the edge

some days
so early
staff leaning  - crook of my arm
sipping coffee
astride a dark path

dim light
of a crescent moon sky

are there any more poems
out in that forest

today
even the temple dog
stays on the edge

coffee light

slow creaking bones
in creaking chair
the tired monk waits

deep in an early morning stare
thoughts blurred...unformed
eyelids sink....

...til the coffee light flicks on



Fresh Olsonomics Blog Post...check it.

a lesson?

novice monk
brimming with anger
loading bitter blocks...
caustic shoulder chips

they'll stack high
eventually break your spirit
before they break your back

tired monk ponders - what words to give...

...change your mind - change your path



Checkout this fine post.

yellow headphone meditations

i) tired monk icons

Buddha busts, crucifixes and stained glass...nah
at most a leather Bible tucked
elbow deep under the truck seat

ii) tired monk icons

yellow twisted wire headphones
boxy tape deck whirring
battered cassette case
rock n'wrestling posters faded
but tacked tight to garage walls

iii) tired monk music - (Sony Walkman Sport Edition)

a monk's sacred music:
chanting monks from Tibetan mountain tops,
Gregorian masses, Handel...Bach?

no

just heavy beat sermons
by Beastie Boys, and old master Downie



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Morning Monk Work

that morning work
that morning monk work
readying and rousing
a temple

like monks world over:
prayers, poems, fire stoking,
tea brewing, sacred breakfast prep

in the tired monk temple
there is snow shovelling,
morning weight bench meditation
temple dog walking
and a dark forest coffee

..temple cat demands a break from
all this nasty scuttling work
she needs attention, warm and purring
on monk robes

the main duty
the key duty

set the novices on the path

Uniform

uniform is just that
one...oneness...in a sea of others
a sea of monks
but - there is only one tired monk

in these parts anyways

hair cropped skull cap tight
no locks of vanity
but everyone asks..."can I touch your head?"

big flowing robes
prayer beads swaying...swinging
wool socks in sandals...these winter days

the tired monk fades into one last aspect of his uniform
the ancient yellow headphones
of his sony walkman



Olsonomics: New Post

death, burial, resurrection

first told about being
reborn in a blessed baptism
in the midst of a dump run
deep and dirty

what better place?

...You should get baptised...even Jesus did.

oh sure
I had old lingering monk vows
but my robes remained dry
but flecked with twenty more years
of dump heap dirt

thoughts kept flowing back
to garbage dump wisdom

more and more novices looked
to me
to lead

I repented of sin and religion
changed red robes for white

being reborn
can be a process
slow to sudden like any birth

a tired monk work out

got this old robe
cinched tighter than a title belt
cinched up Jacob tight
and ready to lift

old tired monk muscles wake
dormant no more
woken by the same
bars, and weight stacked bench
from those novice years