Bundled Up, Volume 5. Quintain Poems by Michael P. Garofalo. Quintain Sonnets, Cinquains, Pentastichs, Tankas, Wakas, Remarks, Time, Epigrams and Onions.

Remarks in Wittgenstein's Style

Poetry and Philosophy

2502.

Wake Up and Walk

Wake the sleeping dog up.
Time for our walk.
Shine not rain—our guide.
Headed energetically outside—
Bruno's tail wagged wildly this time.

Bruno, Our Dog

2503.

Do We Need a Ballroom?

Some people are wrecking balls,
Destroying things is their forte.
Give them a chance, a big mistake—
Get out of their way quickly today,
Before their rudderless ball goes astray.

White House West Wing Demolished

Quintain Poetry Sections on this Webpage
Quintain Sonnets, TextArt, Onions
Bundled Up, Volume 5

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions
Quintain Sonnets, TextArt

Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Sonnets, TextArt, Time
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Bundled Up, Volume 6
Quintain Sonnets, Time, Onions
Quintain Poems 3,000 - 3,500

2504.

pristine possibilities

in every moment
today is created anew—
          pristine possibilities
     changing opportunities
          depending on you

2505.

Here at Any Age

Nice to be Here
Nice to be 80
Nice to be respected
Nice to be healthy—
Nice to be Anywhere.

2506.

A False Call to Men

The Super Hero fantasy
Corrupts boys and men too weak-kneed, or
Confused by weak-minded toxic masculinity, and
He-Men mythologies:
Of brave manly daring Rescuer Deeds

Saving their clan from ruin and obscurity.
Superman's other-worldly powers desired
The male physique worshiped as Divine
The sure shooter's big guns admired
Craving the Nazi SS power to kill at any time

Wanting to control slave girls on their knees
With rich men controlling economies
With dictator's enslaving a whole country.
Being Sauron—A Lord of the Rings
Pressing the button on the hydrogen BomB Ring.

2507.

To Eat That or Not

To kill or not to kill
question answered by
the healthy vegan guy—
with some free will
skilled in spreading goodwill

2508.

Cayucos Quintain Prosody

A               Northern lights
A    in the Pullman night
A    an unusual sight—
B       students gather for the Aurora's colored show
B       standing on muddied snow.

Northern Lights

Pullman, Washington

Quintain Rhyme Schemes

2509.

Why is there Something rather than nothing?
Because, there Is Something rather than nothing!

Is Mu Dark Matter?
Is Light Speed Time?
Is Gravity a Ball of Strings?
Is a Mind a Body-Brain?
Questioning, wondering, ideas rain.

2510.

Cold Bathroom in December

trimming my beard
shaving my face
my bald head—
needs little attention
but for some cream

2511.

Who Are We Talking About?

She got promoted
but her
Peter Principle
pulled her confidence
into madness.

Peter Principal

2512.

Do You Want to Buy It?

Words on a pixeled screens
puzzling me—
sidebar boxes selling things
alluring images marketing
things unmatched to my real needs.

2513.

Later!

"It really is not the moment."
It's not a good time.
Something's important here!
We'll talk later.
See Ya! Bye.

2514.

Campfire Offerings in the Fog

       Cold legs warming under an afghan
       Ears cozy under a red wool beanie
       My neck covered by an infinity scarf band—
So we gathered round the glowing fire ring
And sent our words and smoke to celestial beings.

2515.

"Opening my toybox after all this time
Those within saw my look and my shame,
They knew of my life, and was not to blame.
So I spoke with, Kanga and Wambi again,
Clearing memories covered in dust and grime."

- Ryter Roethicle

2516.

Did Richard Rorty Read Poetry

Did Schopenhauer play the flute?
Did Kant walk everyday at noon?
Did Socrates wrestle for fun?
Was Marcus Aurelius an Emperor?
Was Martin Heidegger a Nazi stooge?

2517.

"Ever since seeing John Wayne
on the movie screen
I've had a thing for the cowboy.
Like them long and lean
and if shy, I don't complain.

- Judi Van Gorder

2518.

Dreams of Gertrude Jekyll's
Munstead Wood Garden

My plush green oversized chair
held my big body up in the air
as I stared out the side window
admiring my evergreen jardin lindo
thinking of design ideas

Slipping into a lazy nap
Dreampt of imaginative gardens

wandering by Monet's Lilly pond
amazed by Merwin's huge Palm garden
impressed by Hass's Apples in Olema
stunned by the Ryoan-Ji Rock garden
impressed by Jekyll's Munstead Wood

Then, I awoke, with a start,
Walked outside and watered.

2519.

"I stood apart in that achievement,
in that power to expose
the underlying body, like a god
for whose deed
there is no parallel in the natural world."

- Louise Gluck, Dedication to Hunger

2520.

The Compass Points to Kindness

The Moral Compass of Buddhism:
Points to Compassion and Mindfulness,
Respect for all living beings,
Decency, detachment, Dharma,
Treading the Path to Enlightenment.

Buddhism

Virtue Ethics

Fifth Precept of Buddhism

2521.

The Pokeweed Sutra

I saw the sunflower
tall by the railroad tracks
where Ginsberg and Kerouac laughed,
and heard the horn of an oncoming train
and passed a joint of seedy pot

Dazed-dozed-stoned on cannabis contented
marveled at the big clumps of green pokeweed

A common weed with a
reputation of toxicity;
like human beings gripped by greed,
or mercenaries killing for drugs and green money,
or politicians lying through their dirty teeth;

but, while intoxicated on Weed, injuring their heartbeat;
they ignored the advice of the Buddhist's Fifth Precept.

Pokeweed

2522.

Not using certainty
As a functional criterion;
Frees us to find
Reliable solutions to our
Problems at hand.

2523.

Fourteen Acts I Do Every Day
at 8o Years of Age

Get Up, Stand, Move; Plan
Eat breakfast; Think
Talk with my wife; Listen
Read, Learn; Reflect
Tend to our garden, Smile; Wonder

Write, Web Publish, Journal, Blog; Communicate
Enjoy Walking, Exercise; Encourage Others

Mind My Own Business; Work
Play Music, Dance, Art; Energize
Do Household Chores, Help; Contribute
Clean my Body, Drink Water; Purify
Socialize; Communicate for Peace

Eat Lunch and/or Dinner; Gratitude
Sleep; Dream

2524.

A new green wool beanie
Tops my white bald head
Warms up my pink brain.
Hides my crusty red scalp sores,
Under a overturned green bowl

2525.

Vampires in the Hoh Forest

The Town of Forks hosts Vampires,
teenage blood suckers on the night prowl, and
teenage Werewolves howling, running fast.
Humans afraid of these creatures’ wrath.

Human, not so human, called by the Night,
confused, resisting, teenagers losing the fight
against inner demons and lusty needs
and ordinary life with real human beings.

Many beings eat, fight and kill to survive;
wily, tricky, stealthy, with a hunter’s pride.
The Horned God has history on his side.
From our Hungers there is no place to hide.

Hungers keep us all on the Edge,
ready to amorally pounce from a hedge
and slaughter or harvest creatures just ahead.
We are all Vampires rising from the dead.
Its said,
Living and dying scenes in a vivid Red.

2526.

Golfo de las Américas

King T commanded everyone to say
"Gulf of America" Not "Gulf of Mexico"
No matter what all the maps might display.
Better, Gulf of the Americas, si o no.

King T fires employees every day
Especially if you get in his way.
He knows well about bankruptcy,
Fraud, lies, legalese; so others can't see.

King T Orders: Open the Valves
Tap the "unlimited water" from
Canada and the Northwest.
Unlimited water is a myth.

King T is the Commander in Chief,
Head Honcho, President. Good grief!

2527.

So, so
I had a dream
or the dream had me
Pushed itself on me
Told me of my stupidity.

2528.

Awakening: Wednesday, 2/5/2025, 3:33 am

From the depths of my restless shallow sleep
My crusty eyes fluttered and blinked so slow
My fine dream scenes disappeared like snow
Melting on Rem Mountains wide and steep

I tried to remember those passing fancies
those jumbled meandering dreamlike flashes
those jerks and shudders over things fantastic
those jagged memories flowing fast

I stirred and stretched and opened my eyes
my mouth was a cotton ball of spit all dry
my back ached again on that damn left side
the bed creaked as I shifted where I lie

Too early to get up, turn on the lights, and read?
Or, fall back asleep, and birth more dream seeds?

2529.

She found God in goodness
He found God in peace
They found God in kindness
We found God in mindfulness—
Many found God in hate.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Hatred

2530.

The Ringing Gong

my zazen was writing
pencil in hand
sitting still for minutes
no special breathing
just moving my hand

Holding my eyes fixed on a Stellar Jay
sitting on the top of the wooden back gate

Opened the Gateless Gate,
creaking hinges sang,
a narrow passage opened;
saw a iron Temple Gong
never ever rung.

Held the gong mallet in my right hand,
Swinging hard, imagined the Gong rang.

Gateless Gate

2531.

Another Pulitzer Prize for poetry
Given to a diligent poet for honesty,
Who tries their best creatively,
Who offers words pleasing to read—
Still, I shake my head as to quality.

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

2532.

Empty Beer Cans on the Golf Course

Nectaries overripe mushy
closed doors open in Coos Bay
mortgage payment missed today
knocking Trump off his high horse
skipping over a dead golf course

Emptying words from the back of his car
answers in the back of the book

Home late for bean soup supper
rocky scramble down Mt. Starr
doing doughnuts in horse-around cars
peeing in my pants despite my hustle
laughing at self-strumming guitars

Finding meaning in empty jars
fortune cookies fake fortunes reading

2533.

Request for a Book

The phone rang,
my grand daughter's calling;
seeking advice on learning
more about great literature
from books in my home library. Surely!

2534.

Steigerwald Wildlife Refuge

Soggy soils at the Steigerwald Refuge tempting
thousands of geese, ducks, and birds to feed
in tall grasses, trees, and on the seeds of weeds
next to the Columbia River endlessly so running

Stepping though the muddy puddles slimy grime
on the hint of a trail to the Columbia levee’s line
we zipped on a raincoat as the drizzle fell down
marveled at the many kinds of birds all around

Sitting on the levee at the shins of the Cascades
watching barges slowly follow the Columbia’s way
to the Portland-Longview big ship docks today
while a kite-boarder rips a spinner in fast play

The quacking and tweeting rose to a din
while the River seem silent, hiding within

2535.

My dog, Bruno, and I often
slept on the floor together
during an afternoon nap.
Dogs sleep 14 hours a day;
We sleep 8. Most dogs are retired.

Bruno, Our Friendly Rottie

Sleep in Animals

2536.

Arbitrary Associations Impending

Combining the useful and not
was an activity he often fought.
Because, frequent repetition of
two variables, often led to
associations undesirable

He ate fried foods while he wrote,
soon he could not write sans Fritos.
He smoked while he worked,
soon he could not continue to work
without taking many a toke.

Associations like glue sticks and binds
creating connections and habits
he never expected at any time,
they multiplied like mice in his mind.

Break connections, divorce associations,
rally behind a his new he.
Avoiding these random associations,
he becomes free.

2537.

Once Given Away

Writing 2,600 quintains is easy.
Just sit and write some every day,
Think of what you want to say;
Say it, write it, give it away---
Once shared it's not yours anymore anyway.

2538.

I never had many friends
to balance my hermit's stance;
but, others offered me often very little
balanced against the time ill spent.
I'm a selfish easygoing solitary.

Friendship

Hermits

2539.

May your days be pleasant,
May your love unfold,
May your community hold,
May our Earth be loved, and

Please, do good for others,
Promptly, for our time is measured— cold.

2540.

Han Shan lived contemplatively
In mountain huts and homes
Away from the Cold Mountain snow
Sitting close to a small stove
Our Taoist poet shivering.

Han Shan

Taoism

Keesler Air Force Base TAC

Fireplace Records

2541.

"Men, ropes, horses, strain
To breaking, but the great siege gun
On the mountain road
Stands axle-deep in mud
Till the light is gone.

The rowers sweat all afternoon
At the sweeps, yet the huge sea-wain
Behind them slacks her helm
Hulled down in the calm
Till the light is gone.

O coming night will make all one,
The Wheel King cried, all might and main,
All muscle and brain,
The ship and the rusted gun,
When the light is gone."

- Howard Nemerov, The Wheel King

2542.

The Concert Begins at Dusk

cricket concert
as darkness falls
louder & louder
they concentrate
on sexy calls

Crickets

2543.

Meets With Me

moody bay	dark rain day
rivers end	shallow bay
meets the sea	meets with me
here to stay	can I see
means to me	smiling sea

2544.

"The boardwalks are empty, the cafes closed,
The bathchairs in mute squadrons face the sea.
Grey cloud goes over, the baffled involved brain
Of the old god over the vacant waters:
The proprietors of the world have gone home.

The girls, the senators, the priests, are gone,
Whose gowns the summer wind billowed no less
Than this of autumn does the scarecrow's coat;
And are not otherwise remembered than
As ideas of death in the dry sand blowing.

We enter again November: cold lat light
Glazes the field. A little fever of love,
Held in numbed hands, admires the false gods;
While lonely on this coast the sea bids us
Farewell, and the salt crust hardens towards winter."

- Howard Nemerov, Elegy of Last Resort

2545.

"Death.
The end of sense perception,
of being controlled by our emotions,
of mental activity,
of enslavement to our bodies."

- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Book Six #28

2546.

You shared the spark,
You fanned the flame,
You fed the fires,
You passed the Names.

For all those known,
For all those unnamed,
We raise this Toast
With thanks this day.

2547.

A Little of This—A Lot of That

Do our perspectives
determine our reality?
Or, does reality
determine our perspectives?
Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

2548.

"Summer is over upon the sea.
The pleasure yacht, the social being,
that danced on the endless polished floor,
stepped and side-stepped like Fred Astaire,
is gone, is gone, docked somewhere ashore.

The friends have left, the sea is bare
that was strewn with floating, fresh green weeds.
Only the rusty-sided freighters
go past the moon's marketless craters
and the stare are the only ships of pleasure."

- Elizabeth Bishop

2549.

Hand Injured

Suddenly, she injured her thumb,
Her hand began swelling up,
Bruising spread past her wrists,
Her fingers were hurting and stiff---
What caused all this?

- Vancouver, WA 2026

2550.

cruel

man

gun

hand

2551.

"True:
If you don't bury
The hatchet;
The hatchet
Will bury you."

- Michael Napoliello

2552.

Cold Minds

In the middle of Winter
In a February funk
In spite of rain and cold
In our neck of the woods—
Inside our minds—removing blindfolds.

2553.

Party Time at the Frat House

the party got louder
more students came by
     they danced to funk
          a fight broke out
               many people were drunk

2554.

