bliss bliss (heart’s beat)
With a nod to Melvin Dixon
I meditate
salute the sun
jump rope for heart
one two three four
swim laps for lungs
five six sev’n eight
write poetry
good kokoro
zip my suitcase
ignore the hunch
each window’s wide
‘Bliss’ (Live) is free
a Toll Mack truck
arrests my drive
stereo plunge
-dives into wreck
tossed cross of pain
on shoulders, neck
hot clot of shock
arrhythmic cop
Take photos, move
your vehicle—
My ears are throb
-bing, vision’s blurred—
You’re blocking this
arterial—
My car’s a squished
accordion—
a vein pops, Move
your vehicle—
The vertigo—
For fuck’s sake, drive!
in limbs & trunk
electric shocks
the hard neck brace
& spinal board
Emergency’s
tranquillity
the Niked nurse
with cannula
the brilliance of
the fentanyl
the CT scan
I meditate
the lost report
soft-eyed, I wait
Your brain is un
-remarkable
disjointed sen
-tences & words
I hit the wall
I black out twice
the sirens call
BP’s real high
Emergency’s
disharmony
the spiky nurse
with cannula
the bruit of Doc
Automaton
A pinched nerve or
a TIA
take aspirin
don’t drive—one week
I meditate
take aspirin
read poetry
aid memory
the MRI
I meditate
No TIA
don’t drive—one week
more H2O
no added salt
carotid du
-plex ultrasound
I can’t dismiss
my blood’s bliss bliss
Your arteries
are beautiful
I meditate
salute the sun
jump rope for heart
one two three four
swim laps for lungs
five six sev’n eight
write poetry
good kokoro
more H2O
no added salt
desensitise
myself, I drive
my frigatebird
pumps up its pouch
The triumph of
an upbeat heart!
Note: Sōtō Zen priest Shōhaku Okumura writes about kokoro in ‘What is Kokoro?’, Lion’s Roar, December 18, 2018: ‘Kokoro is a common Japanese word that carries meanings conveyed by the English words “mind” and “heart”. The entry for kokoro in a dictionary of classic Japanese words [reads]: “Originally, kokoro referred to the beat of the heart, which was considered to be the essential organ of life and the source of all activities. By extension, kokoro refers to all human activities affecting the outside world through intention, emotion, and intellect.” Kokoro, then, has three basic meanings: the heart and its functions; mind and its functions; and centre, or essence’
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