Two From the Vault

Descent

In the frozen hearth

of the Annapurna Range

Shiva takes my hand

guiding me

through a snow cave

down a ceaseless stone staircase

descending

with lightning and thunder

BOOM! (the universe accelerates)

like a female water snake

slithering scales between

rainbow rhododendron,

squirming in a fathomless canyon

fade away

like vapor from a dreamer’s pipe

puffs of daunting mist,

dissipates radiant sunshine  

Oh hail the hail!

on the path, off the trail

somewhere between Landruk

and Chommerang 

IT happens

HOLY SHIT!

heaven pisses soaking my face

cackling like a madman

I ascend ten thousand stairs

as this poem dies

in the shadow of Machhapuchhare

Circumambulating Bodhnath and Chorten kora with Becky

Navigating the filthy street

stepping over a limbless beggar

we slip through the portal gate

into Bodhnath

where rays of sunshine splash Buddha Eyes

SEE US!

and timeless clockwise Tibetan worshipers

prostrate frenetically

as the air crackles with pregnant electricity

(in the belly of a hungry tigress)

butter lamps burn slow to the tune of

rattling prayer wheels

spun by weathered Himalayan hands

clutching rosary beads and chanting,

“Om Mani Padme Hum- All Hail the jewel in the Lotus!”

breathe in- incense and suck a cube of yak cheese

orbiting enlightenment for eons

or take tea on a rooftop

watching flocks of birds

and people ring the base of the mighty stupa

this is IT for once I AM.

she says “I like it here.”

start where you stand

making concentric circles

at Chorten Kora

where a fresh breeze paints the Kulongchu

brushing in buoyant greens and ecstatic blues

which bleed rushing liquid over stone

as devotees tread over bursting marigolds

and lustrous grass chanting,

“Om Mani Padme Hum- All Hail the Jewel in the Lotus!”

but there is no god here

only Buddha Nature bereft of ritual.

 from my seat on a bench

I count Becky’s revolutions in triplicate

always pressing forward

we are the maitreya

the walking wounded

exiled from the rainbow palace

following the light of a precious diamond

that melts our iron chains

until we soar as ravens into the ether

Bodhnath is an ancient stupa in Katmandu Nepal. Chorten Kora in Trashiyangtse Bhutan was modeled after Bodhnath. The title is modeled after Gary Snyder’s poem Circumambulating Mt. Tamalpais.