Ready to Walk

Ready to get up now,
put on socks and shoes,
open my door, walk outside,
smell the dark damp ground,
walk slowly—listen to city sounds.

2555.

Difficulties of the Abstract

abstract concepts
delightful to me
thickly complex
a challenge to us
a mental test

2556.

Dinner by the Bay

We ate at Mary Mahoney's
Restaurant in Biloxi's downtown.
Quite stylish and high end,
Table cloth's and china, high priced,
Crab stuffed mushrooms to start.

Biloxi, Mississippi 1969-1973

Mary Mahoney's House-Restaurant 1747-1970

Hurrican Camille 1969

2557.

Shucked oyster shells piled high, pell-mell,
Used like gravel under asphalt
Cracked and broken shards of shells
Smelling of the soft flesh they once held
While living in the Gulf's tidal swells.

Biloxi, Mississippi 1969-1973

Gulf of Mexico

Gulfport, Mississippi

2558.

Karen & Mike, Ann & Ray,
Ruth & Ken, Trixie and Ron,
Doris & Stowe, Ray and Donna...

Couples hanging out, party fun.
Dancing in the Southern night.

Biloxi, Mississippi 1969-1973

Mobile, Alabama

New Orleans, Louisana

2559.

The glowing white sand, and
Thick green shrubs close inland;
the Gulf shimmering clear thin,
Fishes nibbling at our shins—
Memories burried in the Pensacola land.

Pensacola, Florida 1969-1973

Pensacola Beaches

Mobile, Alabama

2560.

We watched the USC vs Alabama football game
At the stadium in Birmingham in 1970.
USC fielded an integrated team;
Alabama fielded only white players.
USC won 42 to 21! Decisively!

In 2024, Alabama's team was
Integrated, talent only, DEI.
Still, white voters in Alabama voted
For the white rapist pedophile, Trump;
The Orange racist insanity who routinely insults minorities.

USC vs Alabama Football Game 1970

Social-Racial Integration of College Sports in America

Birmingham, Alabama 1969-1973

2561.

Biloxi

2562.

Biloxi

2563.

Biloxi

2564.

Biloxi

2565.

Biloxi

2566.

"Spring tangles shadow and light,
Branches of trees
Knit vision and wind.
The shape of the wind is a tree
Bending, spilling its birds.

From the cloud to the stone
The rain stands tall,
Columned into his darkness.
The church hill heals our father in.
Our remembering moves from a different place."

- Wendell Berry, Elegy

2567.

I don't recall Jesus
encouraging people to have
a 'personal relationship' with him.
Instead, he encouraged us
To help others in need—not talk to air about ourselves.

Charity

Generosity

2568.

The bus stopped, red lights flashing,
Children gathered backpacks and jackets
And slowly filed out the yellow door;
They stopped thir walk, turned fast,
and waived to friends still on the bus.

2569.

"Discard your misperceptions.
Stop being jerked like a puppet.
Limit yourself to the present.
Understand what happens—to you, to others.
Analyze what exists, break it all down.

Anticipate your final hours.
Direct your thoughts to what is said.
Focus your mind on what happens.
Care for other human beings.
Foillow Providence.'

- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Seven, #29

Divine Providence

2570.

The Shaman Tried

The shaman dropped his rattles
Danced around the dirt floor
Sang a sacred song for healing
Grasped the sick man's head---
The shaman prayed. But, the man died!

Shamanism

Native Cltures of the Pacific Northwest

2571.

"The hand that kills,
The hand that comforts,
The hand that spills:
The hand that feeds,
The hand is yours and what it breeds."

- Michael Napoliello

2572.

War on the Wolves

I imagined I
was a skittish Wolf; and
the howling ghosts in the dark
made me more afraid—
than Sara Palin shooting me from a helicopter.

Wolf Killer

2573.

Shoot the Poachers

I watched on TV
rich white hunters
shoot a Rhino for fun—
sickening tourist Americans;
no heart, no soul, real scum.

Rhino Poaching

2574.

Coming Down from the Heavens

The Dancing Society
of the Coast Tsimshian
gathered dancers up, costumes garish . . . . . . .
They entered the sacred space of the Dluwulasa—
Ones-descending-from-the-heavens.

Tsimshian Culture

Dancing Society

Cutures of the Pacific Northwest

2575.

High School Games

Playing basketball after school
On an outdoor court by the pool.
Six guys hustling 3 on 3,
Shooting, dribbling, guarding, rebounding, free;
Playing hard, sweating in a fun duel.

City of Commerce, California 1971

[I worked for the City of Commerce Library
from 1962-1969. The Central Library was
next to a pool, Rosewood Park, basketball
courts, restrooms, and shady benches.
I worked the public reference desk most
evenings and weekends from 1965. I was
the Technical Services Librarian in 1967.
Played basketball at the park for 7 years.
Then I was drafted by Uncle Sam in 1969!]

2576.

Minimalist Quintain Tankas

This style of English language
quintain poetry features, primarily:
All words in lower case font;
except for Proper Nouns.

Mostly unrhymed, free verse style.
Little or no punctuation.
Mostly, all text left justified.
Five line stanzas, stand-alone poems

Twenty sounds or less.
Not limited to season words
or key words used in Japanese Tanka.
Mostly contemporary settings.
More like Senryu thematically.

2577.

The Devil's Churning Pot

Sat at Thor's Well to watch the show
Of waves bashing the rocky shorline
Squeezing the ocean through a crack
And spewing splashing water over five feet high
In and Out of a black rocky sucking hole 20 feet wide.

Thor's Well, Oregon

Cape Pertetua, Oregon

2578.

Lost in the Fog

     The morning closed under fog
obscuring trees in gray mist,
     blurring leafless shrubs on dim
dull empty disappearing streets—
     fog hanging wet on my sleves.

Fog

Fog in the River Valley

2579.

Spirit Quest in the Sierra

I once camped alone
By a mountain river
Laced with stripes of snow—
Starting a Spirit-Vision-Mystical Quest
to where? I did not know.

Sang sacred psalms to Spirits not forbidden
In rocks and river deeply hidden.

I walked slowly between trees and stones
Questioned the sky, Answered alone;
Waited, just waited — then the River spoke:
Your skill will be wisely reading
And sharing ideas with millions of folks.

My River Spirit Guide said to read and write
and share with others. Do what's right. I did!

Rock Creek 1980

Spirit or Vision Quest: Native American

Green Way Research 1998-

The Spirit of Gardening 1998-

Cloud Hands Blog 2005-

2580.

"Oangaja jaja jajaja aja
Pissiungmipadlo pangginejernago
Qodlungutaokpan panginejerlugping
Pissiungmipadlo pangginejernago
Qodlungutaokpan panginejerlugping"

Shaking the Pumpkin, Qodlungutaokpan

2581.

"Some people manage better. How?
They treat the creatures without feeling.
—Throw books to stop the monkey's squealing,
slap the ape and make him bow,
are firm, keep order, —but I don't know how."

- Elizabeth Bishop

2582.

Poets in Inner Space

The poets of unhinged obscurities
Stretched poetic comparisons till they ripped
Deranged the sense with wild words free
From Brenton, Mayakovsky, Lorca, Rimbaud ...
A befuddling symbolism playing with Irrationality.

Slouching to Incoherence

2583.

Saying the same old things
about the same old past things, is
like limping down boring streets, or
like bragging about trivial deeds—
Not turning on the road to Creativity.

2584.

"Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,
the maker's rage to order words of the sea,
Words of the fragrant porals, dimly starred,
And of ourselves and our origins,
In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds..."

- Wallace Stevens, The Idea of Order at Key West

2585.

We watched a documentary
On Willie Nelson's singing career:
Stardust still settles in our souls
We feel again our lives and loves...
You were always on my mind, Georgia.

- Willie Nelson

You Were Always on My Mind Song

2586.

WE'RE

RAINBOW-COLORED

KNIGHTS

IN SPASTIC BOATS

UPON A WHIRLPOOL

- Michael McClure

2587.

Music Lifts Spirits High

Music	Songs	Say
Lifts	Sway	Play
Out	Our	Our
Minds	Souls	Song
High	Slow	Fast

2588.

Death Stopped By and Claimed His Prize

My dying dog looked into my eyes
And we both knew our end was near.
He was weak and walked cancerous wobbly
Kept less painful by potent pain drugs—
Our walking together was past and done.

2589.

We Spoke Softly

W	We spoke softly	W
e	So we Could	e
S	Hear Love	C
p		o
o	Speaking Softly	u

k	Back and Forth	l
e	For Hours	d
S	After Meals	h
o		e
f	Speaking Softly	a

t	Exclusively	r
L	To Each Other	L
y	For Months	o
S	in	v
o	Love	e

2590.

0. Counting the Moons Over La Push

1. Moon of the Wind
2. Moon of the Herring
3. Moon of the Raven
4. Moon of the Grandmother
5. Moon of the Summer Sun

Four Days in Grayland

Moon Lore

La Push, Washington

2591.

"For the poet is dead.
The pen, splintered on the sheer
Excesses of vision, unfingered, falls.
The heart-crookt hand, cold as a stone,
Lets it go down."

- William Everson (Brother Antoninus)
The Poet is Dead
For Robinson Jeffers

2592.

Some Poems Take 12 Hours to Read

I once read some of John Milton's poetry
mixed up with his political phamphlets
and his Latin sonnets and octets keen.
But his endless poem of Paradise Lost
or Paradise Regained intimidated my eyes

And ears and mind at that time.
Jewish-Christian myths, stories, lore, and history
Meant very little to an outsider like me.
I did not live in England in 1650
When questioning was ended by an axe.

- John Milton,Paradise Lost

2593.

Talking About It

Are the King Tides in the News!
In the Minutes of the Seashore Club?
On the tongues of port-bound fisherman?
In the verses of the Tillamook poet?
In the warnings of the Coast Guard crews?

Coast Guard in Tillamook

Tillamook, Oregon

2594.

Confused to the Core

Black thoughts on a black moon
Green turtles crawl over the green streets
Dogs can't bark at our invisible leash
Sweets complained that they tasted bitter.
What's going on in Rimbaud's un-mind?

Slouching to Incoherence

Surrealism, Impressionism, Symbolism,

"Surrealism: Psychic automatism in its
pure state, by which one proposes to express
verbally, by means of the written word, or
in any other manner the actual functioning
of thought. Dictated by thought, in the
absence of any control exercised by reason,
exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern."
- Andre Breton

"Chance encounters of the Fifth Kind with random ideas, clever minds, obscure locutions, apolitical, words like fireworks in the sky."
- Mike Garofalo

2595.

Free Verse Rambling On

Streams of incoherence
Rivers of incomprehensibility
Oceans of meaninglessness—
Occasional glimpses
of fools-gold in the poems.

Slouching Into Incoherence

2596.

"My family slept those level miles
but like a bell rung deep till dawn
I drove down an aisle of sound,
nothing real but in the bell,
past the town where I was born.

Once you cross a land like that
you own your face more; what the light
struck told a self; every rock
denied all the rest of the world.
We stopped at Sharon Springs and ate---

My state still dark, my dream too long to tell."

- William Stafford, Across Kansas

2597.

Did the Demons Listen?

I told the Black Clouds to Run.
I asked the Deep Fog to Lift.
I questioned the Demons in the still sea.

Do I Personify Nature's Beings?
Yes, of course, that's poetry.

Personification in Poetry

2598

Leave Us Alone

Hey! You churning violent river
Please stay within your muddy banks
Don't be an Ogre and flood our homes
What you cannot ever even know.
Hey! Please leave us alone!

Apostrophe in Poetry

2599.

Let Him Sleep Quietly

"When does God sleep?"
asked the child;
Jesus answered
with a smile:
"Nunca oí a Dios roncar."

2600.

a stillness
     a hardness
          a bleakness
               a shiver—
a reminder of winter

2601.

     In This
     the Best
of All Possible Worlds;
          the year
ended with a failure.

2602.

For me
a crow is black.

For other Animal Eyes
a crow is Rainbow Colored
Brilliant and Bright.

2603.

Opened the Door of his Mind:
Mostly a hoarder's rooms inside.
Filled with magazines of stale memories.
Packed with boxes of unpleasant dreams.
Piled with the dirty dishes of despair.

2604.

Masquerades of Me

Pretending to be me;
such a boring chore.
Clowning around with
dull masquerades of me.
Misplaced my fragile identity.

Quintain Poetry Sections on this Webpage
Quintain Sonnets, TextArt
Bundled Up, Volume 5

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions
Quintain Sonnets, TextArt

Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Bundled Up, Volume 6
Quintain Sonnets, Time, Onions
Quintain Poems 3,000 - 3,500

Summertime Haiku and Tercets

2605.

Singing When Back into Ferndale

I	sing	other	men's	songs
do	be	do	be	do
na	na	nana	nana	noo
do	be	do	be	do
Yes	sing	very	fine	songs

Ferndale, California

Eureka, California

2606.

"I hounded and hounded being born
my own death and the death of my country
at the stick, afloat and articulate,
so that the wry words of prophetic ravens
recognized themselves clutching my wounds

and instantly died as I have wished to be dead
lately. For the delivery of the ensign
upon the painless body which is an island
I alone accept the blue breath of princes, for I
have done it. Am General and Ghost."

- Frank O'Hara, Hatred

2607.

Oaks in the Hills

West of Red Bluff	(hills)
Miles of Red Oaks	(grey-green)
Acorns Scattered	(everywhere)
In the Dry Shade	(randomly)
Cattle Graze	(hilly)

2608.

A flag was flipping-flapping
faster and faster as the roaring Winds
Blasted Cape Foulweather
for hour after hour, a deafening din.
The rumbling Wind-Scream ripped off the flag.

Cape Foulweather, Oregon

Wind Speed

2609.

Did God Favor the New England Patriot Football Team?

I don't see God standing in the stadium,
Rooting for one team, letting them Win;
So the winning Christian players
Can testify publicly and thank God again.
Seems odd to me, thanking God for a football win.

2610.

Near Madness Street
At the corner of Manic Boulevard
the snowflakes burnt ears
the mental traffic appeared
And blew out the Candle of Self-Consciousness.

2611.

"Bee! I'm expecting you!
Was saying Yesterday
To Somebody you know
That you were due ---
The Frogs got home last Week ---
Are settled, and at work ---

- Emily Dickinson, #1035

2612.

I enjoyed a brief trip
of cannabis consciousness
floating free slowly on thoughts
[Yes! A Thinking Machine!]
for now: just not thinking of me.

2613.

"A young man said to me:
I am interested in the problem of reality.

I said: Really!
Then I saw him turn to glance, surreptitiously,
in the big mirror, at his own fascinating shadow."

- D. H. Lawrence, Ultimate Reality

2614.

The thoughts carry themselves:
As cream floats on milk
As the beach ball bounces on white-water
As the dreams flow in sober sleep.
Sometimes BAD! As in: Smoke on the breeze.

