One More Cup of Tea

It has been suggested,
with the best
of intentions,
that what you
do today
should be measured
by how many
heartbeats you
have left.

As if your desire
to have one more
cup of tea
with that last
ginger cookie

must be reconsidered
because it cost you
one hundred beats
to read this.

My suspicion that
“Life’s too short”
is one of Fear’s
most subtle lies
is growing stronger
with every
breath.

(Photo by Svitlana, UnSplash.com)

 

Imaginary Friends

You think you’ve
outgrown having
imaginary friends.
But you haven’t.

It’s just that
the ones you had
as a child were
much better friends
than the ones
you have now.

They didn’t tell you
how lazy you were or
that you were ugly or
untalented.

They taught you
to play and
paint with your fingers
and talk back to
your parents
when necessary.

It’s not too late
to make some new
imaginary friends,

or even just one
who will say to you,

“Wouldn’t it be fun
to sit down and
write about
grownups having
imaginary friends?”

(Photo by Roberto Nickson, UnSplash.com)

 

Tourist Traps

If you find yourself
stranded
in the State of
Cause-and-Effect and
What You See Is
What You Get,

remember that
your Country of
Origin is
The Mystery,

where such
antiquated notions
are seen as
tourist traps, like

The World’s Biggest
Cheese or
Come See the
Petrified Doughnut.

When you’re from
The Mystery,
you’re never truly
stranded.

Have a laugh
at the Doughnut,
take some photos,
then

turn the key
in the ignition.

As soon as you
remember where
you’re from,

the car will
start again.

(Photo by Roberto Nickson, UnSplash.com)

 

Safety

I believe
it is our birthright
to feel
safe.

Not the pseudo safety
that comes from
numbers
of accounts
or Facebook friends,

nor the
fragile and breakable
safety of
people, places, things,
nor the
imaginary
safety of
oaths and promises.

Rather,
the safety of
your Being
exactly
Who You Are
and always
will be.

Think of it as
the Safety of
Divine Intention.

You were meant
to Be.

(Photo by Serge van Neck, UnSplash.com)

 

ERLEICHDA

It is a quiet
delight
to see that
being divine –
as are you,
by the way –
doesn’t diminish,
by a single iota,
the unobstructed
pleasure
of the coffee
that rests,
warm,
in my Special Cup
that says
ERLEICHDA
on its side,
which means,
I am told,

Lighten Up.

(ERLEICHDA: a word
from Tom Robbins’
Jitterbug Perfume.)

 

Your Beingness

What if
this Sunday morning,
because
the First Church of
The NBA Playoffs
is an afternoon service,

you wandered into
the First Church of
the Creator of All That Is,
out of curiosity or
old habits,

and you found
the choir loft filled
with angels.
Cherubim and seraphim,
and all manner of
celestial beings,

singing
your praises
and declaring
their adoration of
your beingness,

because,
as you
may have heard,
back Home we
are called
The Beloved Ones.

 

In On the Joke

It appears to me
that we arrive on
the Planet as
adventurers from
Paradise,

where we have been
schooled in
the Arts of seeing
the Invisible, and
assembling
the Implausible into
everyday miracles,
using ordinary
Magic and
a highly developed
Play Ethic.

Only to be
instructed that
we are here to
grow up, to
adopt Work as
our Ethic, to
leave behind
the Invisible,
the Implausible,
the Magical,

even if the
40-hour workweek is
mortally wounding
the Earth,
and causing us
to require
40-hour workweek
therapists.

That renegade prophet,
Jesus of Nazareth,
went about teaching
free classes in
Becoming As a Child Again,

but I guess
they thought he was
joking.

Lucky for us
there are always
a few who
are in
on the joke.

(Photo by Edi Libedinsky, UnSplash.com)

 

Circus Clowns and Voodoo Selfies

If you are
preparing yourself
to enter
The Mystery,

the Place where
you might discover
the whys and wherefores
beneath the platitudes
that are draped over
the word Love,

the Place where
you might experience
a revelation of the reasons
it is essential that you
honor your preference for
This and Not That,

to mention just
a room or two of
what’s in there,

a word to the wise:

For the Love
of God,
if you’re looking for
a guide,

don’t hire
a TV evangelist, or
a drill instructor, to
help you march
your way in.

Consider hiring
a circus clown or
a five-year-old with
an Invisible Friend.

And, for goodness sake,
when you’re asked for
photo ID,

be sure to show them
that selfie you took
at the voodoo shop
in New Orleans,
not the head shot
they took at
the DMV.

(Photo by Nuno Alberto; UnSplash)

 

The Mystery of Iridescence

When a painter
looks at a
blank canvas
are they thinking

“This sure could use
a paint job, plus
I’ve got a tube of
acrylic red I don’t
want to go to waste?”

Or, are they thinking of
how to paint
The Mystery
of the iridescence of
a hummingbird’s throat?

I love to imagine
the Creator
bubbling into
a billion
Painters of Mystery,

but this morning I will
be glad to just
sit here, grateful
to have awakened
thinking about
iridescence
and not the need
for paint jobs.

(Photo by Paul Bonnar, UnSplash.com)

 

Free Legal Advice

It’s high time you
faced your accusers,
even if you’ve only
imagined them.

One way or another
you believe
you are being
examined and judged,
before a jury of
your peers.

What are the charges?
Count 1:
A real man would be
outdoors, hammering,
not sitting on the couch
with a pen and
a composition book.

Or is it something
much worse, like
Failure to Master the
Mechanical Arts,
because you were reading
“Catcher In The Rye”
when your dad was
changing the oil in
the Electra 225?

Here’s some free
legal advice:
Stand up, right now,
turn and face
the jury.

Plead guilty,
pick up your
composition book, and
walk out of the courtroom.

It turns out you’re
free to go.
They can’t hold you.
I don’t care what
you were told.