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 and 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 no driver except initially
as with this morning’s cup of tea
desired, consumed, released
we draw breath, exhale, move on
without thinking, deliberating, 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. Failure points them out.
The Dog Star 
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