2615.

Listening to Change

I listened to another say
what I resisted to hear
what was alien to me
what outlined my ire
what I wanted to fight

But then I settled down
loosened my blockhead mind

Thought things over patiently,
listened more carefully,
saw matters from other sides,
respected the integrity
and sincerity of other kinds

Of thinking outside my closed boxes
of my habits of opinions needing overhaul.

2616.

        "The distinguished
    and freshly dusted Apollodorus-type, he
ravenously branched and crusted blackly peach tree
            of so many splendid nights, wished
what to do with so round and woolly blue promontory

        of vistas sterile
    The passage of ladies up the chimney o'er
the lawn reminded him of ripe perfume, how it soar
        if need be the dankness of puerile
tree-climbers who break the blossoms, bleed, are sore ..."

- Frank O'Hara, Poem

2617.

Before You Were Born

Originally

nobirthnodeath

Forever

Outside

Time

2618.

"The everlasting universe of things
Flows through the mind, and
rolls its rapid waves,
Now dark---now glittering---now
reflecting gloom..."

- Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mont Blanc

2619.

obviously

in-breath
out-breath
unconsciously
enables me
to Consciously Be

Breathing Practices

2620.

One Picture of Me

This bony skull of mine
electrified
pictured onscreen for me.
Doctor recommends
some oral surgery.

The brain disappeared,
an empty space
sliced from
X Ray images retraced.
Eyeless in inner space.

Monkey nose holes,
bony eye glasses,
teeth glowing in the dark.
Inner spaces never seen
underneath my very being.

Skinless, noseless, earless,
a shape, a form—
the images informed.
Stripping away the unneeded,
revealing my inner core.

2621.

"Desire may be dead
and still a man can be
a meeting place for sun and rain,
wonder out-waiting pain
as in a wintry tree."

- D. H. Lawrence, Desire is Dead

2622.

Outside as distinct
from Inside;
Others as distinct
from Self?
Inter-being Compromise.

2623.

Double Visions

An eager face staring into the Rich silence
Of mirrored space devoid of mind;
Not projecting or connecting, but reflecting.
Supreme non-fictions, Things
Naked as they are, as they are.

Inevitably, as sunshine blares on stones,
Green erupts from Brown.
Curiosity Swings across the Mind
past junkyards of ideas, peeling metaphors,
rusting rhymes, and concrete cliches,

Into the Center of Imagination City!
We are as we are:
Twofolds, Fourfolds, Eightfolds of
Realities and Possibilities.
Pushing on. Pushing on!

2624.

First Road Goes, Last Road Goes ...

Long road goes, back road goes,
Strange road goes, dark road goes,
Dead road goes, good road goes,
Wrong road goes, right road goes,
Old road goes, new road goes....

- D. H. Lawrence, On the March

2625.

D. H. Lawrence sparred with critics
Serving them 'Pansies and Nettles' on Ice,
Stirred with satire or sarcasm,
with an extra helping of sensual-emotional delights,
dishing them out till he died.

- D. H. Lawrence, 1885-1930
Lived 44 years; died of tuberculosis.
Pansies and Nettles were his short poems.

D. H. Lawrence Complete Poems

2626.

"Do you remember
How night after night swept level and low
Overhead, at home, and had not one star
Nor one narrow gate for the moon to go
Forth to her fields, that November?

And you remember
How towards the north a red blotch on the sky
Burns like a blot of anxiety
Over the forges, and small flames ply
Like ghosts on the glowing of the ember?

Those were the days
When it was awful autumn to me;
When only there glowed on the dark of the sky
The red reflection of her agony
My beloved, smelting down in the blaze."

- D. H. Lawrence, Reminder

2627.

The Hanford Radioactive Blues

Renaissance of Uranium
hidden in the desert sands
moved inward to Hanford
with all the dials and readings
and ample overtime crews.

Radioactivity and Rods were One!
Ambitious sun monsters
Decaying into searing fire
filled with silver steam
buried in the hardest concrete.

Now the barren Hanford land
Covering millions of tons
Of nuclear waste dumped
For the benefit of Posterity.
A Super Fund of deadly radioactivity.

The Hanford Project in Central Washington 1943-1971

Super Fund Cleanup, Hanford 1980-

Nuclear Waste Storage

2628.

highhohighhohighhohighhohighho
it's off to party, wegowego---highho.
Spring Break, Newport-Laguna,
Hang out, hang back, no hangups;
Hang on brother for a trippy ride!

Walk the Laguna streets, people hip and stylish,
Lovely Ladies, art shops, art exhibits, artists sketching,
consumers shopping, craftsmen selling, sunshine,
cafe's busy: coffee, tea, pastries, sipping, napkins;
the pleasant chattering of conversations with Saturday.

Laguna Beach, California, 1980's

2629.

2630.

Where Have You Gone Carlos C?

Does the path have heart?
Don Juan often asked.
Only travel on paths that have heart.
Don Juan said as we traveled to Ixtlan.
Fact or Fantasy ... "With Heart!"

- Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan

2631.

April 20th 2020 (Don Juan Matus Would Approve)

I lit up a rolled cannabis cigarette;
Smoked till stoned, sat, smiled. Celebrated:

April 20th, 2014, Pot Stores Open,

Washington State, Vancouver:
Craft Cannabis and The Herbery.

State of Washington
Recreational Marijuana Use Laws

2632.

Cloud Hands Blog

By Mike Garofalo

3,185,000 Page Views
2005 - 2025

2633.

Drifting to My Mind's Edge

The drifting pebbles
slid on the sandy shore
up to me;
my thoughts drifted
outside my mind.

Boy's flying stunt kites
in flying dives and figure 8's
wind at their backs;
our sand castle
remodeled by in-coming waves.

Hot sun and sand burnt
bare fee walking
away from the sea;
grabbing my shoes
touching my toes tenderly.

Black mussels cling to stones
eating in high tide zones
hundreds huddling;
I stumbled hungry
in surf up to my knees.

Only beach grasses
uncontrollable
can live on the dunes;
my thoughts zoomed
hypo-mania loomed.

Highway 101 and 1

2634.

Quintain poems
all short, some sour,
rise like mushrooms overnight,
fly like balloons up flight,
appear-disappear, flashes of delight.

2635.

2636.

Cosmology of the Kwakiutl

Kwakwaka'wakw:
Bears in the berry patch.
Salmon in the river.
Snow on our cedar home.
Fire for cooking dinner.

Cedar for canoes and tools
Reeds for pots, mats, and hats
Smelt for fatty dried goods
The fir of deerskin for a coat
Songs for the winter soak

Kwakiutl Culture
Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada

2637.

Home of My Fingertips

my calloused palm
80 years of age:
          grabbing tools
     holding things
                    touching beings

2638.

Up at 3:10 am. walk. toilet. yawn.
coffee and creamer. smoke GG4.
Reading Cascadia books. daydream. nap.
stuffed chair. lamp. words leap.
images speak, verses complete

Writers in the Cascadian Northwest Spirit

2639.

silence of the walls
covered in paperback books---
one tale of me

your home library---
one version of you

2640.

American Investments

they had no books
in their home
and in their side yard
a $35,000 travel trailer
gathering dust and moss

2641.

show me remembering eating red jello

Drawing on my experience
I tried to repaint my vision of heaven,
Soften the right edge with a bit more yellow,
Have my face portray me a bit more mellow---
Show me remembering eating red jello.

2642.

Playing with a Table Box

typography	Words
layout	Imagery
	Story
type font	Message
*Left Margin*	zine
	*R Margin*
size of font
digital webpage	colorful font
Read	Book
Ledge	Ledge
CENTERED
end	end
*Bundled Up*
Quintain Poetry
By Michael P. Garofalo

2643.

The totality of facts
not things
meant truth to him
philosophically—
that is, pictorially.

2644.

Grasping a warm bowl
     of cream-of-wheat mush
          mixed with raisins and nuts,
               pistachio chunks and apricots,
                    milk and butter afloat.

2645.

i had
a habit of smoking
in my cold garage
in a well-lit corner
reading Wittgenstein's Remarks

Reading Ludwig Wittgenstein

2646.

Fifteen Ways a Coyote Looks at Me

you move faster than five winds
you eat anything in your cooked dish
you are dangerous, I'm wary of you
you see and hear well, sing me a song
you wonder about me, and I wonder about you

you write about me and you, and I talk too
you influence me, I influence you
you have two eyes and ears, and so do I
your are ordinary, I am a Legend as Coyote
you can't smell as fine and far as I

I am inaginary, you are Real
I am Female and Male, so are you two
I like lamb, so do you
I like making trouble, so do you
I want sex, so do you

2647.

Thousands of leaves
shake in the breeze---Empty Sky.

Pointing at the moon,
making a point
her lovely fingers.

2648.

Bad karma bleeding
over centuries of hate
a heartless eye for a blind eye
a toothless scream for another
fate, fate, fate...

2649.

ticking my life away
indifferent clocks
everywhere

Setting potted figs
along the warm southern wall --- a goose flaps by.

2650.

Crash, Smashed!

In a Bakersfield tule fog we huddled indoors
waiting
for Hwy 99 to clear for travel.
Hopefully, we could safely go on to Fresno;
after that blinding opaque fog unraveled.

I had listened to tales from my nephew, a cop,
and read about
999 fatal accidents on Hwy 99, and scores more
in the Ag-Cities of the San Joaquin Valley
over many decades past.

In 1974 it became personal!
We were notified:
that my Grandmother Blaize, age 76,
had been run over and Killed
by a drunk driver on a Fresno night.
Her crushed bloody body found under a car
outside of a Church dance hall.

At Grandma’s closed casket funeral in Fresno,
the family all quiet, mourning, sitting still—
We silently said our goodbyes.
Grandma Blaize on our minds till we die.

Whether it’s James Dean smashed in a crash,
or Mabel Blaize run over by a drunk,
car drivers and cars and fogs are killers.
We know the risks, face the facts, shudder.

2651.

"Say, in the sound of all your machines
And white words, white-wash American,
Deep pulsing of a strange heart
New throb, like a stirring under the false dawn that
precedes the real."

- D. H. Lawrence, The Evening Land

2652.

Precious Flowers in the Sky

To dance at the still point of the Time beyond time,
Beyond pasts, within futures, this Moment
Now and forever, beyond minds.
Not knowing of Who or why
We stroll in rose gardens, and Love.

Precious Flowers in the Sky

2653.

Buddha is dead.
But, if you meet the Buddha,
don't invent another god
or behead another demon; just
sip some tea under a tree.

"If you meet the Buddha, kill him."
- Linji Yizuan (Rinzai Gigen, Jap.), c 866 CE

2654.

Radiate the Inner Smile

The Mind is a vast Bodhi forest,
The body a Bodhi tree.
Dirt is in every cranny,
Flowers blossom, leaves fall.
The Bodhi Trees have been cut down.

The Bright Mirrors shattered.
Beginning with nothing,
Replant the trees, remake the mirrors.
Make one's mind like a mirror,
One's body like the Giving tree.

Reflect accurately and impartially;
Give fruit and shade.
Radiate the Inner Smile.
Do no harm.

2655.

2656.

Crape myrtle, brilliant red, bursting forth;
Hiding the garden.
Some days, only the Garden,
Entire, serene;
Yet, hiding from sight, shy, single plants.

Seeing Both, seldom, but as One:
Sweat poured from my startled brow,
Dripping on the dry earth,
And all became Sunshine
And shadows of surprise unraveling.

2657.

The Bottom Line

"Caress the detail, the divine detail."
- Vladimir Nabokov
“We think in generalities, but we live in details.”
- W. H. Auden
"The idea of one overbearing truth is exhausted."
- Thomas Mann
“A profound attention to the details of this world.”
- George Levine
“Cherish the minutes heureuses.”
- Charles Baudelaire

“The vast and unsuspected reality of small things
- Robert Nozick
“We are better satisfied in particulars.”
- Wallace Stevens
"God is in the details."
- Mies Van Der Rohe
"In general, be more specific."
- Mike Garofalo
“Details are all there are.”
- Maezumi Roshi

“Focus on small worlds of order.”
- Paul Valery
“No ideas but in things."
- William Carlos Williams
"To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be enlightened
By the ten thousand things."
- Zen Master Dogen

2658.

Lost on Mt. Sumeru
coming down — the taste of snowflakes.

Bold zero
inked on the scroll—
fancies of one hand clapping.

2659.

Gathering dust,
an iron Buddha
just sits.

Meanings lost in the saying—
the mystic's dilemma.

2660.

Stop Quacking Like a Duck

And before the Wise Ones appeared,
Forty million years of ducks in the mud.
Blowing out a candle
ten thousand miles away
Cutting up a duck for dinner.

A dog barks at nothing,
a thousand ducks twitch—
winds of gentle winter.
Has a duck the Buddha-Nature?
Sssshhh!

Stop quacking like a duck.

2661.

December fog—
along the water's edge
a dead frog.

The frog floats belly up—
dead silence.

2662.

Samsara winks
Spring smiles—
Nirvana trickles underground.

The dark pines edge the deepest shade,
While cherry blossoms set and fade.

2663.

Here and Gone

Winter weeks we huddled by the hot stove,
Spring days we shivered in the sun,
Summer hours we sat in the shade,
Autumn minutes we stared at moon.
We had idle thoughts, we had no thoughts.

Life made our hearts cry, and it lifted our spirits high.
The ordinary, the exceptional,
The chosen, the accepted,
The very good, the very bad,
Fresh figs, rotten peaches.

The beautiful, the deformed.
They appeared and disappeared.
Samsara and Nirvana ....
Here and Gone.

2664.

Zen Master Shuzan held out his short staff
in front of his Daoist friend, Shifu Miao Zhang,
and said "If you call this a short staff, you
oppose its reality and are clinging. If you do not
call it a short staff, then you ignore the fact.

Now what do you wish to call this?"
Miao Zhang smiled, dropped and pointed to
his cane, and said "Yesterday it was a wooden
walking stick that helped without speaking.
Tomorrow it may become firewood, crackling in the flames."

2665.

Shifu Miao Zhang was waiting by a riverbank
with a group of very poor women and children
for a small ferry boat. Suddenly, a naked
Digambar Sadhu appeared. The Sadhu, holding a
sword in his hand, proceeded to walk across the

Rushing water of the river, and then walk back
across the water towards Miao Zhang. Everyone
Was stunned and in awe, but fearful of the powers
of the Sadhu. The Sadhu asked Miao Zhang,
"Foreigner, my gleaming sword has great Magical

Powers, what can your crooked staff do?" Miao Zhang said,
"It enabled my wobbly legs to walk to work each day,
and to earn enough money to pay for all of us here to ride
the ferry boat safely across these dangerous waters. When
We get to the other shore, can I buy you some
Food and clothes, holy man?"

