i am you
& you are me
2018
new moon ceremony
2018
abhyanga / subtle love
2018
preparation / sleepless night
rising 4:00 AM no one awake but boats
robe tied, oil steeped
moving slowly to shore
crisp air like cool breath on wrists
first light 4:44 AM
screaming cry of seagulls
low tide, slipping stones & itching legs
searching
burning retinas / missing sun
delay
sitting like a rock
waiting for light to break
clouds / oil to crown 5:05 AM
sunrise 5:16 AM
oil to sole 5:17 AM
rain / the Divine 5:18 AM
submerge 58° ocean
sprinting heart, breaking waves
emerge / day
axis mundi
(or learning from trees)
2018
pu·ri·
fi·ca·
tion/
rite
2018
+ be prepared
+ ask permission
+ protect yourself
+ approach with respect
+ pray for guidance
ᐧ failed attempt at fire 5:20 PM
ᐧ black charcoal
ᐧ unlit copal
ᐧ co-conspirator 5:29 PM
ᐧ candle / sticks / matches
ᐧ fingers, flame & smoke
ᐧ spiraling sweet aroma 5:34 PM
ᐧ clearing air
ᐧ a different state of mind
ᐧ a deeper presence of body
ᐧ awakened 11th sense 5:50 PM
the distinction between
past and present
gone 6:47 PM
the difference between
physical and nonphysical
vanished 8:52 PM
Night Vision
a dream recitation, 2018
The Reading Dress
A well-known teacher forbade his students to write down what he said because he thought people were recording his comments as a substitute for the more necessary and dangerous task of letting them work on the mind. One man adapted by wearing paper clothing to lectures, and the notes he jotted down secretly on his sleeves were passed around. These koans, in turn, became the core of one of the great koan collections, The Blue Cliff Record.
- John Tarrant
Inspired by this passage from “Bring Me the Rhinoceros” Manoski made her own paper dress. The poems transcribed on it are a distillation of the koans shared in the book.
2017
secret acts
duration: 12 years, 2001 - 2013
sublim
ation
phase transition /
of a substance
directly from
a solid to a g a s
/ defense mechanism
in which
socially unacceptable
impulses or idealizations are
unconsciously transformed into socially
acceptable actions
or behavior
2013
