April 1, 2025

“Since everything is but an apparition,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection, one may well
burst out in laughter."

― Longchenpa

Marie Bortolotto

March 30, 2025

From Toshi Tsuchitori: Breath (1980)

March 29, 2025

One-Line Haiku
by Marie Bortolotto

just a single daffodil surrounded by mud


Marie Bortolotto 2025

Sound art installations by Zimoun

Field of Flowers by Daniel Schmidt & Paul Dresher

March 8, 2025

from The Confucian Anelects

The Master said, "What a fine man Hui was!"
One container of rice, one dipperful of drink,
living in a back alley -- others couldn't have endured
the gloom of it but Hui never let it affect his happiness.
What a fine man Hui was!"

Marie Bortolotto

February 17, 2025

Haiku Utterances
by Marie Bortolotto

300 Zen-Inspired One-Line Poems to Liberate the Imaginal Heart

Purchase your copy here!

Haiku Utterances by Marie Bortolotto

In this book by artist and poet Marie Bortolotto, we're invited to slow down and attune to the poetic utterances that speak to us and through us from the heart of existence. Dropping the rules of traditional Japanese haiku, she writes in a free verse style that reflects ordinary day-to-day experiences. Most of the poems in this collection were gathered during daily walks while she was recovering from a lengthy illness. At first one may consider them too simplistic or insignificant, but once they seep into our hearts our eyes can see a depth of beauty found in the present moment.

Haiku Utterances encourages us to cultivate an imaginal way of seeing by listening to the haiku utterances in our own lives.

A few excerpts from Haiku Utterances:

pinned to the sidewalk white paper butterfly

have you stopped to say hello little sparrow

fragrance of emptiness in her hand a tiny flower

all frogs on the tree stump gone! except one

Paperback, 110 pages

February 4, 2025

"Follow your inner moonlight.
Don't hide the madness."

~ Allen Ginsberg, American Poet & Writer 1926 - 1997

Marie Bortolotto Art

January 24, 2025

"At this moment, only does my life exist."

- Dōgen Zenji, Zen Buddhist monk, writer, poet, philosopher,
and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.

January 7, 2025

Marie Bortolotto 2025

Short Verses
by Marie Bortolotto 2025

long way home
just to see
the snowy mountains

Marie Bortolotto Art 2025

January 5, 2025

Short Verses
by Marie Bortolotto 2025

no words
no thoughts, no one --
bird chatter

January 3, 2025

Short Verse
by Marie Bortolotto 2025

even in a hard cold rain black cat runs to greet me

January 2, 2025

Marie Bortolotto Art

January 1, 2025

Short Verses
by Marie Bortolotto 2025

I.

new year's morning
only the crows and i
walk about

II.

misty mountain
a buddha sits
facing traffic

Marie Bortolotto Art

December 31, 2024

Short Verse
by Marie Bortolotto 2024

slower and slower
a woman walks
facing traffic

December 30, 2024

Short Verse
by Marie Bortolotto 2024

neon Santa
no one pays attention
now

December 28, 2024

Short Verse
by Marie Bortolotto 2024

selling God
in the park, listening
to bird chatter

December 25, 2024

Christmas Day Haiku
by Marie Bortolotto 2024

shouting above the traffic noise an orange poppy

Marie Bortolotto Art

Howl Of Aliveness
by Marie Bortolotto 2024

in the morning
I open the door
go out, threadbare
into a raging wind

how to be alive?
no phone, no screens
no things that steal
the heart's affections

at the big park
a crow's caw
black squirrels whirl
in widening circles

above, a gull's cry
all the roses silent
beneath the weight
of winter's sleep

no wild animals, only
solemn remembrance
listening, the green, green
howl of aliveness