long ago!” You raised that…
The Simple Things
Walking in Forest Park Watching the baby ducks Receiving each others’ stories Seeing the blue sky Smiling in the present moment There we were: Paradise –from novel-in-progress, Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
Would Someone Please Start an Institute for the Cultivation of Slowness?
Rushing is a way of life We’re speed freaks Yeah it’s a drug Move the mind Faster and faster Get more done Faster and faster Our lives are one long Stair Master’s routine The pace…
Cece’s Smile
For Mary and Matt A while after Mev died I went to a gathering at Jesuit Hall In honor of Guadalupe Carney Who had lived in Honduras with the poor Scores of people were there…