2666.

"Mayoku walked around his old Daoist friend,
Shifu Miao Zhang, three times and then thumped
his staff on the ground. Miao Zhang stood up,
walked around Mayoku once, tapped his cane three
times on the wall, and said "The power of the wind

Can topple trees and is gone by morning.
My cane can cut through the wind."

2667.

Toju Zenchu brandished his staff before Daoist
Shifu Miao Zhang and challenged him "Miao
Zhang, speak and you get whacked with Nanten's
staff. Do not speak and you still get whacked with
Nanten's staff." Shifu Zhang stood up quickly,
lifted his cane strongly in defense, and quietly
said, "Yunmen's shit stick stinks and Nanten's
staff is cracked! I am leaving now to take my
evening walk. Goodbye."

"Master Yellow-Bitterroot Mountain asked me,
'What is the meaning of Old Pahto emerging in the West?'
I lifted my cane and placed it in my mouth, saying nothing.
Later, zany Zen liar that I am, I wrote:
"No minds, no dharmas. No-mind, much Dharma."

Opening at the Mysterious Pass

2668.

"The fig is a very secretive fruit.
As you see it standing growing,
you feel at once it is symbolic:
And it seems male.
But when you come to know it better,

You'll agree with the Romans, it is female.
The Italians vulgarly say, it stands for
the female part, the fig-fruit:
The fissure, the yoni,
The wonderful moist conductivity towards the Centre.

Involved,
Inturned,
The flowering all inward
and womb-fibrilled;
And but one orifice."

- D. H. Lawrence, Figs

2669.

The True Gardener of No Title deadheads
Persona after persona, shears the hedge
Of endless desires, digs up the dank
Roots of illusions, prunes out the rank
Suckers of sectarian ire, and weeds away
Attachments that choke out the Way.

2670.

eyes horizontal
     nose vertical,
a mind stood Up
               side
                         down

2671.

Coyote Fights

"I wish I had a stone house, Coyote said, to protect me. And
He had one. They couldn't get in or him out. After a long time
there he got hungry and there was no food. So he pulled out
his eyes and ate them, but he became thin and there was no
food so he ripped out his balls and ate them.

Then coyote went here and there and couldn't decide and
He said I wish I could have a fight with Shit-Man. Right
Away the Shit-Men hit him until he was unconscious.
When he got up he smelled like shit all over
And washed himself in the river."

Shaking the Pumpkin, Coyote Fights Shit-Men

Doggerel Verses

2672.

Don't Know Mind
as wide as the empty sky;
above the dogma fogs
blinding the brilliant eyes
with sugared religious lies.

2673.

Wide-eyed staring into the Rich silence
Of mirrored space devoid of mind;
Not projecting or connecting, but reflecting
Supreme non-fictions, Things
Naked as they are. As they are!

2674.

the particulars,
minute particulars
revealing nothing

preaching the Dharma incessantly
the suchness of things

2675.

These Dear Friends of the Buddha Mind

I never
grasped emptiness
or hiked around Mt. Sumeru,
or patted Chao-chou's dog,
or teased Nansen's cat,

blocked the Bodhidhar ma's uppercut,
or slept in Han Shan's dirty hut,
or borrowed Wendy Johnson's garden rake
or rode the Ox through the Gateless Gate,
or solved any of Rinzai's riddles,

I never, ever
suffered the Great Doubt,
looked for sticks in Yun-men's crapper,
or broke Tassajara bread with Shunryu Suzuki,
or minded the flapping flag for Hui-neng the sage,

or heard Jiyu-Kennett move her whisk in Mt. Shasta's shade,
or chanted on Mt. Tamalpais with Whalen, Ginsberg and Snyder,
or saw Dogen's True Eye open just a little bit wider.
I never did.
Nope, never!

Not in 55 lifetimes.
Yet, it seems like I did.
Yep, dayinanddayout,
appearances notwithstanding,
Reality appeared just So.

This I know:
Their Heritage
Is in my Heart,
Their Myths mine,
These Dear Friends of the Buddha Mind.

2676.

2677.

Loosing ground from unconscious rounds
Of the "This is Not It" mantra sounds;
Burning holes in my soul
Over and over, no loophole
For escape. None! Replay Mind - Spellbound.

2678.

Railing against Do-Nothing Zen
Ekaku Haikuin presses that one hand, hard,
stamps his staff—
Clap, Clap, clap, Clap!
Shouting, spittle flying...

He prods, and pokes, and preaches
till the fawning monks scatter.
Haikuin sits alone the long cold night
Gazing into the fires of hell.
Ivy crawls the walls of Shoin-ji.

2679.

Thou Are Not That

"You are That."
i am not That,
but part of That am i
and i a bit of That,
for the time-being

for awhile, for a lifetime,
while That changes.
"That Thou Art."
Thou are not That,
except "That" as understood

as idea, as assumed, as imagined;
as i
think i am, believe i am, wish i was;
while That changes what i am,
or will be

"That" is elusive, expanding to
the edge of the Big Everything,
at either end of the inside of infinity...
that is the way that That is.
Not like this piece of popcorn on the tip of my tongue.

2680.

Be humble, for you
are made of
beans and seeds.
Be noble, for you
are created from

Rivers and Sunshine.
Be joyful, for you
have tasted one of
Xiwangmu's juicy peaches
dripping with the flavor of eternity

2681.

"There is the other universe, the heart of man
that we know nothing of, that we dare not explore.
A strange gray distance separates
our pale mind still from the pulsing continent
of the heart of man."

- D. H. Lawrence, The Heart of Man

2682.

Guardians of the Four Gates

Virudhaka, Guardian of the South Gate,
The Boundless Diamond King with shimmering sword in hand,
Blue as the Great Sky, spurring growth, increasing grandeur,
Subduing demons, frightening evil ones, cutting through ignorance,
Vowing to help everyone master limitless approaches to Dharma.

Dhritarashtra, Guardian of the East Gate,
The Powerful Diamond King, Chi0kwo Tian, in tune with the Wise,
White as the Shining Sun, Protector, Energizer, Honoring Treasures,
Keeping Treasured kingdoms whole, Saver of the Earth,
Helping unravel the illusions of self, and freeing the slaves of Mara,
Vowing to aid all who strive to achieve the Supreme Awakening.

Vaishravana, Guardian of the North Gate,
The All Hearing Diamond King, To-wen Tian,
Listening to the endless sorrows,
Yellow as the Mystic Rose, Seated and Silent,
Compassionate,
Silencing the falsehoods, Singing the Dharma,
Preserving the Word,
Vowing the eradicate vexations without end.

Virupaksha, Guardian of the West Gate,
The All Seeing Diamond King, Kwang-mu Tian,
Uunblinking in the face of death,
Red Eyed and Ever Vigilant, Eyes of the Diamond Kings,
Seeing the Unseen,
Subduing serpents of Vice, keeping enemies in the dark,
Holding the Sacred Vajra,
Vowing to help Enlighten Sentient Beings without number.

These Four Diamond Kings protecting the Sacred Worlds,
Active day and night on Mt. Sumeru
And in the Ten Thousand Realms,
Rewarding the good and reforming the evil ones,
Overcoming all obstacles,

Fearless Defenders of the Middle Way,
Bodhisattvas ferrying followers to the Other Shore,
Sending Dragons into the deepest seas, riding Tigers to the Mountains,
Moving the Clouds with Their Hands;
Yet, the Diamond Kings all bow in deep respect,

To the Great Dharma Lord they serve forever.

The Buddha's Warrior Attendants Pound the Mortar

2683.

Pulling Up Onions in April

A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a Green Thumb.
Complexity is closer to the Truth.
Sitting in a garden and doing nothing is high art everywhere.
Does a plum tree with no fruit have Buddha Nature? Whack!!
The only Zen you'll find flowering in the garden

Is the Zen you bring there each day.
Dearly respect the lifestyle of worms.
All enlightened beings are enchanted by water.
Becoming invisible to oneself is one pure act of gardening.
Priapus, lively and naughty, aroused and outlandish,

Is the Duende de el Jardin.
Inside the gardener is the spirit of the garden outside.
Gardening is a kind of deadheading - keeping us from going to seed.
The joyful gardener is evidence of an incarnation.
One purpose of a garden is to stop time.

Time will tell, but we often fail to listen.
Leafing is the practice of seeds.

- Michael P. Garofalo, Pulling Onions

2684.

This Halloween night, we cut and eat,
Fuyu persimmons, firm and sweet.
     Plastic skeletons
          scattered by pranksters,
               resting in pieces.

           Nonlocal minds
keeping out of touch,
     outside space and time,
an eyeless bunch, not saying much.
Mouthless, what can they say?
               They can't even pray.

2685.

At the Mysterious Pass

Standing at the Mysterious Pass
Centered in the Eternal Now,
Balanced in Body and Open in Mind,
Rooted into the Sacred Space,
Motionless as the Golden Mountain

Fingers around the Primeval Sphere.
Dragons and Tigers are still dreaming
Ready for Rebirth.
I breathe in, the World Breathes Out.
The Gate of Space opens

Heaven moves and Yang is born.
The hands move out, embracing the One.
The mind settles and is clear.
The Dragon Howls,
Ravens fill the Vast Cauldron

Mind forms melt like mercury,
Spirit rises in the Clouds of Eternity.
Yin appears like the moon at dusk.
I breathe out, the World Breathes In.
The Doors of Emptiness close

Earth quiets and Yin is born.
The hands move in, entering the One.
The body settles and becomes whole.
The Tiger Roars,
The Great Ox is nourished by the Valley Spirit

Substances spark from flaming furnaces,
Essence roots in the Watery Flesh.
Yang appears like the sun at dawn.
Dragons and Tigers
Transformed within the Mysterious Pass

Chanting and Purring.
     Awakened,
          Peaceful,
               Free.

2686.

Become a Stronger Swimmer

If one sees me in forms,
If one seeks me in sounds,
He practices a misleading way.
He cannot see the essence of creeds:

All conditioned creeds
are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
like dew drops and a lightning flash:
contemplate them thus.

Creeds and doctrines are like a raft
to carry one to the other shore,
and then to relinquish.
Neither cling to the raft forever,
or reject it when drowning.

Even better,
become a stronger swimmer.

2687.

"When we do philosophy
We should like to hypostatize
Feelings where there are none.
They serve to explain out thoughts to us.
'Here explanation of our thinking demands a feeling.
It is as if our conviction
Were simply consequent upon this requirement."

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations # 598

[I purchased my first copy of Philosophical Investigations
in January of 1975. Translated by G. E. M. Anscombe,
1953, 1968, the Third Edition. Wittgenstein's Remarks are
often brief, numbered, questioning, expounding,
challenging, wandering, wondering . . . . . ]

Reading Wittgenstein 2025

2688.

Wittgenstein's Supposedly

suppose somebody says
suppose one wanted to ask
people will say
you may answer
someone says to me

you may say
suppose it were asked
one might ask
it will be said
suppose he might say

subjuctive mood swings
no one would say
there is a tendency
when do we say
we are inclined to say

Look at it this way
Compare it to this and not to that
More pictures, fewer muddles
Contrast with something similiar
Change your point of view

2689.

The Night slips into
the Labyrinths of Dawn.
Puzzled, trapped,
Blinded by the Light.
Lost in the Corridors of the Sun.

2690.

cold midnight
pounding rain—
only ghosts about

rain-soaked
olive branches droop—
dawn ground fogs rise

2691.

Dark trees
darker clouds—
rain on my glasses

no chirping
no barking . . . . rainstorm . . . .

2692.

Only the idea of self remains
Floating on a sea of cells;
Only heartbeats short of eternity
In breath after breath we dwell—
Rain showers come and go . . . . shaping the hours

2693.

If you let your Age
Get you down
It will be harder
To get back up
From the changing slippery ground.

2694.

Somehow— wrinkled and gray—
another decade.

back gate open
dogs gone—
foggy dawn

2695.

In the Blink of Time's Eye:
               we lived
               we died.
While stone faced Mt. Shasta
               was silent.

2696.

The center never was within.
The box of monsters was empty.
We break apart from the edges,
Slip away piece by piece,
Washed away by a half-million hours.

2697.

She
walks
by

followed by my eyes—
desires linger

2698.

Of things mechanical I have little ken.
I fumble and fuss from start to end.
Where a mechanic pushes right
I pull left till things stick-tight,
And bend things that I shouldn't bend.

2699.

Envelope Quintain Rhyme Prosody:

A     Always keep an apple
B     By your bed
C     Granny Smith apples green
B     Best for your lazy head
A     As tasty as a Fuji Frapple

Quintain Poetry Research

Quintain Rhyme Schemes

2700.

Forgotten Heroes

family dinner
Memorial Day—
nobody mentioned
what dead soldiers
Gave

2701.

"A Man may make a Remark---
In itself ---
A quiet thing
That may furnish
The Fuse unto a Spark

In dormant nature--- lain ---
Let us deport --- with skill ---
Let us discourse --- with care ---
Powder exists in Charcoal ---
Before it exists in Fire."

- Emily Dickinson, ED#952

2702.

walking past
my old dog's grave—
not a trace

Daily rain . . . . —from the deep well—
this glass of water

2703.

The raspy-voiced crow
Perched on a pine pole
Preached the Winged Dharma.
Wayward birds trembled, fearing
Rebirth as human beings.

Quintain Poetry Sections on this Webpage
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Bundled Up, Volume 5

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions
Quintain Sonnets, Art

Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Bundled Up, Volume 6
Quintain Sonnets, Time, Onions
Quintain Poems 3,000 - 3,500

2704.

Awakening
I hear the truth—
Gray rain on clay . . . .

warm valley—
countless geese seeking refuge

2705.

bent low
by the dying dog
he cried
by the grimy roadside
as cars whizzed by

2706.

2707.

January sun—
puddle after puddle
becomes mud.

Frozen puddles—
The crack of axes from four directions.

2708.

"Time does go on ---
I tell it gay to those who suffer now ---
They shall survive ---
There is a sun ---
They don't believe it now ---"

- Emily Dickinson, #1121

2709.

bulbs, dirt rows,
tilled soil, things,
the noonday sun—
but
Where is the One?

2710.

"I ranted to the knave and fool,
But outgrew that school,
Would transform the part,
Fit audience found, but cannot rule
My fanatic heart.

O sought my better: though in each
Fine manners, liberal speech,
Turn hatred into sport,
Nothing said or done can reach
My fanatic heart.

Out of Ireland have we come.
Great hatred, little room,
Maimed us at the start.
I carry from my mother's womb
A fanatic heart."

- W. B. Yeats, Remorse for Intemperate Speech

2711.

