ONCE
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About The Book
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ONCE is so MANY
Springwater Poems By Robert G. Watson This collection of spiritual poems derives mostly from the author’s years of meditation work. The result is a series of thoughtful, meditative, poetic bursts that draw on the natural world, emotion, and what it means to be in the present moment. There is magic and curiosity to found in this work, and an ever-present appreciation for the moment.
There are poems and prose poems in this collection, and a great variety of subject matter. Taken as a whole, the poems in Once is so Many encourage the reader to see with his inner eye, and to understand the world beyond language. Sometimes there is rhyme or alliteration, but this happens on its own and is never sought out. |
About The Author
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Mr. Watson has spent some forty years engaged in meditation work, attending sesshin (intense meditation retreats) at the Montreal Zen Center, where he received guidance from Albert Low, and retreats at the Springwater Center for Retreats and Meditative Inquiry, where he worked for many years with Toni Packer; since her death in 2013, he has been working with Stephan Bielfeldt. Throughout, he has come to understand that meditation does not take place only when one is actively engaged in practice, seated on the mat or in retreat, but that there is a mystery that can present itself any time. And sometimes, understanding, or a moment of insight, can find expression in a text or a poem. The author lives in a beautiful, century-old brick house filled with art and books and music, in the centre of Ottawa. Always present in his life are cats, the most delightful, capricious and graceful of all creatures. He works as a conference interpreter, in English and French, and spends his evenings at the gym or in concert halls.
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T O N I
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This is Toni. It seems only fair she should have pride of place; and there is even purple in the photograph! - She was at the height of her powers in the eighties and nineties and into the early 2000's. Such extraordinary times. Sometimes, in life, you wonder why you have been given so much. . . In deepest gratitude, respect and in friendship.
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And this is my late Aunt Nina, the last of her generation. Her brothers - Bruce, Eddie and Yorke ( my father) and her sister, Lina - all went on before. Once we were talking about meditation, and life and death, which is 'The Great Matter' in Buddhism. ' Do you ever think about death and dying?', I asked. In her lovely light and airy low-pitched voice, a Watson trait, she answered, 'I never give it a thought'. - She died in hospital, where she was for just a day or two, in her sleep, no fuss, no fretting. The dear woman.. . We were leaving the funeral parlour, and in the entrance way, I asked her if I could take a photograph. Without skipping a beat, she arranged her scarf and posed for me.
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Springwater sunrise, a beautiful photograph taken by Peter MacLaughlin, who was once a resident at the Center, and is an avid photographer. I have this framed.
Hoarfrost ( under Light -page 21)
The borrowed light of the moon takes over the night.
Surely some Hindu god,
or forgotten deity atop a stepped pyramid,
can count to infinity,
and number off on its fingers
every perfect shard of light thrown up to my eye,
by the little snow in the grass,
up in the north meadow.
Light ferried from sun to moon,
from moon to meadow,
thence up to mine eye,
sunlight at three removes and rendered small,
moon-bleached,
chill delight.
( I took this photo with my cell phone standing on the front porch. Cool. It'd make a nice book cover. . . )
The borrowed light of the moon takes over the night.
Surely some Hindu god,
or forgotten deity atop a stepped pyramid,
can count to infinity,
and number off on its fingers
every perfect shard of light thrown up to my eye,
by the little snow in the grass,
up in the north meadow.
Light ferried from sun to moon,
from moon to meadow,
thence up to mine eye,
sunlight at three removes and rendered small,
moon-bleached,
chill delight.
( I took this photo with my cell phone standing on the front porch. Cool. It'd make a nice book cover. . . )
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