Category: Poems

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One Foot In Death

Steve Rowe

Blood, Sweat and TearsContemplating deathWalking with one foot in life and one in deathGiving a perspective others don’t haveThen in meditation and trainingMoving both feet into deathWith just a little toe left in lifeWhen you’re as familiar with death as lifeYou lose fearYou gain that broader perspectiveFinding your immortalityYou gain balanceFinding the line between yin and yangThe middle path, the TaoThe way of the warriorPiercing the veil of illusionRealising that what you were before you were born,What you are when you’re deadYou still are nowWatching the theatre of lifeNot happy or unhappyBut peacefulThose that opt for an ‘easy life’Missed the … Continue reading One Foot In Death

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Why Basics?

Steve Rowe

Why basics?Because everything you need to knowEven for the most advanced trainingIs in thereA good teacher will apply layer after layerInto the same basic exercises and techniques firstBecause it’s the most efficient way of learningThe layers are not held backThey can only be taughtWhen the student is readyThen they will exclaim“It were there all the time…I just didn’t see it!” Continue reading Why Basics?

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I’m Not Everyone’s Cup Of Tea

Steve Rowe

I’m not everyone’s cup of tea…..I’m out of step with humanityBut in step with the universeI don’t do what others want me toBut walk my own pathThe only people that really like meAre those I teachBecause we’re all on a similar journeyMy jokes are shitBut make me laughMy Tai Chi is differentBut accords with the classicsAnd other martial artsYou can’t bully meYou can’t make me do what you wantYou can’t make me fit inTo your imageThat’s whyI’m not everyone’s cup of tea. Continue reading I’m Not Everyone’s Cup Of Tea

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Morning Garden Tai Chi

Steve Rowe

Early morning Tai Chi and meditation.The smell of the earthThe scent of the flowersThe gentle breezeBlowing in my skinThe deep blue of the skyEach one charging my energyBreathing it all inMy body thanking meFluffing up the cavities and spacesIn my body with chiSwimming in the warm airGentle spiralling motionsPressing with the footTo power the waistTo move the armsTo express my immortal soulAnd exchange energies with the earthThe stillnessThe quietThe calling of the birdsThe buzzing of the beesThe rustling of the leavesAll in harmony with my movementWe’re all joinedWe’re oneDancing in the universe.Steve Rowe Continue reading Morning Garden Tai Chi

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Be The Driver

Steve Rowe

Oh poor you….Your avatar is born out of this worldNot into itSurvival mode gives it needsFear of deathWanting recognition from the tribeWanting sexual favoursFear and aggression arise from defence modeNourishment is needed to surviveThe driver is joined to that which gave birth and is immortalThe avatar feels isolated and lonely when not nourishedDeterioration and death are assured from birthIts purpose is to engageSo the driver is enriched from the experienceIt’s being human for the journeyIt’s the only way it can experience itselfThe best journey is when the avatar can understand what it isAnd know that it’s only theatre created by … Continue reading Be The Driver

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Never Say “It Can’t Get Any Worse”….

Steve Rowe

Never say “it can’t get any worse than this”… After my knee replacements I had continuous infections and had to have 25 surgeries with 3 life threatening sepsis attacks. It thought it couldn’t get worse. It did. My leg had to be amputated. Surely it couldn’t get worse? It did. I got cancer. That had to be the bottom, it couldn’t get worse than that. The bottom fell out. My wife of 43 years died suddenly. Every time I thought it can’t get any worse than this….. it did. Each time it left me empty, hollow, when everything had been … Continue reading Never Say “It Can’t Get Any Worse”….

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Own Your Mind

Steve Rowe

It’s important to take time and spaceTo be still and silentNo TVNo radioNo musicAnd no peopleStop filling your mind with crapEveryone else wants a piece of itIt’s too easy to give it awayMindlesslyBe stillBe silentTurn your senses inwardAnd find yourselfDiscover your powerOwn your own mindAnd don’t let anything or anyone inWithout filtering itDevelop your own locus of power. Continue reading Own Your Mind

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Through The Looking Glass

Steve Rowe

Through The Looking Glass….After the seminar todayWhen I was in the Dojo on my ownIn my wheelchairI saw myself in the mirrorOld, crippledIt wasn’t meNot who I amIt was like I was deadOut of my bodyMy reflection was like a photographOf me when I was aliveMy family sayingThat was my dad, granddadI could see my fatherMy grandfatherMy family line back to the beginningI was the one with no war medalsBut still had all the scarsAnd the missing limbI sat frozenMesmerisedLike looking into the futureThrough the looking glassA life full of a different kind of warsEating me upBit by bitPhysicallyEmotionallyMentallySpirituallySurviving them … Continue reading Through The Looking Glass