Refusal Charm
Every rock a precept —
a fist in a garden of palms
a skull is a skull
she says
and I am no iris
overnight the green beetles
have learned flight
now they lumber
into windows
bright asteroids falling
I prefer other voices
in the lantana or dirt
mounded in grids
asking may I come out
no it is late too late
“Refusal Charm” first appeared here in October 2016.
O at the Edges 
…so good, Robert.
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Thank you, Anthony. Much appreciated.
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Dear Lord, “every rock a precept…”. That is one of the greatest statements about Zen I have ever read, maybe the best, and I spent nearly ten years researching Zen Buddhism in libraries, in China/South Korea/japan, and so on. Holy f*ck… what a mind you have Okaji Sensei. Dogen Zenji could have done a commentary or indeed a whole sermon on that line!
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Sometimes the rocks in my head speak out. 😀
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“every rock a (Buddhist) precept” what a profound expression of Zen theology… if your hea dis full of such rocks, you have no need of anything. You have mingled with the great “One”. Plotinus would be proud!
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Things just rattle around and fall where they may.
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From under my back-yard rock this morning, meet my new freeloader resident, Lizy the Lizard.
https://1drv.ms/i/s!Asumt4cZ9A65g8R97MUxvEVnB5CTPA
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Cute lizard!
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B15RRyl4mmrlNV82SnVxTW9zc2c/view?usp=drivesdk
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Nice photo!
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