The Pleasures of Masochistic Conundrums

the fact is that some philosophers enjoy
the rush of mental masochism,
the bondage to fashionable ideas,
the titillations of traditions,
the painful flagellation with

the keen, clear, sharp cutting words,
the bowing to Mistress Logic,
the humiliation of utter confusion,
the euphoria of the games,
the illusions of obsessions,

the charms of the fantastic
the theaters of thought alluring,
the submission to
the non-experiential concepts,
the fetishes of errors and illusions.

2712.

Desert road
straight ahead,
lonely behind.

wormwood: dull grey-green— Eastern Oregon

dusk deepens— we listen . . . . coyote songs

2713.

buzzing zing
at frantic speeds—
hummingbird wings

coming ... cumming—
Loud Sighs

2714.

In my head,
sadness and dread—
my good old friend,
my cousin Judy,
she is dead.

2715.

"The Missing All---
prevented Me
From missing minor Things
If nothing larger that a World's
Departure from a Hinge---

Or sun's extinction,
be observed---
'Twas not so large that I
Could life my Forehead from my work
For Curiosity."

- Emily Dickinson, #985

2716.

April 1st—
cherry trees
Red

gusty winds—
cherry blossoms: Sca tt er e d

2717.

the five big firs
in my back yard
drop needles down—
— . —squirrels scamper— . —
@ round & round, Up and Down @

2718.

Zen Flavored Delights

Leaving my head
at the door;
rubbing my hand
across the sky;
opening my eyes

toward blind insights;
covering my legs
with stolen midnights.
Significance?
Nonsensical oddities.

2719.

"Now you love me;
Now you admire me,
but you threw me away
like something that tasted bad.
You treated me as if I were a rotten fish."

Shaking the Pumpkin, Two Divorce Songs

2720.

It Took Courage

Women took great risks
on the frontier in 1846
while pregnant or giving birth,
facing pain and death...
A soldier in the War of Sex.

2721.

Tomorrow means
nothing to some
living now, for Today;
but the Past is Present
never unhitched ... Alive.

2722.

Her long stare;
a wink away
from the blush.

truth beyond words
beyond silence: her big grin

2723.

too tired to take time
anyway at any
moment my mind may
drift dangerously down
narrow nightmare nights

2724.

Quotidian Stuff

I try to pay attention
to the quotidian and sublunary,
to the particular ordinary stuff,
to the familiar and the close---
yet, sometimes infatuated with the Mystical.

2725.

Dancing At the Stillpoint Bar

running out of time
for catching up
with the future
now
a problem

my mind grinds
my times
into memories
so fine
they disappear

To dance at the still point
Of the Time beyond time,
Beyond pasts, within futures,
this Moment
Now and forever, beyond minds.

Gushen Grove Sonnets

2726.

"I lift up mine eyes unto the hills
and there they are, but no strength comes from them to me.
Only from darkness
and ceasing to see
strength comes."

- D. H. Lawrence, The Hills

2727.

The Case of the Fly in the Kitchen

You say that the world is everything
that is the case.

What would it be like
if it were not?

What's not the case? Plenty! Case Closed!

Is nothing the case?
Seems a mistake.
Like a reductio ad absurdam clam bake,
When nobody came,
early or late.

Or, it's not the case that the world
is everything that is the case.
What? Strange? A fly buzzing in a bottle.
That "Fish fly to Seattle" is not the case
still tells us something about the world we make.

Or, is it that not everything
in the world is the case.
That suggestion
that's learning towards truth
in some comforting familiar manner

Appeals to my communal action words, and
My idiosyncratic individual voice in time.

Was it:
Was it the case once in the past or not?
Is it now th case or not?
Will it ever be the case or not?
Was everything ever the case? Ever?

We enjoyed those playful games:
wrestling with hypothetical cases,
find the imaginary treasure chest,
watching the film detective solve the case,
Until they broke the lock on her case.

a case
the case
one case
many cases
close case

2728.

Will Cherished Ideals Survive

No Guarantees that to the End
Our cherished ideals will survive,
Our great great grandchildren will thrive,
Our monuments stand ...
Our guarantees?

This tree my great great grandmother planted,
This dog-eared Leaves of Grass on my desk,
This classic folksong on my breath,
This heirloom apple in my hand ...

This day,
no guarantees
for or against.
Good! So we strive on,
Their and our hopes in our hands now.

2729.

Riddles Unraveled

The fire fell in love when it found its perfect match.
He named his two watch dogs: 'Timex and Rolex.'
Your age: always higher, never lower.
Why is this Gold Fish so expensive?
What's another word for "Thesaurus?"

A shoe that has a tongue but cannot talk.
Trees access the Internet by logging in.

Tomorrow comes but never arrives.
A Christmas tree has many needles but does not sew.
People give their mistakes a name: 'Experience.'
A telephone has many rings but no fingers.
A yardstick has three feet but cannot walk.

A shoe that has a tongue but cannot talk.
A fire can grow but cannot live.

Limericks and Riddles

2730.

My quintain stanzas
appear in a higgeley-piggeley
ganz kunterbunt
disorganized, random,
zig-zagging, disconnected maze

2731.

"After that, there will only remain that all men detach
themselves and become unique,
that we are all detached, moving in freedom more than the angles,
conditioned only by our own pure single being,
having no laws but the laws of our own being.

Every human being will then be like a flower,untrammelled.
Every movement will be direct.
Only to be will be such delight,
we cover our faces when we think of it
lest our faces betray us to some untimely fiend."

- D. H. Lawrence, Manifesto VIII

2732.

Beliefs
Expressed today
Show by our real actions
Layered on what we often say
Displayed

2733.

Oftentimes,
a serious difficulty:
Is knowing when and
to then actually
come to a complete Stop.

2734.

ellipsis . . . .
Hemi
stich

2735.

Criteria for Action

what doee this serve
how is it useful
is it ready at hand
does it work
is it beneficial

can I question its effectiveness
is it efficient
what is doubtful about it
is it just in my head
does it lean towards the truth

Is it consistent with our other ideas
does it result in clarity, not confusion
Can I show you what I mean?
Compare with Something Similiar---Enlightening!

Pragmatism

How to Lead a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

2736.

"And far down the planet's dark nocturnal side
The night-wombed nations murmur into birth.
His sistered wives, confused and terrified,,
Twin aspects of his dark divided life,
Crouch in the weltering night and moan for his reprieve."

- William Everson (Brother Antoninus)

2737.

Oh what a beautiful evening,
Oh what a beautiful week.
Raining in dark January.
Tracking in some mud on my feet.
Putting on a woolen sweater.

2738.

I stopped reading the Bible
When I was twenty --- long ago; ---
Just far too many other
interesting and useful books to read.
No need for ancient Jewish life or myths.

2739.

Chanting Canyon Streams

Opening bell
echoes from the canyon walls---
raindrops on the river.
The sounds of rocks bouncing off rocks;
the shadows of trees traced on trees.

I sit, still.
The canyon river chants,
moving mountains.
The sermon spun on the still point:
dropping off eternity, picking up time;

Letting go of self,
awakened to Mind.
The Skagit flows. Goose feathers
float on shorelines of the silent Puget Sea...
Piers from here to eternity.

2740.

Hid his handsome head
crown covered cabbie cap.
Warm worn wollen wrap
Stopped Sandra's shivering slowly.
The twilight turned to trembling.

2741.

"he lives in the sky
far above us
the eagle
looks good there
has a good grip on his world."

Shaking the Pumpkin, The Eagle Above Us

2742.

Five Corners of Time

EBook

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs

202 Eclectic Quintains

Mike Garofalo

2743.

Mendocino Quintain Prosody

A The Fates changed trucks in Crescent City
A Carried their Precious to Yachat's gritty
B Guarded the Sacred with scabbard knives.
C They ran, those Fates, chased by destinies,
C Fearing free will, trapped by realities.

Quintain Rhyme Schemes

2744.

Words on a pixeled screens
puzzling me—
sidebar boxes selling things
alluring images marketing
things unmatched to my real needs.

2745.

Master Koin asked Monk Dogen
"Express your idea of the number 5?"
Dogen raised his five fingers.
"Very good, that's a good hand," said Koin.
Both raised five fingers and laughed.

Koin held up
his right hand;
Dogen held up
his left hand---
mirror images

Master Dogen 1200-1253 Japan

Zen Koans

The Fireplace Records
Zen Koans by Mike Garofalo

Index to 1,975 Zen Koans

2746.

"In an owl cry; night became real night;
from that owl cry night came
on the nerve. I felt the shock
and rolled into the dark upon my feet
listening. There was no wind.

Among the firs my fire was almost out;
I heard the lake shore tapping, then
what was not wind, a cry
within the owl cry, behind the cross
of dark the mountain made.

My voice went echoing, inventing response
around the world for all of our greatest need,
the longest arc, toward Friend, from All Alone.
For that brief tenure my old faith
sang again along the bone."

- William Stafford, A Bridge Begins in the Trees

2747.

she spit
goobers
on the grass
on the dirt
gleefully

2748.

"For one throb of the artery.
While on that old grey stone I sat
Under the old wind-broken tree,
I knew that One is animate,
Mankind inanimate phantasy."

W. B. Yeats, A Meditation in Time of War

2749.

coughing violently
her glasses fell
onto her knees---
sputum soiled
her soft Kleenex

2750.

Need to hold on---
Using my thumb
     Holding a gong
          Helping me strum
     Squeezing a plum

2751.

Change your actions.
Change what you do.
Live a new way.
Try doing something new...
Watch your beliefs change accordingly.

Fort Stevens State Park, OR

2752.

Dog on the freeway
confused, lost, running...
trying to get away---
cars roaring, coming on,
in an instant: Death.

2753.

the lapping surf
calm and gentle
cooing and calling
caressing the sand
greeting the land

2754.

She was born
without one hand.
She shared her fate
with women at hand.
They held her up with Love.

Disabilities

2755.

The dream came true.
She failed the test.
Because she failed to study.
Failed to prepare.
Even her dreams knew of her failures.

The Wreck Ahead Comes Into View

2756.

"A great Hope fell
You heard no noise
The Ruin was within
Oh cunning wreck that told no tale
And let not Witness in..."

- Emily Dickinson, # 1123

2757.

The fly was coached
Out of the bottle;
The mind was coached
Out of useless tendencies.
Sometimes, Wittgenstein's methods worked.

2758.

Departing, step by step;
step by step, arriving.
Sitting down
boots off
feet sore.

2759.

morning walk
alone—
rehearsing
a memorized
poem

2760.

Bumps in the Logic Road

It is surrounded by water
because it is an island.

It has meaning
because it is a word.

It's summertime
because it's hot.

He only could count to 10.

This man is 2m tall,
therefore he is not 4m tall. (Wittgenstein)

Wat is wrong with saying that
"there are three things in a field:
two cows and a pair of cows." (Ryle)

This part is an air brake pad,
but it doesn't work.

Fort Vancouver Regional Library System

2761.

The power to successfully predict
What will happen when
Relevant antecedents exist and persist
Is the great power of sciece, we must admit---
Name something useful the Bible or Koran can predict?

2762.

Boshisattvas --- For the Bees

In the blink of one false eye,
In the blink of One True Eye,
Flowers in the empty sky;
Shimmering, scented ... gone,
Gone, gone, gone far beyond

Their seeds of arising.
But, staying, Here-Now,
A Great Marvel of Manifestation.
Bodhisattvas---
for the Bees

Bodhisattva's

2763.

Five Elements Embracing

Soil, sea, sun, rain, sky ...
Five Elements embracing,
Intertwined in mind.
Unfathomable Matrix;
Scaffolds on scaffolds

Grounded in Otherness.
Below sky, gardener, bees, soil,
seeds, leaves, stems, roots, water...
Below wet cells embraced,
Below atoms dancing on Energy...

Deeper and deeper below
Into What?
A Plenitude, a sacredness.
Emptiness in full bloom.

Emptiness

Five Elements in Taoism

2764.

Mountains Melted

Leaping from the Ledge of Infinite Regress,
The Unmoved Mover fell into Formlessness:
Pure silence echoed between the galaxies,
Eons of eons vanished in a second,
The Oceans covered all the Land,

Polar mountains melted, rivers went dry,
Withered trees bloomed in fires,
Thusness scattered in sixty directions,
Space became Time, time became things.
Black Holes filled with Nirvana,

A billion samadhi mirrors shattered,
Galaxies snuggled within a single skull,
Many became One,
One only, only One.

Samadhi

Mirrors as Metaphors

One and the Many

2765.

Waiting: Then Suddenly

He sat for weeks under the Bodhi Tree
Before the morning sun Opened his Eyes;
Lotus blossoms fell from the sky
She walked through the Gateless Gate,
Upright, staff in hand;

Rhododendrons flowered by the Sea,
Plum blossoms opened across the land.
She sat and sat,
Till yea was nay, and nay was yea;
While roses bloomed on day by day.

Gnawing on his koan bone,
Suddenly, the taste of insight;
Amid sea grasses on the dunes,
Blue flowers amidst the grave sites.

Flowers in the Sky

2766.

Seeing What We Want to See

Illusions, delusions, foolishness:
Those flowers falling from the sky.
Only our Mind's Eyes
Wishing for otherwise;
As always, embracing fertile lies.

Surfing daydreams of the past,
Spinning fictions over facts;
Myth making, playful, eager to act,
Seeing what we want to see,
Seeking, yea saying, seeding,

Giving it a try.
Having faith in the hope of
Flowers in the Sky.

2767.

Flowers in the Skagit Valley

These yellow poppies reveal time,
These sweet razor clams taste time,
These brown seeds generate time.
The seashells speak of past time.
These gray leafless trees show time.

The Earth is Time; the Sky is Time.
And the five fingers of one black hand hold time,
And the blinking of two blue eyes cry time.
The dirty garden hoe and hoses water time,
The fishing line drops to the bottom of time,

The snows on Mt. Ranier glacier time,
Hood Canal ravens break open time,
The tulips in Skagit Valley sweeten time,
The roaring Queets River rapids erode time...

2768.

Dream Time of a Body-Mind

Remembering is time, forgetting is time.
Black lines of scripture tell times,
Great and small doubts reveal time,
Hungry ghosts and naked demons are time,
Newborn Gods were conceived in time.

Death is time, and conception is time.
Vulgar time, broken time,
Our time, space-time, in time,
The Right time, before time, Sublime time,
Standard time, beyond time, past time.

Dream Time of a still body-mind is time.
Time and Time again,
Explaining All and not
explaining any-thing.

Time

2769.

Pointing in What Direction?

The Arrows of Time
never rest,
moving forward unrelenting
irreversible:
from hot towards cold

from stream to Sea
from organized to disorganized
from past to future
from moving towards stillness
from life towards death.

Or, so it seems, to us,
with our little particulars,
with our home brew views,
with our social habits a must.

2770.

