new york city: these are my words, your words

we kiss on the blue sofa
and in the mirror, there’s smoke

rain tumbles toward oblivion

its hard to bear,
so we empty ourselves out

only i catch the shadow before it shifts.

i turn, curve myself against him
i, always

our pleasures are displaced
in the morning, we’ll drink milky coffee in front of strangers

but look now, the branches shiver, they swagger,
lurching like puppets
against the monsoon afterglow.

nina simone: don't you pay them no mind

new york city

from the vault: (paro, bhuan: red panda beer)

from the vault (thimpu, bhutan: gho)

words: sogyal rinpoche

However Small a Spark

In simple terms, what does karma mean? It means that whatever we do,
with our body, speech, or mind, will have a corresponding result. Each
action, even the smallest, is pregnant with its consequences. It is
said by the masters that even a little poison can cause death, and
even a tiny seed can become a huge tree. And as Buddha said: "Do not
overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small
a spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain."
Similarly he said: "Do not overlook tiny good actions, thinking they
are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a
huge vessel." Karma does not decay like external things, or ever
become inoperative. It cannot be destroyed by time, fire, or water.
Its power will never disappear, until it is ripened.

--Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

toronto, canada

honey

words: joanna macy

Beyond the Self

The way we define and delimit the self is arbitrary. We can place it
between our ears and have it looking out from our eyes, or we can
widen it to include the air we breathe, or at other moments we can
cast its boundaries farther to include the oxygen-giving trees and
plankton, our external lungs, and beyond them the web of life in which
they are sustained.

--Joanna Macy, World As Lover, World As Self

from the vault (thimpu, bhutan)