Song to the Buddha

Behind her The gravel swirled Her grandmothers wrists ached From daily raking * We stood between handpainted screens Nodding yes Do practice your English * Ten years old She recited a prayer for the Virgin Mary Spoken perfectly without any sense of its meaning * Grandmother So proud Said: all religion has the same core...

Half moon

It doesn’t matter if it’s a full moon or a half moon, but hold it between your first finger and thumb and press the palm sides of your fingers together so there is no gap, maximise contact with the body, the earth. Be polite with the surface, follow the contours, listen quietly as it tells...

Learning

To become a conduit of the Qi of Heaven and Earth Remove any excess power from your body Find a neutral posture * Before a true treatment You must clear the evils of the season Drain them out of the corner of the big toe

Rite to let go

We shuffle on hands and knees through a hole in a stone Hearts once broken * Glue paper prayers To the millions of others Layered like thatch On this monolith * Crawl front to back On shiny grey rock Oiled by countless palms To cut ties with destructive people * Crawling back through the hole...

On the train

Three teenage girls Unpick the polka dot stitches From their school neckties with ballpoint pens * A small boy carries his own weight in school books, a satchel, a lunch bag, a water bottle Chin strap attaching his bowler hat * A man reads a novel wrapped in a paper cover Eyes bulge * A...

Water

Where the Inland sea Joins the Pacific Ocean The water whirls Like deep sinking ships Drawing you down * When I first meet a person And they immediately take me To a body of water I know that we can be friends No matter the language * The magnificent ocean akin to Someone else’s glory...

Potter and Dyer

He spent 15 years perfecting the kiss of the lip of the cup to the mouth ** She dips a white square and draws out murky green She rinses in clear water leaving it brown She rings out the freshest blue The colour of the sky in midsummer Her deep indigo nails a homage to...

Arriving

Where spaciousness is valued as much as fullness Where I am having daily miso soup and seaweed Where Kites are as common as the British pigeon Where deer bow to ask for food Where tonight the moon was lying on her belly. * Where I observed one of my acupuncture teachers Yamamori Sensei treating an...

Inconvenience: the yoga of daily life

A low door in the wooden gate for using after dark fold forward plum wine in your belly A railway bridge you can push your bike under If you bend double arms ahead of you A small step to stand on while you take your shoes off Single leg squats while you manoeuvre Changing slippers...

Lake Biwa

Solitude slips over me like a fresh sheet Still mildly damp with dew It crumples around my body I resist awkwardly and then give in * A kite circles a tower block Back lit by a washed out setting sun It is nothing spectacular Except that I too am wonderfully alone * The garden turns...

Themes

Adopt To care for without owning Yet to make your own To let in Tradition The old ways What works plus ritual A way of passing down Exchange To swap ideas Knowing that blending And misinterpretation are guaranteed Medicine Healing the wounded With what you have Meeting, provoking, creating Community Gathering around a place A...