Mindfulness Mindtrip Poem

The mindfulness mind-yogi says, 

“Now close your eyes. Breathe… pay attention to the air, the grass, the tree..“ 

Then I think to myself… “‘I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.’ But, this person would never give credit to Joyce Kilmer for already inventing in 1914 what they are droning meditatively right now. 

And, I’m reminded of Skip Renker’s book of tree poems. How much ‘mind’ must he have paid to each bark-wrinkle and leaf-rustle to write a whole goddamn book about trees?

And, I think, 

“These mindfulness bastards probably believe they invented this shit.

Do they forget that Solomon peacefully gazed at twin gazelle fawns among lilies and was reminded of his lover’s breasts. 

Confucius appreciated the beauty of the view from the top of a tree hundreds of years ago- after being chased by a mountain lion. 

Shakespeare was inspired by the reprieve brought by his rose-by-any-other-name nosegay in the putrid cesspool of medieval London. 

Robert Frost was a swinger of birches with his face lashed open 100 years hence. 

Post-post Modern, Nouveau-New Age, fill-in the stupid buzz-word for the next stolen East Asian or Native American philosophy/forest-bathing bullshit! 

Screw mindfulness training! 

These bitches should be writing this stuff down in free-verse and then White-rap it, so they can rename it and rewrap it and claim they invented poetry… and rap, too. 

Ugh. So many Karens (and I) are standing with Franklin’s bills in hand; reaching, straining, bursting; just to have the chance to live, love, laugh and lap that shit up like stray dogs to the whatever is next after TikTok pig roast drippings bucket.”

*gasp

And, then, I breathe and I became mindful of that constant, slow-burning, simmering rage that always lies just under the surface of my middle-class beige, overweight, middle-aged dadness.

And, I let out a huge breath and wonder briefly if I just said all that aloud and realize that the sort of meta-cognition that took place during my mindfulness fugue is exactly what it’s supposed to awaken in me and release from my shoulders. And, I let out another breath and feel lighter. 

“Damn! 

This mindfulness stuff might actually work!”