Andrew Furst's Blog, page 8
March 12, 2019
Threshold by Ocean Vuong – Compass Songs
Ocean Vuong is another precious find of 2018. His book “Night Sky with Exit Wounds” was jaw dropping. This is the first poem of the book.
Threshold
by Ocean Vuong
In the body, where everything has a price,
I was a beggar. On my knees,
I watched, through the keyhole, not
the man showering, but the rain
falling through him: guitar strings snapping
over his globed shoulders.
He was singing, which is why
I remember it. His voice —
it filled me to the core
like a skeleton. Even my name
knelt down inside me, asking
to be spared.
He was singing. It is all I remember.
For in the body, where everything has a price,
I was alive. I didn’t know
there was a better reason.
That one morning, my father would stop
–a dark colt paused in downpour–
& listen for my clutched breath
behind the door. I didn’t know the cost
of entering a song–was to lose
your way back.
So I entered. So I lost.
I lost it all with my eyes
wide open.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Compass Songs is an ongoing series of works by poets that I enjoy. Poetry, as the Zen Masters have said, is like a finger pointing to the moon. It speaks the
Subscribe to My Newsletter
Join me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Threshold by Ocean Vuong – Compass Songs appeared first on Andrew Furst.
March 10, 2019
Register For The Half Day Meditation Retreat – April 27, 2019
The Buddhist Meditation Group @ UUCR invites you to a morning meditation retreat
Powered by Eventbrite
The post Register For The Half Day Meditation Retreat – April 27, 2019 appeared first on Andrew Furst.
March 9, 2019
Big Wadsworth Falls – A One Minute Meditation
Big Wadsworth Falls, Middlefield, CT
The Waterfall Series – A significant part of the minute meditation series are these waterfall videos I’ve been taking for many years now. Most of the falls are in my native New England.
If you’re a waterfall chaser here, I highly recommend the New England Waterfalls Guidebook. It’s the best way to locate, select, and get to the falls.
Click here to see a map of the waterfalls I’ve visited as part of the minute meditation series.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation. Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.
Dialectic Two Step, Modern Koans, Verse Us, Say What?, and Minute Meditations all copyright Andrew Furst
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
These videos are produced for those of us who spend an inordinately large amount of time in the cyber-world. They are not a substitute for unplugging from your devices and taking a stroll near trees, water, or a patch of unkempt grass. Getting out into the world – touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing nature is the best way to reconnect with our prime purpose.
What is our prime purpose? We are feeling and sensing machines. We are the universe looking back on itself. We are witness to the wonders and dangers of living in this corner of the cosmos. We are the seekers looking for connection a little further beyond yesterday’s borders and boundaries.
But sitting and staring at the screen robs us of the sustenance that we rely upon for wonder and sanity. These videos are an opportunity to bring the sensations of nature to you, while you’re in the cyber-world. Its an opportunity to relax your gaze, resettle your posture, and regain some depth in your breath. Listen and watch the video and allow your self to open up and recharge.
The post Big Wadsworth Falls – A One Minute Meditation appeared first on Andrew Furst.
March 8, 2019
Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith – Compass Songs
by Stevie Smith
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Compass Songs is an ongoing series of works by poets that I enjoy. Poetry, as the Zen Masters have said, is like a finger pointing to the moon. It speaks the
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith – Compass Songs appeared first on Andrew Furst.
March 2, 2019
Print Project V – Work in Progress
If you’ve read my sketchbook project posts and heard about my special offer on Patreon, some of these images will look vaguely familiar. I’m following this lino-cut print thread to where ever it leads me. Here are three of growing series of prints I’ve finalized that will be going out to Patreon supporters very soon (including the new Art Patron tier contributors).
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Work in Progress - updates on art I'm working on lately including prototype images, drawings, collages, concrete poetry, etc.
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Print Project V – Work in Progress appeared first on Andrew Furst.
February 25, 2019
Enlightenment or Existential Crisis? – Modern Koans
How do Buddhist practitioners seeking detachment from desires prevent that from leading to an existential crisis?
Response:
An existential reckoning is required, equanimity is needed, and a disciplined mind is critical.
The teachings lead you to the nature of existence, which humans wrap in the clothing of purpose and self worth. Purpose and worth can be, and often are, casualties of emptiness. Our preconceptions about them can be, at best, a distraction, at worst, a source of deep suffering.
It’s difficult to give advice other than to steer clear of delusion. Mind is everything and our conditioning is a powerful trickster. A disciplined mind capable of touching reality is your most potent tool.
If you cannot see past the veil created by your conditioning and desires, you will find your existential crisis. If you can pierce it, you will find greater purpose and true self.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important than their answers.
