taking a break

The Dalai Lama tells the story of running into an old friend, a Tibetan monk, who had just been released from a Chinese prison after many years of imprisonment. During their conversation the monk confided that at times he had been in great danger. The Dalai Lama thought to himself, yes, you must have often been in great danger. The monk went on to explain that there had been times when he had been in danger of losing compassion for his jailers. The loss of compassion had been what he most feared.

At times I am in danger of losing compassion for my sisters and brothers who seem to me to be placing us all in danger of losing our compassion for one another. I think that I’ve generally been able to keep that fear out of my writing. But I feel it in my heart. So, I am going to take a break from posting my poetry until I can be sure that I am genuinely grounded in my values and that my poetry is too.

I might occasionally post on topics that I feel safe in writing about. But the poems are too close to me, and I must not filter them. In a sense they are me, and they must be as honest as I can make them before I show them to you.

Peace,
David