COMMUNITY

Art & Poetry

We welcome creative contributions from our members.

 

I was asked by several sangha members if I would save and post my “check in” haikus. I’ve included a few photos of some things that captured or inspired them. I’ve been drawn recently to the idea of speaking less and listening more.  While these don’t conform to strict haiku patterns, I work at limiting them to seventeen syllables. Many thanks for the positive feedback.

—Bill Thompson

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The yellow Palo Verde shouts hallelujah with great abandon

Palo Verde tree blooming in the Tucson desert

One inch gecko on floor – we’re both vertebrates? Impossible, yet true.

Small gecko on the floor in Tucson

Old friends return to my night sky.  Orion and the Seven ​Sisters

Night sky with stars over the Tucson desert

I asked my mind nicely, but it answered: You’re not so smart – No poem for you!

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Clouds blue, white and grey whisper of promised rain. Weeks, days, hours – life returns

Clouds gathering over the Tucson desert before rain

Pale spider with striped legs, your perfect web gives me my dream kitchen – now

Spider resting in an intricate web

Learned that Certainty is the enemy; Ambiguity my friend.

Muttering about cold floors, sweaters and warm showers. Fickle, my mind.

Monkey mind! More like Keystone Cops. Laughable my phony dramas

Old footage of a police car going over cliff

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Nightime desert for the Perseids. I watch myself watch the sky. Whoosh. Wow…

Tucson desert night sky during the Perseid meteor shower

Biked Sabino at full moon, watching my breath.  At one point I had none.

Bicycle in front of door

Wish I was as wise as my small dog; the same short stroll, always in bliss.

Small dog enjoying a peaceful walk in Tucson