This poem is drawn from several dreams I had over the last few years, culminating in an essay. You can view the dreams and essay following the poem which springs from the alchemy of these experiences.
peach of heaven
i sit quietly upright
on my chair
in my slightly raised hand
a huge orange golden peeled peach
juicily drips freely down my arm
she approaches
alluring wild dark hair
and pure white short dress
she flows deliciously onto my lap
with an accomplished erotic gesture
crushing the dripping peach into my face
with the press of her body
and pure white short dress
i gladly drink up
i tell her
she now has peach stains
on her pure white dress
joy quietly pervades
our joined bodies
peach juice spreading everywhere
* * *
Monkey raids the gardens of heaven
stealing the emperor’s heavenly peaches
he is locked in a mountain forever
for his crime against heaven
Kuan Yin releases him
to fetch the holy scriptures from India to China
but just in case
(after all we are dealing with the monkey mind)
she strapped his head in a band of iron
any mischief and the band squeezes tight
agony brings Monkey into line once again
so he can accomplish his mission
and, as well, bring the monkey mind
into loyal service to compassion
* * *
a pearl may be born from the suffering
of that mad monkey mind
a heavenly pearl
a heavenly peach may grow
from within that bitter wind
if you turn into that bitter wind
with a fierce joy
and she may come
to welcome you
and to crush you
into her pure white dress
you, she, and the golden juice
of a heavenly peach
spreading just about everywhere
staining just about everything
* * *
Note: “Monkey” is a reference to the Chinese classical tale of how Buddhism arrived in China from India.
Dream 2019
I dream Dr. Shivalingam operates on me and extracts a pearl from my head, my brain. She holds it up for me to see it: a shiny white sphere. Recovery is swift and the ordeal is over and my depressed mood lifts to one of joy.
Dream 2020
Last night I was given a sustained immersion in the experience of being homeless, wandering, some connection with others who then are gone. I am in a city. I have a plastic bag with some things in it. Other than that I have nothing. I am wandering the streets. Some contact with others who then go their own way. I have nowhere to go, nothing to do. I briefly think of going to a News Agency to get a paper so I can look up the Classified but hat idea does. I am recently in this condition because I think that in a few days, I will be less acceptable to society; bearded, smelly, dirty clothes and thus less able to get out of this condition. Yet their is nothing I can do about it. None to rescue ,me. Night is falling; nowhere to go. This reality is sinking in remorselessly. No escape. In on scene I am crossing a field against a stiff bitter wind; it blows something out of my hand and I turn to retrieve it but then I think “O, I chose a direction that is against this wind!” I then turn to face the bitter wind once more and press on. I have made my choice.
Dream (2022)
A young beautiful woman dressed in a pure white short dress, very erotic comes towards me as I sit in a chair. She smoothly sits on my lap where I am eating a huge peach. She crushes her body against my face and the juice spills on to her white dress. I tell her so. It is all part of an erotic intimacy between us.
Essay (2022)
DEAD END: Breakthrough to a Hidden Dimension (2022)
