Tuesday, June 16, 2020

June 16, 2020


Say Thank You Say I’m Sorry

I don’t know whose side you’re on,

But I am here for the people

Who work in grocery stores that glow in the morning

And close down for deep cleaning at night

Right up the street and in cities I mispronounce,

In towns too tiny for my big black

Car to quit, and in every wide corner

Of Kansas where going to school means

At least one field trip

To a slaughterhouse. I want so little: another leather bound

Book, a gimlet with a lavender gin, bread

So good when I taste it I can tell you

How it’s made. I’d like us to rethink

What it is to be a nation. I’m in a mood about America

Today. I have PTSD

About the Lord. God save the people who work

In grocery stores. They know a bit of glamour

Is a lot of glamour. They know how much

It costs for the eldest of us to eat. Save

My loves and not my sentences. Before I see them,

I draw a mole near my left dimple,

Add flair to the smile they can’t see

Behind my mask. I grin or lie or maybe

I wear the mouth of a beast. I eat wild animals

While some of us grow up knowing

What gnocchi is.

The people who work at the grocery don’t care.

They say, Thank you. They say, Sorry,

We don’t sell motor oil anymore with a grief so thick

You could touch it. Go on. Touch it.

It is early. It is late. They have washed their hands.

They have washed their hands for you.

And they take the bus home.

- Jericho Brown

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Our ZHS on-line schedule:  
  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org)  
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Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others who have died from police brutality
  • Please offer bows for Dottie Kelly, Misha's family member, who died of lung disease on May 20th
  • Please offer bows for Annette Merrill, Misha's cousin, who died on May 13th from lung cancer
  • Please offer bows for Donald Kennedy, former president of Stanford University, who died from COVID-19
  • Please continue to offer bows for Nick Battaglia, Camille Spar's father, who died Aprill 13th 
  • Please continue to offer bows for the family of Alison Templeton, a PS parent, who died on April 1st 
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Beverly Klemme whose beloved horse Saphire died May 26th
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
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Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
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