Zen of Housework
I look over my own shoulder
down my arms
to where they disappear under water
into hands inside pink rubber gloves
moiling among dinner dishes.
My hands lift a wind glass,
holding it by the stemand under the bowl.
It breaks the surface
like a chalice
rising from a medieval lake.
Full of the grey wine
of domesticity, the glass floats
to the level of my eyes.
Behind it, through the window
above the sink, the sun, among
a ceremony of sparrows and bare branches
is setting in Western America.
I can seethousands of droplets
of steam--each a tiny spectrum--rising
from my goblet of grey wine.
They sway, changing directions
constantly--like a school of playful fish,
or like the sheer curtain
on the window to another world.
Ah, grey sacrament of the mundane!
By Al Zolynas
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
October Sangha Meeting Minutes
Treetop Zen Center held its monthly sangha meeting on October 20, 2009, moderated by Peter Harris.
• Heaters have been installed in the resident hut. The vents still need to be installed. Rather than hiring someone to hook them up, it would be more cost-effective if Mary could do the job. Andy agreed to ask her. Other minor finishing work remains. Margaret and Kyle will look into furnishings, including futons, bookcases, tables and chairs, and lights.
• The Rohatsu retreat, which is scheduled for December 2-8, has seven participants so far. Kyle will prepare breakfast each day and organize all other meals. Each participant will be responsible for one day, lunch and dinner.
• We need to distribute announcements and posters at Colby. Andy will ask Mary to send copy to Ned, who is working for the Echo. Deborah will send him a PDF of the general poster.
• Julie will be the next moderator.
• Heaters have been installed in the resident hut. The vents still need to be installed. Rather than hiring someone to hook them up, it would be more cost-effective if Mary could do the job. Andy agreed to ask her. Other minor finishing work remains. Margaret and Kyle will look into furnishings, including futons, bookcases, tables and chairs, and lights.
• The Rohatsu retreat, which is scheduled for December 2-8, has seven participants so far. Kyle will prepare breakfast each day and organize all other meals. Each participant will be responsible for one day, lunch and dinner.
• We need to distribute announcements and posters at Colby. Andy will ask Mary to send copy to Ned, who is working for the Echo. Deborah will send him a PDF of the general poster.
• Julie will be the next moderator.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ode to My Socks
Ode to My Socks
Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder's hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.
Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.
The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.
- by Pablo Neruda
translated by Robert Bly
Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder's hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.
Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.
The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.
- by Pablo Neruda
translated by Robert Bly
Friday, October 16, 2009
Haiku and You: A Poetry Retreat
On Saturday, Oct. 24, Peter Harris, a professor at Colby College, will offer a poetry workshop, "Haiku and You," at Treetop Zen Center in Oakland.
Attendees will look at different types of haiku from Japan and America, discuss the formal aspects, take haiku hikes, and try writing their own haiku.
Lunch will be served.
For more information, please call 207-465-7536 or email muisensi@earthlink.net.
Schedule
10:00 to 10:30 — What’s haiku?
10:30 to 11:15 — Looking at nature in haiku
11:15 to 11:30 — Break
11:30 to 12:15 — Looking At Nature and then Writing nature Haiku
12:15 to 1:00 — Lunch
1:00 to 1:30 — Remarks about Senryu—[haiku about people]
1:30 to 2:15 — Writing Senryu
2:15 to 2:30 — Break
2:30 to 3:20 — Renga Collaborative
3:20 to 3:40 — Roundup
Fee: $30, lunch included.
Attendees will look at different types of haiku from Japan and America, discuss the formal aspects, take haiku hikes, and try writing their own haiku.
Lunch will be served.
For more information, please call 207-465-7536 or email muisensi@earthlink.net.
Schedule
10:00 to 10:30 — What’s haiku?
10:30 to 11:15 — Looking at nature in haiku
11:15 to 11:30 — Break
11:30 to 12:15 — Looking At Nature and then Writing nature Haiku
12:15 to 1:00 — Lunch
1:00 to 1:30 — Remarks about Senryu—[haiku about people]
1:30 to 2:15 — Writing Senryu
2:15 to 2:30 — Break
2:30 to 3:20 — Renga Collaborative
3:20 to 3:40 — Roundup
Fee: $30, lunch included.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Allegro
Allegro
After a black day, I play Haydn,
and feel a little warmth in my hands.
The keys are ready. Kind hammers fall.
The sound is spirited, green, and full of silence.
The sound says that freedom exists
and someone pays no taxes to Caesar.
I shove my hands in haydnpockets
and act like a man who is calm about it all.
I raise my haydnflag. The signal is:
“We do not surrender. But want peace.”
The music is a house of glass standing on a slope;
rocks are flying, rocks are rolling.
The rocks roll straight through the house
but every pane of glass is still whole.
-By Tomas Transtromer
translated from Swedish by Robert Bly
After a black day, I play Haydn,
and feel a little warmth in my hands.
The keys are ready. Kind hammers fall.
The sound is spirited, green, and full of silence.
The sound says that freedom exists
and someone pays no taxes to Caesar.
I shove my hands in haydnpockets
and act like a man who is calm about it all.
I raise my haydnflag. The signal is:
“We do not surrender. But want peace.”
The music is a house of glass standing on a slope;
rocks are flying, rocks are rolling.
The rocks roll straight through the house
but every pane of glass is still whole.
-By Tomas Transtromer
translated from Swedish by Robert Bly
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Weekend Retreat
A silent weekend retreat will be held at Treetop Zen Center from 7 p.m. on October 9 until 5 p.m. on October 10. Participants will gather Friday night for sitting meditation from 7 to 9 p.m. Those who wish may bring a sleeping bag and spend the night in the zendo. Sitting meditation will resume at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. Breakfast and lunch will be served on Saturday. After lunch, work will resume to complete winterization on the two resident huts.
For more information, please call 207-465-7536 or email muisensi@earthlink.net.
For more information, please call 207-465-7536 or email muisensi@earthlink.net.
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