by Preston Keido Houser The dharma of natural laws Initiate a sublime conclusion: “No cause, no cause.”* Zen sermons for all their flaws Frame an eloquent elocution The dharma of natural laws To escape ideological claws One source of absolution: “No cause, no cause.” Dreams must give us pause† The crystal clarity of illusion The …Read More
Tag: Preston Houser
by Preston Houser There once was a monk from Great Plains Who was stunned by Love’s cryptic claims. Love liberates from bondage Lonely hearts taken hostage And sets the free in chains. There once was a monk from St. Klaus Perplexed by love because Unlike the shadow it casts It’s fun while it …Read More
Below are two more villanelles from Preston Keido Houser. A villanelle is a fixed-form poem consisting of five tercets and a quatrain which follows a specific rhyme scheme using only two different sounds. It originated as a form of ballad and took its name from a 1606 poem by Jean Passarat, coming into fashion in …Read More
The following poem, a contemporary take on the Californian Dream, was delivered at the 2019 bonenkai by Preston Keido Houser, who followed it up with a shakuhachi piece in lighter vein. A villanelle is a fixed-form poem consisting of five tercets and a quatrain and follows a specific rhyme scheme using only two different sounds. …Read More
Okunoin, Koyasan / 奥の院、高野山 One enters this sacred garden aloneFinding one’s way by learning to readThe resonating air surrounding the stone Consulting a tome or charting a zone Unknown home where paths may leadOne enters this sacred garden alone By demolishing the knower knowing and knownScant satori when the soul has freedThe resonating air surrounding the …Read More
Forsaking the farce of form and faceArtists forced to raze the dominant paradigmSeizing the sense of silence and space The painter replicates without a traceFleeing frigid hue and spectral climeForsaking the farce of form and face The poet shuns a language of sonorous laceRefuses circumscription to rhythm and rhymeSeizing the sense of silence and space …Read More
“Recalling a Light Moment” Amongst zen masters the moon mutant metaphor reflected in water a teaching apart from origin we world-wide witnesses myriad waves possessed of lunar largesse but obviously no moon seen in sea or tear to grasp nor mineral moon above only sunlight permits perception the reflected moon merely many waves like words …Read More
Written for a Friend Frightened of his Screens by Preston Houser for F.L. on a day like this when it’s too hot to do much more than stare or sleep I follow the cats’ lead and find a cool place to lie if I had any fur I suppose I’d lick it that’s what world …Read More
Gnome Poetry and Improv Evening (24/6/2018) There once was a monk from Madrid Who declared that his good deeds were hid. Not thinking a thought Nor seeking the sought, His doing was nothing he did. Capitalist cat chasing leaves As if they were mice American short hair Sometimes you get it back But …Read More
Here are four poems of Kyoto poetaster and gadfly shakuhachi Master, Preston Louis Houser, selected by a former writer in Kyoto, Fil Lewitt: LAMENT air and earth the academy fire and water the gurus ether and gravity the lessons authentic education for saintly and stupid alike mountain or pretense come off it amounts to …Read More
WiK Writing Competition
Ninth Annual Writing Competition Winners (2024) (Coming in Mid-May)
Previous years:
Eighth Annual Writing Competition Winners (2023)
Seventh Annual Writing Competition Winners (2022)
WiK Anthologies
The Nature of Kyoto (2023)
Eds. Lisa Twaronite Sone & Robert Weis
Foreword by Pico Iyer
Structures of Kyoto (2021)
Eds: Rebecca Otowa & Karen Lee Tawarayama
Foreword by Judith Clancy
Encounters with Kyoto (2019)
Eds: Jann Williams & Ian Josh Yates
Foreword by Juliet Winters Carpenter
Echoes (2017)
Eds: John Dougill, Amy Chavez, & Mark Richardson
Preface by Alex Kerr
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