I’m watching New Girl,
trying not to think of you;
snow on frozen ground
/ / /
Jason Crane
20 December 2020
Farmington NY
Category: Nature
100 seconds
jumpin jack flash
gimme that frackin gas
horse shoes & hand grenades
as the men in my family used to say
nobody plays horse shoes anymore
but we still chuck them bombs
are we on foot or horseback?
sneakers laced or boots strapped?
pull me up I’m sinking
like the old cartoons with one, two,
three fingers in the air
all I can say is we gotta be there by now
with the clock at 100 seconds
& just time for one more drink
/ / /
Jason Crane
18 February 2020
State College PA
Lederer Park
I walk a circular path among the oaks,
listening to the news of the world.
Not to brag, but I’m quite skilled
at going in circles. In fact it may be
the only pursuit to which I’ve devoted
ten thousand hours. You’d be forgiven
for thinking it’s repetitive, for focusing
on the sameness. But just like
Heraclitus’s river, the path changes
with each go-round, as do I.
There are several clearly marked exits
from the circle. Some days I take one,
some days another. Sometimes there’s a dog.
/ / /
Jason Crane
26 December 2019
State College, PA
Walnut Spring
it’s a black gravel path
through a lovely wood
why does it remind me
of an oil spill?
could be the sound of a plane
overhead or
the distant artificial surf
of the interstate
even what we try to protect
we end up destroying
we can’t preserve an island of forest
in an ocean of asphalt
perhaps what’s needed at first
is more destruction
fewer cute wooden bridges over
barely flowing streams
more horizons lit by the fires
of burning cities
one acre of wetland can store
a million gallons of water
how many bottles is that?
///
Jason Crane
23 October 2019
State College PA
window bird
in the morning,
bold action!
in the afternoon,
quiet contemplation
in the nighttime,
deepest sadness
a sparrow sings knowingly
outside my window
/ / /
Jason Crane
17 October 2019
State College PA
I’d like to teach the world
I’m under a tree like the Buddha
but only for 45 minutes
it’s my lunch break
also unlike Siddartha I’m in uniform
corporate logo over my heart
another on my sleeve
there’s a parking lot & a playground
carved into what used to be a field
heaven forbid kids should play in a field
I’m drinking a Coke so I should probably
shut the fuck up
if I live as long as my grandpa
I’ll make it till 2069
by which time the collapse will have started
maybe I ought to spend less time writing poems
& more time learning to grow food
we should teach the world to sing, sure
but a little farming wouldn’t hurt
///
Jason Crane
Bernel Road Park
Centre County, PA
3 September 2019
the world’s breath
I’m in some
bastardized
Burmese posture
as the wind
tries its many hands
against the walls.
Are we ever so
comfortable
as when
whatever shelter
we’ve conjured
proves able
to withstand
nature’s
not-so-gentle
reminders?
///
Jason Crane
29 December 2018
Cheshire, NY
What We Recognize
There’s a red-tailed hawk on the wires above the Monro Muffler. Or maybe it’s a falcon. I don’t know for sure. I like to think I can identify more birds than I can. Like most people here in the land of asphalt and promises, I know more corporate logos than I do birds or trees. Show me the Golden Arches or the Swoosh and I’m your man. Ask me to identify the leaves that gather like asylum seekers against our door and I’ll have to admit I know as little about them as I do the people I used in this metaphor. I believe in building small communities, but I don’t even know the names of most of my neighbors. I’ve hugged the guy who brings our Chinese food but his name escapes me. Same for all those dear friends I had on Facebook. Now I see them on the street and they’re like pop songs whose lyrics I never quite understood. Hum a few bars, but quietly. The hawk is skittish.
///
Jason Crane
25 November 2018
State College PA
I’ve been very reluctant to talk about this, but I think that sometime in the past year I’ve had one or more enlightenment experiences as a result of meditation and some life shocks. I hesitate to even use that terminology because it’s so weighted.
In any case, there have been several tangible results of seeing the world more clearly this way, one of which is that I’m exploring ideas I would have rejected before, including those rooted in nature. These experiences are also the cause of my recent job decision and the attempt to redesign my life around a different set of principles.
My life has always been moving in this direction, but very slowly until this past year, when suddenly I see the universe and my relationship to it (and the reality of whether or not there’s a “me”) in a way I never imagined before. I’m still figuring all this out, and definitely not laying claim to any special knowledge or status. It’s another step on the path.
Leave a Commentnuthatch drops three seeds
finds the fourth acceptable
returns to the trees
8.25.18
State College PA
mating dragonflies
try car after car; fickle
shoppers at Target
8.12.18
State College PA
grasshopper softly
sits on the mallet waiting
for me to begin
8.5.18
O-An Zendo
///
outside the window
a leaf that looks like a face
“hi, leaf, my name is—”
8.5.18
O-An Zendo
unified field theory
to watch a hummingbird
poke its long snout
into a fake flower
in search of sugar water
is to understand the universe
///
Jason Crane
28 July 2018
Canandaigua NY
another meditation
a sateen breeze tousles the grass at the edge of the cement patio
chipping sparrows flit to the feeders, running low after our week away
one insistent crow shouts from a nearby tree; I think I see him but no,
that’s a broken branch
I don’t know whether there’s a jewel at the center of this labyrinth
but for now it’s enough to read a magazine, to feel the embrace of the wind
to wonder what the hell the crow is going on about
/ / /
Jason Crane
2 June 2018
State College PA