Hallway to Nowhere

  • Mirror Image Thought Experiment

    Invitation: Participate in a thought experiment virtually 

    What: Look into a mirror. Write a few words about what you see in the mirror or feelings/thoughts that arise or even memories that might arise. Anything you wish to note. Any comments, unless marked PRIVATE, will become fodder for poems. 

    Why: About 7 years ago, one of my teachers, a Rinpoche, remarked that none of us has ever seen our own face. So I decided to do an organized event and play publicly with this notion. Art is always more fun in collab!

    When: Oct 18-Nov 18, 2025. The event will take place over 1 month. Should I get decent work out of this, I’ll publish these in a small limited run of a chapbook  and offered for sale, ALL PROCEEDS GOING TO KUNPEN.NGALSO.ORG . 

     I do not profit from my work!

    Send me a message or leave a note in my studio

    Mirror Image Thought Experiment

  • What Waters The Eyes Waters The Heart (Poem)

    unexpected kindness brings sudden tears

    in the winter blamed on the wind’s cold bite

    the warmth from chance encounters

    sustains through the hours of bitter grief

    sly common meanness stings the eyes

    this gets passed as lingering illness

    the chill at each foul brush

    reinforces the awareness of good

    the necessity of being able to discern the difference

    the determination as to which to bring

  • I Did Nothing (Poem)

    I will be sifting through lentils for stones

    letting them run between my fingers

    then just as casually I drift away, gone

    I will be walking across the neighboring field

    stopping with interest to observe a fiery leaf

    then without warning crumple myself, stilled

    I will be sitting in some hard plastic chair

    waiting to be seen in a nondescript room

    then silently take one last labored breath, no more

    no loud and wild passage

    a quiet step beyond

    unremarkable and unremarked

    unnoticed except by a few

  • Never Wiser (Poem)

    once I caught stars like fireflies

    held them close to my beating heart

    released them back into the night

    to shine as distant guides

    now I would throw my heart to them

    but it is a cold still thing

    Incapable even of reflecting light

    a heavy weight bound by grief

    filled with tears too hard to cry

    foolish foolish me, how did I presume

  • Bridge and Bet (Song)

    I know the bridge is damaged

    know the poor repair

    see the holes between the planks

    nothing but dead air

    what am I supposed to do

    the only way across

    turn back now or take the chance

    this the coin toss

    so I keep walking I keep walking

    I keep walking I keep walking

    I feel the boards tremble

    with every step I take

    the piling seems to crumble

    beneath my slight weight

    what am I supposed to do

    I am here this day

    no turning back, I’d flipped the dime

    it tumbles still in play

    so I keep walking I keep walking

    I keep walking I keep walking

    if I reach the other side

    I will not look back

    got no way to stop collapse

    ruin into wrack

    what am I supposed to do

    I’m no different from you or you

    gamblers all, at least I know

    the bet itself is rigged-and it means nothing

    so I keep walking I keep walking

    I keep walking I keep walking

  • The Plate (Poem)

    I eat but do not care, another act observed

    another memory so leached of life

    that the mere contemplation dries my mouth

    and I half expect to see

    carrion beetles scurry around the meal

    let them feed on what remains

    scraps and dregs of misguided judgements

    and once their offspring hunger in turn

    my flesh my bones my bitter dreams

  • Realization Of Sitting Shiva (Poem)

    no covered mirrors, for she did not die

    still she is torn from me, a kind of death

    these will be my seven days

    cover the windows, lock the doors

    turn off the lights

    when I sit upon the lowest seat

    darkness and silence settle beside me

    companions without judgment or demand

    yisgadal v’yiskadash sh’mei raba

    words arising without ask

    a shawl of comfort connecting me to ancient home

    I weep and am comforted

  • It Is What It Is (Song)

    nighttime is falling and winter is here

    trees are all barren and hillsides are sere

    a hard snow is coming and the wind cuts through

    I cannot reach for her, she’s gone from me now

    it is what it is

    Main Street is empty and restaurants have closed

    a predacious hawk has silenced the crows

    the train sounds a blast as it rushes through town

    it is what it is

    it is what it is

    that’s what we all say

    it is what it is

    the response of the day

    it is what it is

    we shrug and go on

    in truth it says nothing at all

  • The Heart Lags Behind (Poem)

    grief makes it falter

    forgetting of loss again and again

    until this fact settles hard like a stone

    in the the crevice of the body

    love continues its passage now subterranean

    the tumble and flow turning even sharp sadness

    into worn river rock polished by time

    yet still sometimes in the night

    I feel her warm by my side and know

    each moment with her was enough

    eternity itself would not have sufficed

  • How To Walk (Poem)

    an ordinary walk on an ordinary day

    and then

    the road rumbles from unseen force

    the sky darkens with sodden clouds

    the corvids mutter with ominous intent

    any step seems to offer momentous risk

    I could fear could be afraid could choose fright

    instead I laugh at all of this continue on my way

    let unkindness and murder remain with the crows

    weighty drama in the realm of changing weather

    these do not inform nor enforce my path

    these temporary signs are not my directions

  • Even If (Poem)

    I hand you a diamond

    hard cold polished clear faceted

    a jewel beyond price

    I hand you a heart

    soft warm worn pink chambered

    itself also beyond price

    and with these a key that opens a door

    where you find everything

    with which you’ve filled your mind these years

    would you then be happy

    be at peace be able to rest in comfort and ease