Unhitched from the Eternal Now

The Spiderwebs of Time
are legion
multitudes of nows and thens;
Uncountable heres and theres
unhitched

from any eternal present
everywhere.
To Dance at the Still Point
Of the Time beyond time,
Beyond pasts, within futures,

this Moment
Now and forever, beyond
ordinary minds.

2771.

Icy Crystal Streaked

Speechless, Master Dogen stared,
Shivering in a turning white world
Raising cold dawn moons.
Bright white millions on millions
Of drifting flowery flakes

Fell fast from the Echizen sky.
Ice pure, elemental, quintessential
Wet, imperfect, flowing time
Packed by the hour, deeper,
Deeper down to Winter's core.

The Temple of Eternal Peace creaked,
Snowflakes gathered on Dogen's robe,
One icy crystal streaked the True Eye
Glimpsing into Itself . . . .

Master Dogen

Flowers in the Sky

2772.

"Some are & are going to my howinouse baheegwing hawuNnawu N
     nngahn baheegwing
Some are & are going to my howinouse baheegwing hawuNnawu N
     nngahn baheegwing
          buhtzzm bahyee noohwinnnnGUUH."

Shaking the Pumpkin, The 12th Horse Song of Frank Mitchell

2773.

Struggling Up the Stairs

Scores of steep staircases
from Lincoln City down to the sea—
yes, perhaps,
the subtle truths,
revealed on a walk in the surf.

2774.

My Own Speed

Not lonely when I am alone
Content with busy invisibility
A movement of One, not avant-garde
Not steered by a crowd
By agendas other than my own.

2775.

2776.

feeling urges
to smoke cannabis
just a few puffs
make me woosey and
make me daydream away

2777.

Local Libraries Near Me

Drove to our local library
Fort Vancouver, Clark County,
Salmon Creek or Cascade libraries;
Always inviting, valuable, clean,
Books and videos enticing.

Clark County, WA

2778.

February Dawn

ice glazed bird bath
concrete ice cold
icy flakes of frozenness
speckles of frosted pine needles
poking up the icy top

2779.

I could do
what he did;
I could say
what he said.
Would that be Right? For me? For us?

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

2780.

Thr Griffith Observatory
On a hill overlooking sprawling LA
Took us on a trip to Chile's
Southern Sky Universe digitally
Flashing a thousand stars above our eyes.

Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles 1988

Observatories

Los Angeles at Night

2781.

Chance encounters
Amplified and strange.
An umbrella meets a desert
Sheet music meets a xylophone.
All on the edge of a dull knife.

2782.

The shovel met the wheelbarrow
At a party on the lush lawn.
The rake met the barrel on Saturday.
The hose met the faucet for sex; Hey!
All the Big Money in Tillamook comes from Cows.

Tillamook, Oregon

Tillamook Milk, Cheese, and Ice Cream Factory 2015

2783.

Time Travel to the Outskirts of Words

Objects are Intertwined:
Inter-breeding like space and time
Inter-acting like brain and mind
Inter-relating like the drummer and the band
Inter-sectioning like fingers and hand

     Time is Objectified:
Counted, tallied, recorded, traded;
     Clock hands moving, telling time;
     Carrion bells singing hours at nine---
Time eats everything; Objects dissolve.

     Time is Personified:
Grim Reaper, Stork Baby, Dorian Gray;
     Talking Time Machines, Killer Shark AI;
Old man with a crooked gray cane;
     Eternal Goddess in a perfectly lazy Sky.

     We travel via Time:
All the time, consistently, logically,
Relentlessly, unavoidably, inexorably...
     But, realistically--- Entropy ---
     Closes the Past with a slap!

^^ We Only Travel in Time in the Now ^^

Words, thankfully, are Free
To thumb their noses at reality
To toss time-places-people randomly a'round
To invent a Supreme Fiction for us to See---
To create a timeless Heaven for Eternity.

2784.

Five Corners of Time

Those critical moments
Those Key-Pivotal-Corners
Those watershed events in life
Those abrupt passages into the New
Those Five Corners of your life, e.g.,

Graduation, Marriage, Career Job,
Children, Aging, Retirement ...
What are your Five Corners?

Most of use have dozens of
Corners to our lives.

2784.

¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ . . . . . ††††† ..¶

¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ . . . . ††††… † .. ¶

¶ ¶ ¶ . . . †††

¶ ¶ . . ††

— ¶ . † … ?????!!

— † . ¶ … ?????!!

† . ¶ . .††

† . ¶ … † . †††

¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ . . . . †††† … † . ¶

¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ . . . . . ††††† . ¶

2786.

Steel cut oats

raspberries, blueberries,
strawberries, blackberries

! Breakfast Delights !
! Fortunate me !

2787.

smoky fire place smells
thicker acrid air
sparks and pops
colorful waste
I cough

Fireplaces

2788.

The Event: Number 16; She Was Fire

How does she enliven the lecture? 1
               We listened to her
               We asked her
               We learned from her
               We were tested by her 2

I found her words remarkable
She could speak and mesmerize
I admired her beauty, poise, and dress
Her relentless intellectual energy was the best---
She was Fire---from beginning to end. 3

She would walk around the classroom
     Gesture animately, vary her voices,
          Act out a scene, lecture without notes,
               Quote from a book, write on the chalkboard---
Smile, pause, ponder, philosophize---say something wise.

1. Enliven: enlarge, embody, entertain, envelope, energize,
enlighten, enticing,

2. Wittgenstein, Zettel # 18

3. She was Hot!

She lit up the room when she walked in.
She fired us up.
She burned it into our memories.
She created a burning desire for doing philosophy.
She spoke with fire in her eyes.

She warmed our hearts
She cooked our minds

The Fireplace Records

Comparisons, Smilies, Metaphors, Analogies, Models

Priapus - Greek Fertility God

2789.

"I gaze at the line where the sky meets the sea,
My soul stands there
And stands behind me:
The past and the future are one,
As are the sand and my feet."

- Michael Napoliello, 5 Lines in the Quiet Hour

2790.

"What's a person to us
but a contortion
of pressure ridges
palpable
long after she is gone."

- Rae Armantrout, Missing Persons

2791.

"We don't exist
unless we are deeply
and sensually in touch
with that which can be touched
but not known."

- D. H. Lawrence, Non-Existence

2792.

Alluding to his Id's obscenities
His Ego reveled in intimacies
Of carnal-sensual-erotic-lustful scenes
And his Super-Ego was on vacation, so
His Archetypes acted like Priapus.

2793.

Change your behavior,
Change your ideas.
First the behavior,
Second the ideas---
Words hitch rides on Actions.

2794.

Pick up the Pace

I tended to play
my harmonica
at a slower pace---
picking the best tunes
that matched my lagging pace.

2795.

Wednesday Home Chores

Get up, off my ass
Put on my boots
Shoveled a gutter
Replaced a shower head
Build a bookshelf

2796.

How Do You Know that Your are a Behaviorist?

He said to himself
"he's a behaviorist"
or he read
'he's a behaviorist".
So, how would I know

If I were a behaviorist?
Would I just assume I was?
What evidence would confirm or not verify.
How would I function in the Outside
Amongst other beings in the City of Words.

Behaviorism

Concept of Mind by Gilbert Ryle in 1949

Deconstruction in Literary Criticism

2797.

Fifteen Ways a Wookpecker Looks at Me

You live around these firs, so do I
You are stealthy, I stay advised
You water trees, I peck tree sides
Your feeder has food, I stay advised
Your birdbath is full, my thirst satisfied.

6, 7, 8, 9, 10

11, 12, 13, 14

2798.

The process of thinking
Is very various
Open-ended, complex:
Sometimes unraveling, deconstructing;
Sometimes creating, constructing, clean.

Reading Wittgenstein 1975

2799.

2800.

Don't explain, Describe:
Change how you live
Change your surroundings
Change your friends
Change how you talk.

2801.

"How is it all gonna turn out
people on Crow's River going up to Wolf's Town
I don't have any bad feelings about the Crow people
never said anything at all about the Wolf's children
if they'd come by I'd shake all their hands."

Shaking the Pumpkin, Funeral Songs

2802.

2803.

2804.

2805.

My left hip and muscles hurt
tender to the touch
down into the groin, and
lower back stiff and bent---
Today---an old man's laments.

2806.

"The reader must work to put
Two and two together
For themselves, if so desired.

Nothing is done to minister
To a reader's indolence."

2807.

"In the very earliest time,
when both people and animals lived on earth,
a person could become an animal if he wanted to
and an animal could become a human being.
They were people and animals, and there was no difference."

Shaking the Pumpkin, Magic Words

2808.

To discover that your practice
Is grounded in some errors
Makes some uncomfortable---
But the unwise are inclined to forget
And practice the same without regrets.

2809.

"The self-monitoring function
of each cell
"writ large,"

personified---
a person."

- Rae Armantrout, Versed

Quintain Poetry Sections on this Webpage
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Bundled Up, Volume 5

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions
Quintain Sonnets, Art

Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Bundled Up, Volume 6
Quintain Sonnets, Time, Onions
Quintain Poems 3,000 - 3,500

2810.

Once Upon a Time

Mythical time
unfolds in present time
unravels in literal minds—
real, imagined, fictionalized,
Always in Now-Time.

2811.

"But if a man
Argues that, therefore, nothing can be known,
He does not really even know that much,
Since he is confessing total ignorance.
I'd best not argue with this kind of man."

Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura, Book 4, Line 270

2812.

Hebrew National
beef franks,
blessed by Rabbis
served on a bagel—
a campground staple

2813.

His temperament was intense
Seeking truths was duty dear
Philosophy his uncommon sense:
To root out errors, uproot tendencies,
Analyze games, impress listeners...

2814.

"Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?
For these red lips, with all their mournful pride,
Mournful that no new wonder may betide,
Troy passed away in one high funeral gleam,
And Usna's children died.

We and the laboring world are passing by:
Amid men's souls, that waver and give place
Like the pale waters in their wintry race,
Under the passing starts, foam of the sky,
Lives on this lonely face.

Bow down, archangels, in your dim abode:
Before you were, or any hearts to beat,
Weary and kind one lingered by His seat;
He made the world to be a grassy road
Before her wandering feet."

- W. B. Yeats, The Rose of the World

2815.

Where does the Present go when it becomes the Past?
Where is the past?
Where does the Future go when it becomes Now?
Where is the Future?

Where is Now?
What is Now?
How long is now?---
Misleading questions, confusing poetry.

"now" does not specify a time

2816.

2817.

2818.

2819.

"Like everything metaphysical
The harmony between
thought and reality
Is to be found
In the grammar of the the language."

Reading Wittgenstein, Zettel #55

2820.

2821.

"I have shown that all the reaches of the world
Are mortal, that the heavens are born, and die;
I have shown most things that happen there, and must:
There is more to learn. Ride lofty with me now
Into the gales; behold how the wind's anger

Once they are gentled, turns all things to peace.
Well, so it is with the other things men see
In heaven, on earth, and tremble in suspense
Debase their minds in terror of the gods
Grovel because compulsive ignorance
Proclaims divine authority and sway."

Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura, Book VI, Line 50

2822.

2823.

2824.

2825.

2826.

"Finally, what's this wanton lust for life
To make us tremble in dangers and in doubt?
All men must die, and no man can escape.
We turn and turn in the same atmosphere
In which no new delight is ever shaped

To grace our living; what we do not have
Seems better that everything else in the world
But should we get it, we want something else.
Our gaping thirst for life is never quenched."

Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura, Book III, Line 1021

2827.

2828.

2829.

"It is a wonder foam is so beautiful.
A wave bursts in anger on a rock, broken up
in wild white sibilant spray
and falls back, drawing in its breath with rage,
with frustration how beautiful."

- D. H. Lawrence, Spray

2830.

She showered before dawn.
Toweled off, blew her hair dry,
Put on her business suit.
Gathered her belongings---
Could not find her plane ticket.

2831.

He became more efficient
Using less time to get more tasks done
Working smarter and faster
Saving time and money for the company.
And his pay stayed the same.

2832.

On the Road to Eureka

He was a hot head.
She was cold as ice.
It was the end of the line.
We are armies of the night.
They were hard pressed.

Consciousness rises as language grows,
Metaphors expand the dimensions of the Known.

Cars are gas guzzlers.
Forests were enchanting ghosts.
Men were oxen on yokes.
Maps were essential Keys
Rivers were twisting snakes.

This was that, figuratively.
That was this, comparatively.

Non-Religious Persons in the USA

Metaphors are unceasingly born
Growing like leaves in February
From Imaginative fecund roots
Connecting disconnected images
of That and This, figuratively.

2833.

poor fellow
stroke victim
limping by
on one side
struggling

2834.

long wait
doctor's late
patients wait
reading phones
anticipate

2835.

They ran out of time
The game ended on time
They lost this time.
They all got back to the bus in time.
They will do better next time.

2836.

"It is well to nail this down, to keep in mind
This principle as well: that nature has
Nothing consisting of one element
And one alone, but everything is made
Of many elements combined together."

Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura, Book II, Line 580

2837.

It's not just another thing;
It's not just something else.

It just is what it is!
Things just are as they are.
We want to know how and why.

2838.

In Line: 2021

How Mothers and fathers
stand in line
for COVID shots
to save more lives...
fearful times.

2839.

The Day My Religion Started to Die

I've had a few people
tell me, to my face,
that I was going to hell
because
I was not going to church

In the 1957 sixth grade, my teacher,
a stern Catholic nun (towards boys)
told the entire class:
My grandmother and I
were going to Hell (her emphasis!)

Because we attended her
Lutheran Church on last Sunday.
Shocked, upset, and annoyed was I!
My grandmother was a good person.
Catholicism, for me, on that day died.

My Views on Religion

Humanism

2840.

Obscurity is embedded within
Mystical remarks, oracles, and revelations.
This is their nature and appeal.
Makes them special, engenders zeal,
Makes one hungry for more poetic meals.

2841.

"And nature wil not have it that the sume
Of things set any limits for themselves,
Forcing matter to be limited
By void, and void be limited by matter.
This alternation, this recurrence, make the total limitless."

Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura, Book I, Line 1010

2842.

Dreading the Noise

I heard the fireworks on July 4th
I remembered the July 4th fireworks shows.
I anticipated, I expected, I dreaded
The next noisy, smelly, smoky, annoying
Bloody fucking useless unsafe fireworks shows.

2843.

Tao of the Seasons

2844.

There is no seed
in the middle of an onion;
No flower in a fig.

That's the way it is.
Essential here, Optional there.

Pulling Onions

2845.

winter night
cold and long
till the dawn---
feeling sleep
coming on

2846.

"Now the bright morning star, Day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
the yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire

Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing;
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
and welcome thee, and wish thee long."

- John Milton, Song on a May Morning

2847.

The 3rd Person impersonal pronoun

'one'
in the family of he, she, him, her, it
as the neutral 'one'.

At the altar, he called on the One.

2848.

