a print copy of this book is available fromhttp://www.lulu.com/shop/john-martone/mantram/paperback/prod-

uct-21691058.html

mantram

john martone

samuddo / ocean2014

mantram copyright 2014 john martone

samuddo / oceanisbn 978-1-312-23608-0johnmartone@gmail.com

mantram

junk man 7

little dream 21

Many-calling is nothing but the accumulation of single callings, for human life is such that a person should consider each day that this may be his last, each minute that this may be the end. From the very moment of our birth, this realm of impermanence is merely a fleeting and temporary dwelling; our lives may be compared to a lantern flame before the wind, or likened to dew upon a blade of grass, and there is no escape anywhere for even a single person, whether wise or foolish, from the extinction of breath and the draining away of life. If our eyes may close forever even in this present instant, then we say Namu-amida-butsu, aspiring to be saved by Amida's Primal Vow and welcomed into the Pure Land of perfect bliss, based on our trust in the supreme virtues embodied in a single calling and our reliance on the great and vast benefit of that one calling.

Ryukan / Shinran

bird in the house

story of his life

junk man

10

his chair his garden statues everythings empty

trash blowing thru yardsa sailboat on jacks

11

an undershirt& the grassso tall

12

martones postwar truck-garagegone gone gone beyond

just sit junkyardsinks in

carburetor spring & set-screw at 16!

rebar for tomato plants

13

junk yardeven the rain barreloverflows!

each & every molecule one junkyard

junkyardsan ocean too

14

spring peeper

rachet sound clockwise

or counter

15

pine cones fall on those torn-out windows

16

a junkyard after the rain a mandala

secret world vacuum tube radio works!

vacuum tube you always

wanted to live inside

vacuum tube lit up is a city

17

grounding rod an earthworm

his crystal radio in the mud

his telegraph keyhis telegraph key

electrical tapepipe-joint tape drywall tape

his firsttape-measure wont coil

18

earthworm surpassing his tap-&-die set

ancient greencookie-tin full of nails

a sump pump motor

19

this spiritual being a junkyard

20

junk man that paper wasp gets to work

rocking chair a junk manssetting sail

propeller planeclear abovehis junkyard

21

transparent

millimeter

wingsalight

on this junk man

22

a junk yard now the next step forgetting

little dream

lettinggo

little dream

oceanwaves

breathe & hear

breathe & see

little dream

little dream

24

little dream

mother calls

a fibonacci serieslittle dream

25

diastole systole that mandalalittle dream

needleseye

little dream

26

clingingto that

bodhi sattva

shipbeam statue

little dream

27

whered you go

old blue car

little dream

little dream

gonelike that

medieval

pearl

hertalkingtoy

alittle dream

28

amyloidplaques

& cockleshells

little dream

room after room

whathouse is

thislittledream

never everfluent

littledream

& why not nothing

little dream

here theres no threadlittle dream

29

talking circles

little dream

whered all thosepictures go

little dream

out thru the skylight

little dream

30

kitchen chair

little dream

hands& knees

scrubbingfloors

little dream

everyone under the dogwood

little dream

a baseballlost in gladioli

littledream

meatcut-up

for thatsick

boy upstairs

little dream

31

falling down

the capecod

stairslittle dream

folding laundry catechism

littledream

false teethbald

inoveralls

little dream

32

next-door neighborsnext-door strangerslittle dream

rubbing her forehead

as if erasing

little dream

now youve lost

adaughtertoo

littledream

when all began

to fallapart

little dream

33

blueslippers

shufflingoff

little dream

dont know how

tossa ball

any more

little dream

they operate& you

take a busto heaven

littledream

that mandala

bound to fadelittle dream

34

dreamlet eyelet knuckled hands

cellar stairs

comingback littledream

ping-pongtable

fallout shelter

mildewcellar

little dream

pyrexlab flask

littledream

wind bells butwindows closedlittle dream

throw cruststo sparrows

little dream

mourning dove & homing pigeon little dream

35

little dream

paintingsline

a bedroom hall

slipped a disc

making beds

little dream

36

bending close to

heathkit shortwave

cellar pegboard

knife-switchlogbook

listenlittle dream

gas stoveshirt & long

hair catchingfire

littledream

little dream

gluing plastic

parts together

37

now dontcry

littledream

allit was

broken back teeth hips

eyesfeet &

brain at last

littledream

38

little dreama hurricane

39

little dreamunafraid

no ideawho you are

]