Seeking God in New York City
Riverside Park and Trapped Nature
Political Wall
Home Furnishings in the Shelter of Union Theological Seminary
Customer in Local Coffee Shop Window
***
Twinkling stars, infinity sky
no longer can I see,
blinded by the might of
fierce night light in the city.
Now the universe appears
behind closed eyelids
unbound by hour on the clock.
Energy fields in the sky of day
once transported me instantly,
now I battle noise and numbers
in the megaphone metropolis.
My private piece of sky to see,
sitting in the summer sun,
in the backyard playland,
sits now in memory
along with the macro world
of insects underfoot.
The infinity of the terrestrial lawn,
now is writ on microscopic cells
inside my convoluted brain.
Our little piece of paradise
Our little barn for sale
Home now the concrete jungle.
I will find God here, too,
amid the traffic and the trash
Overcrowded cities can
team with spirituality
as manifest in Mother India,
satsangs to the barking dogs,
insistent horns
streets full of homeless.
Here, too, a camp
one block away
reminds one of the blessings
of a dwelling and food to eat
and humbles one
amid serenades
not of crickets
but of sirens
and the cooing of pigeons
or the sweetness of a sparrow.
T’is true the Divine
is manifest in nature,
easy to see there
everywhere
but He dwells here, too,
in the rat filled streets
among the humble
somehow majestically in
the lowest of the low,
I would I could see Him in
the Sadhus of New York City.
His mighty kingdom
lies within the Self
bursting within the heart.
Have mercy on me, oh God,
and please open my heart
to the Compassion within!
Rural Reflections
Something poignant about a lone gas station out in the middle of nowhere.
Edward Hopper caught the feeling in a painting of a gas station surrounded by trees on countryside road.
The reflections of the trees in the windows is a view of another world when set against the background of colorful signage, notices, and advertisements.
Confessions of a Distant Peeping Tom
A child guard, a tied curtain…
A single mystery…
Multiple mysteries…
Eeeerie figures…
Pink curtains (one pair knotted), flower pots, fans and pizza boxes…
A sense of history…
*
I always wonder
feel the drama
of
worlds behind windows
and
wish I could
peep into other people’s lives
not just from curiosity
but
in some effort
to figure out my own.
Russell St. in Yellow and Green
Saugurties, NY
Signage and blue predominate in the photograph above, along with activity on the right, but the simple yellow dandelions and green grass and fire plug jumped out at me and demanded a shot.
Overloaded Circuits
On circuit overload
can’t turn off the current
despite parallel despair
know a fuse will blow
but can do little to stop the flow
mania and depression
together = paranoia
Exchange Hotel, Saugerties, NY
The Exchange Hotel in 1905
The Exchange Hotel in 2014
The Ritz it ain’t, but it is a 3-star hotel with a bar and grill.
Windows into Worlds: Bike Culture Up Close
A closer look into the biker shop window in Saugerties, NY
Verticalia
Naked trees reach
upwards toward the sky
in pursuit of our Creator
Trees dressed in flowers
turn our eyes skyward
to gaze at cottony clouds
Church towers
carry our sight
to the bright blue heavens
as we stand
gazing
in unparalleled awe.
