Whale Spout
Among the reasons my wife won’t speak to me
you'd have to include allowing our daughter
To chant “Om nama shivaya”
loud enough to bemuse all of Office Depot
Her 5-year-old spirit
echoing off the laptops and padded mailers
as "Oh the mushy bayah”
proof that sanskrit is a living tongue

Why would the missus bedgrudge
the half hour before kindergarden
when my girl plays tabla in the basement
until daddy's half embalmed by the drone of Om
turning prayer beads until fountains of Now
spray like the 30 foot spout of a blue whale

A geyser of observations reactions and blessings,
that rain down to join rivulets of language
racing across terraced forrest floor
to flow over palisades onto broken tree branches
and human debris caught in
rapids of attachment intertwined with intention
to churn against moss covered boulders that
break distraction
with a roar that pulses over and against itself
resolving to a deep vibrating tone
as the river finally empties
into the ocean of buddha mind and shakti body

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti time for school