Jean Biegun

Dhamma at the Mall And so the great force of the universewent walking,why through my local mallI don’t know. Love poured forthand the food court reverberated.Somehow the unlovingaisles of clothing and objectsdisappeared. All the beings looked around.They laughed and dancedand ate yummy chocolateand were amazed at the validityof each growing plant. The place brimmed with excitementfrom awakening.Love quivered in the oxygenevery person took in.Love startled the lungs,penetrated all levelsof grasp. I watched that new community open every doorfor detachment to come in,bow their measured yes to release,join hands to affirm release. Love did flow round and glory shone.I saw people strolllike shaved monks do,smiling better than mannequinsand chanting a practicalkindergarten-type verse:Don’t make a big mess—then there’s not so much to clean up.

Dust When do I start to fade into youor has it begun… the day the same dust motes landed on us or when our separate breathsbeheld one sky

Figure and Ground I don’t want to leavethis place this current congregationof neurons and belly stirrings for some other spacethe next calling blip and flavor Clinging they may call it But I like this little dinghy I’m in right now dawdling in itdoodling trying to savorsettle in the waves

Jean Biegun, retired in California, began writing poetry twenty years ago as a way to counter big-city job stress in Chicago, and it worked. Poems have been published in Mobius: The Poetry Magazine, After Hours: A Journal of Chicago Writing and Art, World Haiku Review, Presence: International Journal of Spiritual Direction, Amethyst Review and several other places.