The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton
Dialectic Two Step, Modern Koans, Verse Us, Say What?, and Minute Meditations all copyright Andrew Furst
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Enlightenment or Existential Crisis? – Modern Koans appeared first on Andrew Furst.
February 23, 2019
Print Project IV – Work in Progress
If you’ve read my sketchbook project posts and heard about my special offer on Patreon, some of these images will look vaguely familiar. I’m following this lino-cut print thread to where ever it leads me. Here are three of growing series of prints I’ve finalized that will be going out to Patreon supporters very soon (including the new Art Patron tier contributors).
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Work in Progress - updates on art I'm working on lately including prototype images, drawings, collages, concrete poetry, etc.
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Print Project IV – Work in Progress appeared first on Andrew Furst.
February 16, 2019
Print Project III – Work in Progress
If you’ve read my sketchbook project posts and heard about my special offer on Patreon, some of these images will look vaguely familiar. I’m following this lino-cut print thread to where ever it leads me. Here are three of growing series of prints I’ve finalized that will be going out to Patreon supporters very soon (including the new Art Patron tier contributors).
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Work in Progress - updates on art I'm working on lately including prototype images, drawings, collages, concrete poetry, etc.
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Print Project III – Work in Progress appeared first on Andrew Furst.
February 11, 2019
The Ambition Bird By Anne Sexton – Compass Songs
I just discovered Anne Sexton. I perused “The Complete Poems” and my heart was singing in that way that tells you that here, is something, important.
The Ambition Bird
By Anne Sexton
So it has come to this –
insomnia at 3:15 A.M.,
the clock tolling its engine
like a frog following
a sundial yet having an electric
seizure at the quarter hour.
The business of words keeps me awake.
I am drinking cocoa,
the warm brown mama.
I would like a simple life
yet all night I am laying
poems away in a long box.
It is my immortality box,
my lay-away plan,
my coffin.
All night dark wings
flopping in my heart.
Each an ambition bird.
The bird wants to be dropped
from a high place like Tallahatchie Bridge.
He wants to light a kitchen match
and immolate himself.
He wants to fly into the hand of Michelangelo
and come out painted on a ceiling.
He wants to pierce the hornet’s nest
and come out with a long godhead.
He wants to take bread and wine
and bring forth a man happily floating in the Caribbean.
He wants to be pressed out like a key
so he can unlock the Magi.
He wants to take leave among strangers
passing out bits of his heart like hors d’oeuvres.
He wants to die changing his clothes
and bolt for the sun like a diamond.
He wants, I want.
Dear God, wouldn’t it be
good enough just to drink cocoa?
I must get a new bird
and a new immortality box.
There is folly enough inside this one.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Compass Songs is an ongoing series of works by poets that I enjoy. Poetry, as the Zen Masters have said, is like a finger pointing to the moon. It speaks the
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post The Ambition Bird By Anne Sexton – Compass Songs appeared first on Andrew Furst.
February 10, 2019
The Old Mill – A Two Minute Meditation
It’s unusual
for childhood memories
to stand the test of time.
Dinner rolls and geese
in early fall,
forty years later
at the old mill.
The Old Mill in Westminster, MA
The Waterfall Series – A significant part of the minute meditation series are these waterfall videos I’ve been taking for many years now. Most of the falls are in my native New England.
If you’re a waterfall chaser here, I highly recommend the New England Waterfalls Guidebook. It’s the best way to locate, select, and get to the falls.
Click here to see a map of the waterfalls I’ve visited as part of the minute meditation series.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation. Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.
Dialectic Two Step, Modern Koans, Verse Us, Say What?, and Minute Meditations all copyright Andrew Furst
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
These videos are produced for those of us who spend an inordinately large amount of time in the cyber-world. They are not a substitute for unplugging from your devices and taking a stroll near trees, water, or a patch of unkempt grass. Getting out into the world – touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing nature is the best way to reconnect with our prime purpose.
What is our prime purpose? We are feeling and sensing machines. We are the universe looking back on itself. We are witness to the wonders and dangers of living in this corner of the cosmos. We are the seekers looking for connection a little further beyond yesterday’s borders and boundaries.
But sitting and staring at the screen robs us of the sustenance that we rely upon for wonder and sanity. These videos are an opportunity to bring the sensations of nature to you, while you’re in the cyber-world. Its an opportunity to relax your gaze, resettle your posture, and regain some depth in your breath. Listen and watch the video and allow your self to open up and recharge.
The post The Old Mill – A Two Minute Meditation appeared first on Andrew Furst.
