Haiku for nearly the end . . .

30 poems for November #29

Morning pills swallowed

Sips of juice and coffee talk -

Gulping toward our death

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Does this seems a little maudlin? Maybe appropriate for Black Friday Weekend. Many of us get caught up in thinking we will live forever (or at least, forgetting that we will die). Making many purchases ( i.e. sacrifices at the altar of our gods) is the utmost proof of immortality. If I buy it, I will live.

Decades ago, I read that Carlos Casteneda told Don Juan to live with death on his shoulder. His stark advice was to consult with death. “When you need an answer, look over your left shoulder and ask your death.” No talk of fear your death, run from your death, ignore your death. Those were the messages I learned about this irrefutable aspect of life.

These days, I try to inquire of my death, but it is often a short conversation. I am still in some flavor of denial. Perhaps I don’t quite speak Death very well. With any luck, I can keep practicing and become more fluent in this way of conversing. It seems likely that death may know a thing or two.