Coping with surprise
Hello friends. The recent news has been filled with unexpected turns. In what should be a time of vacations and air-conditioned summer days, the country is facing unexpected major changes. “Coping with Surprise” is a poem from 2018, when my own health issues became a ritual of long trips to doctor’s offices, examinations, and months of uncertainty. Whatever the news this summer brings, compassion for others is always needed. Best, Gene.
Coping with Surprise
“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake
is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” (Pema Chodron)
Cat Max’s nightly purr teaches me to breathe
deep and release fear for peace of heart,
and for others enmeshed in life’s crises.
I may be getting better at surprises
after eight decades of death resistance,
when a recent MRI plays another trick.
More of a tease than a conviction:
new growth or gravity shuffling the deck?
Radiologist shows pictures but holds his cards close.
More important is my reaction in this
final course of the Last Academy.
Will I view it as an invitation to less ego?
In his final year, my father would shrug
at the kitchen table and repeat “no pain.”
Don’t belittle this analysis in an age of opioids.
It’s about becoming more open to the sacredness
of the world where we feel compassion for suffering,
yet find strange situations of unconditional joy.
— April 2018
