Poet Jane Hirshfield said "... the feeling I have about poem-writing (is) that it is always an exploration, of discovering something I didn't already know. Who I am shifts from moment to moment, year to year. What I can perceive does as well. A new poem peers into mystery, into whatever lies just beyond the edge of knowable ground."

I bring a different poem to the writing classes each week, not only to inspire but to introduce new poets to the group members.

Leaving Mt. Baldy by Leonard Cohen

I come down from the mountain
after many years of study
and rigorous practice.
I left my robes hanging on a peg 
in the old cabin 
where I had sat so long
and slept so little.  
I finally understood 
I had no gift 
for Spiritual Matters.
“Thank you Beloved,” 
I heard a heart cry out 
as I entered the stream of cars
on the Santa Monica Freeway,
westbound for L.A.  
A number of people 
(some of them practitioners)
have begun to ask me angry questions
about the Ultimate Reality.
I suppose they don’t like to see
old Jikan smoking.

~ from Book of Longing (Ecco, HarperCollins 2006)