"Galaxies run from us. "Don't look!"
Was this the meaning
of the warming in the Garden?
When a dreamer sees she's dreaming,
it causes fragments to disperse."

- Rae Armantrout, End Times

2849.

2850.

"How long have you been
hoping for that?"
"For as long as I've been
saying so."
Erase time by not talking?

Wittgenstein, Zettel #78

2851.

"My whole life long I've sharpened my sword
and now, face to face with death
I unsheathe it, and lo---
The blade is broken---
Alas!"

- Dairin Soto

2852.

certain things
speak for themselves
other things
speak for others
but most things don't speak

2853.

"Round clouds roll in the arms of the wind,
The round earth rolls like a germ in the sky,
And see, where the budding hazels are thinned
The wild anemones lie
In undulating shivers beneath the wind!

Over the blue of the duck-pond ply
White ducks, a quacking flotilla of cloud;
And look you, floating just thereby
The blue-gleamed drake stems proud
As Abraham, whose seed shall multiply.

In the lustrous gleam of the water, there
Scramble seven toads, across silk, obscure leaves,
Seven toads that move in the dusk to share
Dim spring that interweaves
The hidden bodies mating everywhere."

- D. H. Lawrence, Come Spring, Come Sorrow

2854.

The mystical is one View of the world.
Yes, with limited focus on the Whole;
But with profound, enlivening, mind-altering
Speechless Trances of Bliss---
One View Deeper: Feelings of Omnipotence.

"Not how the world is,
but that it is, is the mystical.
Viewing the world sub specie aeterni
Is Viewing it as a limited whole...
Feeling the world as a limited whole is the mystical feeling."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus 6.44

2855.

If you modify your practices,
Change what you do,
Modify your daily behavior,
Act in ways new to you---
Your fixed ideas will wobble loose.

2856.

"dot the i, cross the t"
she said to me
correcting my printing practice,
my fledgling orthography---
worked on letters f and z.

Yes, every i dotted to dead.

2857.

I Have Nothing to Say

2858.

"Be silent," mystics advise
They have no information to provide.
No facts to confirm or verify.
No perfect picture to open our eyes---
They ought to be silent; but they tell poetic lies.

2859.

Bumps and Roundabouts on the Road of Time

It is 3 am,
therefore it is not 4 pm.

The past was once
both the future and the present.

She was late, because
she was not on time.

Today, in our world,
it is both
March 5th and March 6th.

2860.

A framed detailed art print
of brown poplar leaves
in a square brown wood frame—
every brown frame
hanging askew.

2861.

Beachcomber's Retreat

the churning
cold swirling surf
bites my bare feet
chills my shins—
limped back to camp

2862.

Apricots sweet.
Onions savory.
Quintains served.
Readers savored.
The taste?

Quintains and Onions

Pentastichs and Apricot

2863.

"When an answer cannot be stated,
neither can the question be stated. §
There is no such thing as the riddle. §
If a question can be posed at all,
then it can also be answered."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus 6.5

2864.

Some of Professor Prior's Propositions for Time Logic

P It was the case that______ 1
F It will be the case that______2
G It will always be the case that______3
H It always was the case that______4

Probably adequate for many "cases"

1. the water was polluted
2. "what?", examples?? It will very likely be the case that___.
3. 2+2=4
4. oxygen and hydrogen made water

Arthur Prior, Time and Modality, 1957

2865.

Spotted a black dog
On the dark road
Wandering around
Lost and alone
Can't find home

2866.

time runs
does not wait
hustles fast
lingers not
cannot stop

2867.

Early death took his soul
far to soon, this we know;
taking from us a keen mind
cutting off his contributions fine---
Others, worthless, live till 70.

2868.

opened my eyes and ears
closed my interpretations and ideas
traveled to new places
closed the book on old cases---
walked the dunes in the rain

2869.

He was aloof, alone,
Disinterested, an inside mind,
A lonely rider in the spring storm;
Holding well on his own
Testing himself as he goes.

2870.

Each language maps
a useful calendar for living days
to organize actions and events
For all speaker's lives
Be on time! Bottom line.

2871.

"For countless mortals music, however vaguely,
comes closer than any other felt presence to inferring,
to forecasting the possible reality of transcendence.
of an encounter with the numinous, with the
supernatural as these lie beyond empirical reach."
- George Steiner, The Poetry of Thought

2872.

The History Told in the Present

Mythical time
unfolds in present time
unravels in literal minds—
real, imagined, fictionalized,
Always in Now-Time.

2873.

Let there be light
Let there be Spring
Let there be birth
Let love be seen
Let living revitalize

2874.

When Deus sings
He sings the calculus
He chants the algebraic
He plays with infinity---
Deus loves the lyrics of metaphysical poetry.

- Gottfried Leibniz

2875.

The cello music
clearly spoke to me
Rhythmically, emotionally,
About loneliness and fate;
Yes, I did somehow translate.

2876.

Wittgenstein's Remarks

"I have written down all these thoughts as remarks, short
paragraphs, sometimes in longer chains about the same
subject, sometimes jumping, in a sudden change, from
one area to another."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Preface

"A Man may make a Remark---
In itself ---
A quiet thing
That may furnish
The Fuse unto a Spark

In dormant nature--- lain ---
Let us deport --- with skill ---
Let us discourse --- with care ---
Powder exists in Charcoal ---
Before it exists in Fire."

- Emily Dickinson, ED#952

Emily Dickinson, 1860-1886, ED#952

Remarks in Wittgenstein's Style

Poetry and Philosophy

I had
a habit of smoking
in my cold garage
in a well-lit corner
reading Wittgenstein's Remarks, entranced.

Were they remarks, analogies, descriptions?
Were they analogies, asides, staged discussions?
Were they intellectual artillery against an enemy?
Were they charms that attracted followers?
Were they Results, Propositions, Rules?

Where are the Places in his living cosmos ...
Like Norway, Vienna, Cambridge? No!

Dismantle, Reassemble, Restructure
Point out, Listen attentively, Touch things gently
Untangle yourself from Essences
Explore the Grammar of Consciousness
Unpeel the Onion Layers: [Smells so Fresh]

Just juggling gems of logical arguments with himself,
Drowning at times in the depths of Socratic despair,
Hanging on, Fighting through, a soldier of Duty to the Death,
Never publishing again after 1922, Hesitant! Doubtful.
Always entangled in a lingering linguistic mess.

Discovering his Remarks and compact essays,
On a variety of intriguing matters and themes,
Captivated a young graduate student like me,
In those past 1975 days and in decades beyond it seemed.
The compactness, the brevity, the focused attention,

The questioning then answering, the courage then the faltering,
The clarity opening up suddenly, then drowning in a Wordy Sea.
A bluntness, directness, authoritarianism, and macho manly veteran style.
Slipping away as his last days faded,
and a few students took up his crusades.
His later style wandered in the nettles of philosophical poetry.

Anyone stung by the bees of stupidity, received no mercy from he.
But the studious and scholarly few in his Cambridge classes,
Like Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe,
Helped us understand this German-English speaking thinker's mind.
But he thought himself that he failed miserably.

Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe

Georg Herick Von Wright

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

2877.

There is no there there
Or no here here
Or no where where
Or no at at---
Where are they?

- Gertrude Stein

2878.

I owned an electric clock
that helped direct my
sleeping and waking routines---
however it ran unsteadily slow,
so, I gained an hour a day.

Electric Clocks

2879.
A Positivists Manifesto

Utterances, Statements, Claims, Propositions:
Intelligent, well formed, being clear, making sense,
grammatically correct, logical, consistent, realistic,
declarative, verifiable, true, pointing to, confirmable,
showing something, refutable, understood, factual.

Positivism

Realism

2880.

2881.

"Thought, I love thought.
But not the jangling and twisting of already existent ideas,
I despise that self-important game.
Thought is the welling up of unknown life into consciousness.
Thought is the testing of statements

on the Touchstone of the Conscience.
Thought is gazing in the face of life, and reading what can be read,
Thought is pondering over experience, and coming to a conclusion.
Thought is not a trick, or an exercise, or a set of dodges,
Thought is a man in his wholeness wholly attending."

- D. H. Lawrence, Thought

2882.

We think metaphorically
When doing philosophy
Revel at times in ambiguity
Unraveling poems and hidden messages
Thoughts begin with words to the wise.

George Steiner

Louis Althusser

2883.

We want to escape
the clutches of time
the body's decline
the impertinence of time---
No Way. Your Mine. It's Time!

- Spinoza, The Conatus
The Will to Live

2884.

Are there thoughts before saying them?
Does a deaf-mute think about Plato?
Does a dancer demonstrate the commentaries?
Did the cello expound the truth?---
Doubtful doing any philosophy without words.

2885.

2886.

2887.

2888.

2889.

playing gods

Accomplish the Impossible?
Play God? Make The Normal passé?
Cure cancer? Make solar panels?
Create new arts. Know the Future.
Ready, Go, Let’s Start! Soon!

Appropriate the Everything
passing quickly by—
a candle burning at both ends
machines that mimic the mind
mankind walking on the moon

Lazers opening up an eye
a skyscraper a half-mile high
a nuclear reactor making electricity
wine from California in Dubai
vaccine stalling a Black Death Doom

Computers held in your hand
English speakers in every land
millions napalmed in Vietnam
MRI slicing up your brain
new seeds bio-engineered in labs

Twelve tone music in your head
an orthopedic mattress making your bed
transforming sand into computer chips
air frying frozen bagels for your lips
new, New, New, even before this afternoon

Televisions in every room
Radios in every ear worldwide
Around the world jet airplanes fly
Cargo ships shipping timber to Tokyo
Basketball teams in Cameroon

Music playing from CDs
Oil pumped up from underseas
Satellites filling up the sky
Internet smarter with AI
Cruise ships docking in Cancun

Wonders upon Wonders—New!
Faster than a speeding bullet train
Leaping to Mars in a single bound
Yet, seeing the deadly arrows in flight
Pollution our Kryptonite.

2890.

Travel light
Even yesterday is a heavy backpack.
Travel slowly
Even tomorrow can wait---
Move on, don't hesitate.

2891.

Things could be completely otherwise
Than they are now.
But they are not.
In the future they will be otherwise, and
In the past they were otherwise alot.

2892.

Gold Star = clear, verifiable, logical,
definite, declarative, decidable, literal,
descriptive

Silver Star = poetic, musical, artistic,
sensitive, humorous, metaphorical,
figurative, creative

Bronze Star = silence [despite the
Talkers-Promoters], walking, listening,
meditation,

2893.

We planted a Mission Fig
We planted two roses
We planted three heliobores
We planted four garlic bulbs---
We sat in the sun and rested.

2894.

2895.

2896.

2897.

"We cut, chip, polish each sentence,
Yet meaning eludes: All is subtext.
We sail off on white-capped oceans,
Tides grind us back against black rock---
The whirlpool's vortex."

- Michael Napoliello, 5 Lines in the Quiet Hour

2898.

2899.

2900.

2901.

Finding the Outward
Inside the World of Others and Us.
Sharing oatmeal and raisins
Eating reality bite by bite---
The Inward often dissipates.

2902.

2903.

"Before Seisa Died
She told me
"My body, useless
as the last persimmon
on the tree."

2904.

"A tune of non-being
Filling the void:
Spring sun, Bright clouds
Snow whiteness
Clear wind."

- Daido Ichi'I

2905.

Quintain Poetry Sections on this Webpage
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Bundled Up, Volume 5

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions
Quintain Sonnets, Art

Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Picking Blackberries at Bandon Marsh

2906.

2907.

2908.

2909.

"The truth embodied in the Buddhas
of the future, present, past;
The teaching we received from the
fathers of our faith
Can all be found at the tip of my stick."

- Goku Kyonen

Sifu Miao Zhang's Cane

Canes, Sticks, Staffs

2910.

2911.

2912.

"These the disenchanters
Angels of deliverance
Radiant sisters of mercy,
In their dread hands
Is borne the peace..."

- William Everson (Brother Antoninus)

2913.

2914.

2915.

2916.

2917.

2918.

2919.

2920.

I felt the experience of thinking
Deeply attractive, compelling;
Akin to the experience of speaking,
The wonders of wide reading,
The thrill of writing poetry.

Reading Wittgenstein, Zettel #96

2921.

"Death is a Dialogue between
The Spirit and the Dust.
"Dissolve" says Death ---
The Spirit "Sir I have another Trust"---
Death doubts it ---

Argues from the Ground ---
The Spirit
Turns away:
Just laying off for evidence
An Overcoat of Clay."

- Emily Dickinson, #976

2922.

How did Infinity fit in the palm of your hand?
Mathematics and physics had a new plan.
How did Biology grow in time?
Darwin connected changes aligned.
A Paradigm shift quickly began.

Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn 1962

Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

2923.

His Remarks Were Very Strange

What color is the vowel e for you?
A clock can't talk, but can tell time for you.
Yes, true, fish don't fly to Seattle at noon.
No, false, water flows uphill at the Seattle Zoo.
Maybe, true, life's not a bowl of cherries for you.

She responded to a few of his remarks:
Tried to measure his understanding with a stop-watch.

2924.

drifted off on a dream
time disappeared
obscured by sleep
hours erased
timeless in dreamless space

Dreaming

2925. >> 2945.

West Edge Tour

The West Edge Tour

2026

Highway 101 & 1

California & Oregon

San Diego to Astoria

Karen and Mike Garofalo

Old Cruisers in one Old SUV

Talking about What We See

Industry, Ag, Fish, Trees, Us

Leaving the City by the Bay

On the

Golden Gate Bridge

Where

Highway

101 & 1

Are One

Golden Gate Bridge 1937-

Where Highway 101 & 1 Meet
At the Golden Gate Bridge

Blog Posts: West Edge Tour

Target Date: April 1st to April 21st, 2026

Day 1:

Washington to Oregon

Vancouver, Portland, Longview,
Astoria, Seaside,Cannon Beach,
Nehalem Bay, Rockaway Beach, Tillamook,
Lincoln City, Depot Bay, Newport,
Waldport, Yachats, Florence.

Day 2:

Oregon and California

Florence, Reedsport, Coos Bay,
Bandon, Port Orford, Gold's Beach,
Brookings, Crescent City, Orick,
Patrick's Point, McKinleyville, Eureka.

Day 3:

Eureka, Ferndale, Redwood National Park,
Avenue of the Giants, Ykiah, Latonville,
Willits, Geyserville, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park

Day 4.

Rohnert Park, Golden Gate Bridge,
San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Jose,
Gilroy, Salinas, San Luis Obisbo.

Day 5.

San Luis Obisbo, Santa Barbara, Ventura,
Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Orange County,
San Juan Capistrano, Carlsbad, San Diego

Photo: Nehalem Bay and Manzanita

At the Edges of the West

2926.

