Moksha [gnomic verse]

The degrees of freedom   while daily diminished
                a prisoner of hope am I
shall we be demolished   before we are finished?
                who truly lives before they die?



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[Riffing on an utterance by Pragya Mishra Thakur]

American Buddhist Limerick

When the Lama paid visit to Nashville
did his begging bowl morph into Cashville?
      when you peer hard at life
      from the edge of a knive
all the flowers with aspects of ash fill

Bird Tattoo [ditty]

Woman of many birds   |  a tweeter on each extremity
humans may tweet in words   |  but avians hold the remedy

"Prediction" [gnomic verses]

Life is unpredictable one said?
life is not depictable I've read
those who strive to marshal a depiction
shall at best fail beautifully (prediction)

"After long delay" [gatha]

Finally settling to sit after long delay
life is dappled with multiple things to do
lacking either the wit or the time of day
still I'm bringing my vacuous mind to you

"Vituperation" [gnomic verses]

Vituperation   that verbal regurgitation
betokens   surplus emotional information
emotional assimilation   when accomplished
the urge for vituperative purge is largely vanquished



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Vituperation [Merriam-Webster online]

"The orchid" by Ni Tsan [translated from the classical Chinese]

The orchid lived   within a lonely valley
its inverted image   limned its own reflection
when no one had   beheld this subtle beauty
the vernal breeze   expelled a little laugh

"Turning the pages" [villanelle]

Invisibly turning the pages
perusing invisible ink
the tale is developed in stages

inscribed over epochs & ages
each letter a thought that you think
invisibly turning the pages

the birds are released from the cages
aflutter outside of the clink
the tale is developed in stages

who heeds the dark clue of dead sages?
who spies in the wall the bright chink?
invisibly turning the pages

projected on screens of Pantages
the film won't be missed in a blink
the tale is developed in stages

regrets are pernicious as rages
desires as noxious as stinks
invisibly turning the pages
the tale is developed in stages



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Responsive to David Hykes:
"Just want to be an open book with transparent pages and invisible ink, and then just see how it goes." [Facebook status update]

"Via a touchscreen" [gatha]

Were War & Peace enscribed   via a touchscreen
it'd take   more than a lifetime   to achieve
while in one's earthly tenure   there's been much seen
in which Janus mask   may one at last believe?

"Adorned" [ditty]

Across from Sunset Park
the afternoon serene
each day concludes in dark
each tree adorned in green

"Thumb-centric" [ditty]

Android Facebook so thumb-centric
    (erst touch typing with twain hands)
this the norm?   it seems eccentric
    dialogue amid headstands

"Culture is always..." [ditty]

Culture is always   something that grows
      yeast or love or yoghurt
when it is living   watch how it flows
      just ask Humphrey Bogart!



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An answering verse, responding to this:
Culture is always something that was,
Something pedants can measure,
Skull of bard, thigh of chief,
Depth of dried-up river.

--Patrick Kavanagh, "Memory of Brother Michael"

After Rumi (couplet)

When you dwell in my eyes   peering through them see me
my abode who espies   far beyond what eyes see?




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Based on this (presumably literal) translation from the Persian (provenance unknown):
Come into my eyes, and look at me through them,
for I have chosen a home far beyond what eyes can see.

Blue Danube [nonsense verse]

The Danube's not blue   but the Kona is red
with premise not true   the conclusion is dead
Picasso's guitar   proved Stevensian blue
but who told the Who   what Parvardigar said?

"Touchscreen verse" [ditty]

My first touchscreen verse
with toothpick for stylus
for better or worse
O universe! dial us


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But not (as yet) a smartphone; the T-Mobile [HTC] Touch is a loaner (till my likewise not-smart, but also not touchscreen] replacement LG phone arrives in mail a week from now. The presumed glories of smartphonedom remain in a vague, putative future for this versifier.

"The stage whisper" [gnomic verse]

The stage whisper has stages
ageless through many ages
with neither book nor binding
a universe of pages

Carl Stone's Pilgrimage [limerick]

When Sir Stone made his way to Assisi
would you say that the going was easy?
    as he reached the Portiuncula
    those who deemed him half-drunkula
were crazed wags playing rounds of Parchisi



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For Carl Stone (Wikipedia)
Parchisi (Wikipedia)