The Miracle of Being Cheerful
Years of nausea Anxiety Affliction Heart being battered Hourly taking up your cross And carrying it Night after day Day after night And when I’ve seen you Always that smile Always that glow Always that…
Category: Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
News from Bella in New York
Dear Poet Who Summons Other Poets, I wrote this on July 4th at 12:50 am and I think it relates to some of the questions you asked me in a recent voicemail. Come see me,…
Grow Saint Louis Vietnam
Grow Saint Louis! Monsanto gives charity 20,000 dollar grants To those local organizations who compete against each other To get the most votes Charity (and competition) has its place People will tell me Grow Vietnam?…
Gratitude Makes the World Go Around
Dear Brother in the Uprising against Shmegeggedom Thank you for the times in Café Voltaire (I feel privileged to be able to steal a weekly spot in your schedule) Thank you for being a clown sometimes…
I’m Getting Better at This
A beautiful sunny afternoon 70 degrees Dear Bella Levenshtein For months I’ve wanted to visit with you But packed schedules The oddities of time and noncoincidences of space Emails unresponded to It didn’t ever happen…
Beethoven, Smiling
In the posh concert hall The renowned symphony orchestra is going to town Offering the rapt, elegant audience A rousing rendition A awesome interpretation Of the Ninth Symphony Lo and behold it’s the famed Fourth…
Father Daughter Bond
She was an undergraduate at Georgetown Her father was a successful, ambitious, and wealthy man She and he had an arrangement That was based on total candor Mid-evening he would call her from New York…
It’s Pounded into Our Heads since Kindergarten
It’s pounded into our heads since kindergarten It gradually inflates the metallic balloon of the self It feeds delusion 24/7 It renders invisible the needs of others It’s A.P. everything It’s resumé padding It’s the…
Bella Levenshteyn’s Jewish Litany
Dear Shimmelstoy I’ve been thinking about our last conversation And while I have some sympathy For those who agonize about Jewish identity For me anyway it’s gotten clearer In these past few years Thank you…
Does the Buddha Smile in Hell?
Does the Buddha smile in hell? Many devoted practitioners would immediately say “Yes, of course, he is the Buddha after all” Equanimity Detachment Vast knowledge of the chain of cause and effect Would he smile as…