Pusch Ridge Wilderness, Santa Catalina Mountains — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The path to Han-shan’s place is laughable, A path, but no sign of cart or horse. Converging gorges – hard to trace their twists Jumbled cliffs – unbelievably rugged. A thousand grasses bend with dew, A hill of pines hums in the wind. And now I’ve lost the shortcut home, Body asking shadow, how do you keep up?
My home was at Cold Mountain from the start,
Rambling among the hills, far from trouble.
Gone, and a million things leave no trace
Loose, and it flows through the galaxies
A fountain of light, into the very mind—
Not a thing, and yet it appears before me:
Now I know the pearl of the Buddha-nature
Know its use: a boundless perfect sphere.
The Path to His Mountain Place — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The path to Han-shan’s place is laughable, A path, but no sign of cart or horse. Converging gorges — hard to trace the twists Jumbled cliffs — unbelievably rugged. A thousand grasses bend with dew, A hill of pines hums in the wind. And now I’ve lost the shortcut home, Body asking shadow, how do you keep up?
It started just now with a hummingbird Hovering over the porch two yards away then gone, It stopped me studying. I saw the redwood post Leaning in clod ground Tangled in a bush of yellow flowers Higher than my head, through which we push Every time we came inside — The shadow network of the sunshine Through its vines. White-crowned sparrows Made tremendous singings in the trees The rooster down the valley crows and crows. Jack Kerouac outside, behind my back Reads the Diamond Sutra in the sun.
Snow On The Santa Catalina Mountains On December 26th — Images by kenne
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Cold Mountain has many hidden wonders,
People who climb here are always getting scared.
When the moon shines, water sparkles clear
When the wind blows, grass swishes and rattles.
On the bare plum, flowers of snow
On the dead stump, leaves of mist.
At the touch of rain it all turns fresh and live
At the wrong season you can’t ford the creeks.
— from Han Shan’s Cold Mountain Poems, translation by Gary Snyder
Hiking The Super Trail On Mt. Wrightson — This image by kenne is of Old Baldy from the Josephine Saddle.
Thinking about a poem I’ll never write.
With gut on wood and hide, and plucking thumb,
Grope and stutter for the words, invent a tune,
In any tongue, this moment one time true
Be wine of blood or rhythm drives it through —
A leap of words to things and there it stops.
A Cool Summertime Choice When You Live In Tucson — Image by kenne
“The mind wanders. A million
Summers, night air still and the rocks
Warm. Sky over endless mountains.
All the junk that goes with being human
Drops away, hard rock wavers
Even the heavy present seems to fail
This bubble of a heart.“
Once at Cold Mountain, troubles cease —
No more tangled, hung-up mind.
I idly scribble poems on the rock cliff,
Taking whatever comes, like a drifting boat.
Cold Mountain is a house without beams or walls. The six doors lift and right are open The hall is blue sky. The rooms all vacant and vague The east wall beats on the west wall At the center nothing.
Borrowers don’t bother me In the cold I build a little fire When I’m hungry I boil up some greens. I’ve got no use for the kulak With his big barn and pasture — He just sets up a prison for himself. Once in he can’t get out. Think it over — You know it might happen to you.