Evading Practice – a poem by Don L. Brandis

Evading Practice

Yeah, yeah, we know we must practice
patience, understanding, compassion,
or our lives will remain mostly suffering

we’ve listened, partly heard the wise
who say so.  We’ve even tried but failed.
Even Dogen is said to have said his life was one long mistake.

Having waked this morning no wiser
no more inclined to practice
but surprised to recall something missed

as we miss most of what happens around us,
within us, in ‘our’ experience.
Everything is practice

even failure.  Especially failure.
Discontent is an excellent driver of practice
which needs a driver only initially

as this morning’s cup of tea
desired, consumed, released.
We draw breath, exhale, move on

without thinking, deliberation, choosing.
What drives us is before choosing, naming
and other favored after-thoughts

the subtle draw of waiting, opening
seeing what we’d missed but haven’t lost
by missing, failing.  Repeated mistakes point them out.

Don L. Brandis is a retired healthcare worker living quietly near Seattle writing poems. He has a degree in philosophy and a long fascination with Zen. Some of his poems have appeared in Leaping Clear, Amethyst Review, Blue Unicorn and elsewhere. His latest book of poems is Paper Birds (Unsolicited Press 2021).