Sand in My Face

"Cascadian Zen"
from Watershed Press
kept me very impressed:
My Bio-Region, a sacred Place,
A context of minds, a Moral Space...

The sand blew violently tonight
Across Grayland's long sandy beach
Even over the little dunes, shaking shore pines free.
I lay down in the back of his truck---
Shaking stars in the Grays Harbor night.

Was I doing Right?
Laying in a truck bed tonight;
while hundreds of clammers
dug for razor clams
in the low tide shallows . Right!

Grays Harbor, Washington

Highway 101 and 1: Docu-Poem

Quintains, Pentastichs, and Tankas

Cascadia Field Guide

2927a.

Day 1:

Memories of Oregon Trips

Vancouver, Washington to Oregon Coast

We turned off Road OR26
In the coastal forest's shade
by a gas station and rickety market;
headed southwest to Highway 101
and shallow Nehalem Bay.

Day 1:

Vancouver, Portland, Longview,
Astoria, Seaside,Cannon Beach,
Nehalem Bay, Rockaway Beach,
Tillamook,
Lincoln City, Depot Bay, Newport,
Waldport, Yachats, Florence.

Memories of fine meals in Manzanita at Nehalem Bay
Crabbing on piers near Wheeler
Huddling in a motel in a Rockaway Beach rainstorm
Shopping at woodworking stores in Garibaldi
Savoring fresh Tillamook ice cream in Tillamook

Clamming in Netarts Bay at Cape Disappointment
Watching July fireworks at the Pacific City Dunes
Hiking to the Top of Poseidon's Thumb
Browsing used bookstores in Lincoln City
Fishing at Devil's Lake at dusk

Splashing surf spray at Depot Bay
Amazed by the Aquarium in Newport City
Crabbing off the long pier in Yaquina Bay
Camping at yurts in South Beach summers
Gazing at the lighthouse at Hecate Head
Waldport ...
Florence: where we slept tonight.

2927b.

Devil’s Lake in Lincoln City

Sounds of the surf
splashing on the sand
somewhere South
of the Milky Way...
silent Siletz Bay

Siletz Bay:
still as stones
calm as steel statues
flat as tables---
windless days.

Lincoln City ...................
45 North Parallel ~~~~~
Halfway between the
Equator and Santa's home.
Cartographic consciousness.

Freed Gallery - Beauty
Pelican Brewery - Fish Tacos
Siletz Bay - Lincoln City
Devil's Lake - Cedar Tree!
Campfire-Dusk-Roaring Sea!
Pig and Pancake Restaurants
in Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach,
Lincoln City and Newport ...
Cafes packed with people,
senior couples smiling, children coloring;

Folks of all kinds, young and old,
all content, chowing down:
clanking dishes, knives slicing,
forks scraping, waiters working,
Grandma eating ham and eggs.

Crepes filled with Oregon
strawberry compote, sprinkled
with powdered sugar and topped
with whipped cream---
shot my blood sugar up to 215.

Land's End viewpoint:
sandy hilltop slopes,
sunset over a shimmering sea,
suburbs north of Lincoln City,
the roar of 101 removed from me.

Beyond peacefully~~~~~
stunt kites flip and fly
in a stiff onshore breeze---
two strings, two hands,
impressive dexterity `````.

bumper to bumper
traffic flow
tourists on staycations
on the Oregon coast---
seniors on the go~~~~~

Tourist's toting
bags of saltwater
taffy treats and
chocolate candies
from Read's Candy Store.

Robert's Bookshop and
Bob's Beach Books,
both open today as rain
welcomes readers
to Lincoln City.

Devil's Lake Monsters
reported emerging.
Hideous creatures
Killer Claws...
Lincoln City tourist teasers.

Scores of steep steps on staircases
from Lincoln City down to the sea---
yes, perhaps,
the subtle truths,
revealed walking on wet sand.

Walking the beach
searching-searching
for colorful glass floats.
Lincoln City souvenirs
planted daily for tourist cheer.

the waves
sang
incessantly---
a mournful dirge
about the dying sea

waves can't reach
the black volcanic rocks---
on their top
lichens gripping
under layers of frost

midnight moon
framed by fog
touched by trees
guided by gravity
mystical for me

Vamos
Me Enconta
La Playa...
For most people, the Sea,
they love it, like me.

2928.

Day 2:

Costal Memories Are Made of This

We awoke in Florence, Oregon.
Brookings
Redwood National Park
We slept in Eureka, California

2929.

Day 3:

Remembering the Redwoods

We awoke in Eureka, California.
Avenue of the Giants
Redwood National Park
Santa Rosa Valley
Vineyards
We slept in Rhonert Park, California

2930.

Day 4: The City by the Bay

We awoke in Rhonert Park, California
Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco
San Jose
Salinas
San Luis Obisbo
We slept in San Luis Obispo

2931.

Day 5:

Santa Barbara Stucco

We awoke in San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Ventura
Malibu
Los Angeles
Long Beach
Newport Beach
San Juan Capistrano
Oceanside
Carlsbad
Sand Diego

We slept at my brother Philip's house in Carlsbad.

2932.

West Edge Tour

2933.

West Edge Tour

2934.

West Edge Tour

2935.

West Edge Tour

2936.

West Edge Tour

2937.

West Edge Tour

2938.

West Edge Tour

2939.

Return From Oceanside to Vancouver

Day 1.

Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Juan Capistrano,

Nehalem Bay, Manzanita, Oregon

At the Edges of the West

2940.

West Edge Tour

2941.

West Edge Tour

2942.

West Edge Tour

2943.

West Edge Tour

2944.

West Edge Tour

2945. << # 2925

End of
The West Edge Tour 2026

2946.

"Compare the phenomenon of thinking
with the phenomenon of burning. May not
burning, flame, seem mysterious to us?
And why flame more than furniture?---
And how do you clear up the mystery?

And how is the riddle of thinking to be solved?
Like that of flame?

Isn't flame mysterious because it is impalpable?
All right---but why does that make it mysterious?
Why should something impalpable be more
mysterious than something palpable? Unless
it's because we want to catch hold of it.---"

Reading Wittgenstein, Zettel # 125

2947.

February late afternoon
Red camillas in full bloom
Leafless maples invite the light
Streaming beams opening bright
Red camillas on a realm of green.

2948.

2949.

What's In the Box?

2950.

The Bloodless Sea

The bloodless sea—
painted red tides
gathered triple toxins
spewed wavy purple streaks
on bays and beaches we see

The bloodless sea—
picturing crashing white waves
bulldozing the thick brown sand
reshaping the shorelines destiny
relentlessly, impulsively, creatively

The bloodless sea—
written about by poets for centuries
rudely calling my bluff
challenging me aggressively
pushing me past my petty me

Tick-Tock Tractatus: Index

Seashore Life

2951.

dry day today
winter at bay
rose budding
garlic rising---
planting a fig in March

2952.

"In a coming-of-age story
each dream
produces me:

an ignorance
of the point of revelation."

- Rae Armantrout, The Fit

2953.

trouble seen
trouble evaluated
trouble averted
trouble distanced---
Still, troubles ahead

2954.

Within the limits of the Yang and Yin
The moving Dao curves on In
And spins the Dualism of Yin and Yang :
Is/Other, Not/Is, Night/Day, bland/tang---
Against the background of the transparent Void.

Taoism

Emptiness in Full Bloom

Emptiness/Void

2955.

Many conclusions of mine
Are tentative, handy premises,
Open, practical, to-be-revised.
However, some conclusions
are also Firm Sincere Beliefs---
An on those rest the safety of our tribe.

2956.

Are you really...
Later on we might...
I might enjoy...
You migh like...
Sip wine and then...

2957.

Sonnet 555

2958.

Stepping on Reality

The fresh dog turd
squished under my shoe
stinky poo-poo on my shoe
Eeww! doggy-do
cleaning off goo... Phew!

Doggerel Verses

2959.

That "he does X, and I do X"
Tells us an eight of the lies
We concoct to purportedly explain
Or give causes, reasons, or metaphors
To ordain impulses of out articulate body-brains.

2960.

2961.

"The nemesis that awaits our civilization
is social insanity
which in the end is always homicidal.
Sanity means the wholeness of consciousness.
And our society is only part conscious, like an idiot."

- D. H. Lawrence, Nemesis

2962.

"i before c, except after c' Rule.
before now
now after before
later after now
now before later

Tick-Tock Tractatus

2963.

Sonnet 5252

2964.

2965.

2966.

2967.

Sonnet 555

2968.

2969.

2970.

June and Ward Cleaver,
Wally and the Beaver;
watched them on TV
back in suburban 1960.
Teenagers living a little bit
like our own family.

Leave it to Beaver

2971.

It's not true
that nobody has read my poetry
because
I have---
Keep creating anyway.

2972.

Shame on DTrump for
killing 300 children in Iran.
Shame on America!
Shame on America!
A madman driving the car.

2973.

"Hollow rang the house when I knocked at the door
And I lingered on the threshold with my hand
Upraised to knock and knock once more;
Listening for the sound of her feet across the floor
Hollow re-echoed my heart.

The low-hung lamps stretched down the street
With people passing underneath,
With a rhythm of tapping, coming feet
To quicken my hope as I hastened to greet
The waking smile of her eyes.

The tired lights down the street went out,
The last car trailed the night behind;
And I in the darkness wandered about
With a flutter of hope and a quenching doubt
In the dying lamp of my love."

- D. H. Lawrence, Turned Down

2974.

"What is Time?"
For Wittgenstein:
An unsolvable question,
Complex nonsense,
A muddled up mess.

2975.

2976.

If you have a habit
You acquired it in your past.
Bad habits reside in the now.
New habits require:
Six months of your future time, and
girt and correct actions all along.

2977.

Suggest relevant facts.
Give cogent reasons.
Describe matters with exactness.
Articulate the key issues---
But, don't provide a conclusion.

2978.

Time is not a thing
among other things;
It is a word
floating on vocabularies
speaking of changing things.

2979.
How many uses
can you
think about for the word 'time'.
Teach me how to use time-words.
Take your time. I have a lifetimes.

2980.

"Laziness kills ambition
Anger kills wisdom
Fear kills dreams
Ego kills growth
Doubt kills confidence."

- Redbird Smith

2981.

"So let me live that I may die
eagerly passing over from the entanglement of life
to the adventure of death, in eagerness
turning to death as I turn to beauty,
to the breath, that is, of new beauty unfolding in death."

- D. H. Lawrence, So Let Me Live

2982.

Clocks measuring
fragments of infinity
quite bewilderedly
displaying pictures
of time's invisibility

2983.

"Reason dismist, how can he get his way?
He may command, but we need not obey.
His only method then is to persuade;
He should have come to us to learn his trade.
Persuasions, verse's great prerogative,

By which the poets love, and sometimes live.
Values all that philosophers escape
The poets catch, and give them form and shape.
His words t'express his meanings were to weak,
But what if Racine, Milton chose to speak?

In ten neat syllables forever lies
All heroes feel, all knowledge of the wise:
Where Dryden's couplets march with ringing stride
There is no value missed or left outside."

- Julian Bell, 1930, An Epistle on the Subject...

The Spirit of Gardening

Mr. Bell was critical of Wittgenstein.

2984.
The Shifting Faces of Time

Essence = Family Resemblance

clocks, schedules, processes,
day, sunrise, motion, change,
memories, feelings, aging,
growing, evolution, meetings,
breakfast-lunch-dinner,

sleep-wake-sleep.
repetition, cycles, repeating,
expecting, anticipating, waiting,
planning, costs, work, start,
patience, eternal, endings, death...

2985.

Days do go on and on
Complaining about their dull mornings
And endless monotonous afternoons
Bringing only boredom and fatigue---
Even time has a right to complain.

2986.

2987.

Please bring me an answer
Bring that book to me
You didn't bring it?
Bring it on, Buster!
Did you bring some hope?

She told him what not to bring.
He forgot what to bring.
He didn't bring anything.
She brings insight into the discussion.
He will being a saw to solve the problem.

2988.

The Epiphany, the excitment, the Flash
Came to me like metallic lightening
Instantly, Directly, Intimately, Timely;
Unasked for wonder filling me---
The Mystical showed itself willingly.

2989.

"Remember that our language might possess
a variety of different words: one for 'thinking
out loud'; one for thinking as one talks to oneself
in the imagination; one for a pause during which
something or other floats before the mind, after
which, however, we are able to give a confident
answer. One word for a thought expressed in a
sentence; one for the lightning thought which I
may later 'clothe in words'; one for wordless
thinking as one works."

- Wittgenstein, Zettel # 122

2990.

she called me
just today
to complain
about the rain---
same old complaints

2991.

"I know no greater delight that the sheer delight of being alone.
It makes me realize the delicious pleasure of the moon
that she has in traveling by herself: throughout time,
or the splendid growing of an ash tree
alone, on a hillside in the north, humming in the wind."

- D. H. Lawrence, Delight of Being Alone

2992.

2993.

The river rose higher and higher
Levees strained harder and harder
People filled bags with sand
Many people up and ran---
Finally, the levee broke... Bedlam!

2994.

Look at it this way
Compare it to this and not to that
More pictures, fewer muddles
Contrast with something similar
Change your point of view

2995.

The Claws of the Enigmatic
Pried open my ho hum soul
Showed me mystical realms of being.
Granted me blissful ecstasy.
Opened my mind to alternative realities.

That, truly, deeply affected me.
I, truly, treasured such fond memories.
But, truly, it's my ordinary daily living, you see,
The worldly life, strange, odd, oblique...
Reality wears the Enigmatic Clothing Brand.

2996.

"I get up when sleep
becomes unbearable,
when dreams repeat themselves,
minor variations
on a randomly selected theme.

I go to bed
when consciousness becomes unbearable,
when the hour repeats itself
and the television offers
to think for us."

- Rae Armantrout, Occurrence

2997.

For good reason
I have no guilt
Feel no sharp shame
Don't hate myself---
Dropped those games

2998.

Many have hung their philosophy
On the sober or silly rack of poetry
Proselyting their opinions on morality
Providing profound snapshots of reality
Encouraging our gratitude for vibrant vitality.

2999.

what I write
just tastes bad
sours my mind
smells like sand---
rewrite, rewrite, that's my plan

3000.
Pulling Onions

The Onion of Being
Never stops growing
Layering layers over layers---
Giving us one peel a day
On our life's way

Quintain Poetry Sections on this Webpage
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Bundled Up, Volume 5

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions
Quintain Sonnets, Art

Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Sonnets, Art
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Bundled Up, Volume 6
Quintain Sonnets, Time, Onions
Quintain Poems 3,000 - 3,500

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works

At the Edges of the West
Highway 101 and Hwy 1

Bundled Up: Quintains, Pentastichs, Tankas

Cuttings: Haiku, Senryu, Brief Poems

At the Edges of the Fertile West
Highway 99 and Interstate 5

Cantos of the Hands