leaves bud and fall

I have long loved The Coasters’ “Yakety Yak.” Especially it’s opening line – “Take out the papers and the trash.” Like sayings you hear in the practice of Zen: “Chop wood, carry water.” “After the enlightenment, the laundry.”

The sobriety crowd has a saying which says, “Keep it simple.” Back when I was first hanging out with folks trying to not drink or drug a day at a time – this was Massachusetts, in cities abutting Boston, the mid-eighties – another word was added to help with that slogan’s clarity – “Keep It Simple Stupid.” That particular K.I.S.S. of encouragement never bothered me, the ‘stupid’ thing. I mean, a look in the mirror.

And back to The Coasters – “Don’t you give me no dirty looks.” More “Keep It Simple Stupid.” More “Carry water.” More “Laundry.” It’s helpful for me, at this time in my life, all these accumulated years, to receive good life instructions as if I’m a giggling child – or an Elm tree.