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GROWING
Buddha cares little for the endless prostrations preferring Summer. The sun ignores the Buddha and bows to the greening rice. The grass is growing When we are present to watch Without us — growing.
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NOTHING, AND LESS
The hardest thing, he said to his teacher, both sitting on their mats, is not not thinking, but what to do when the thoughts come anyway. I can’t seem to get rid of them no matter how hard I try.” “Do not try to do anything,” the Sensei said, “for anything you do introduces another…
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BEGGAR’S TALE
I speak clearly, concisely in an ancient, long forgotten tongue that none understand. I tell my tale, leaving out nothing, a summoner in a deaf world, whispering of coins, pulled from an empty pocket and cast at your feet, soundless. I point to signs, lettered in my careful hand, without meaning, cryptic to you You…
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SOZAN’S FOUR DON’TS 鐵笛倒吹 九十二
You may seek to follow the path of the dove, for a fool knows many roads. You may wrap yourself in fine linen, an infant wears only his skin and knows this moment is already gone. Think long before you speak of how to walk along the path, of where it leads. The baby says…
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BEFORE THE TEMPLE
They stood at the altar of the ancient temple and prayed for peace. They lit the joss bundle and placed it in the great cast iron burner. We all bathed in the smoke of a hundred bombs falling in perfect harmony.
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EVE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Cats have more in common with snakes that we care to recognize. She said this with a straight face. He wanted to laugh at her, but dared not. She didn’t take laughter kindly when she thought it was directed at her. He calmly asked her to explain. It’s simple, she said, with feigned patience, both…
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RECALL NOTICE
It wasn’t so much that it slipped away this morning, I’ve come to expect that, and I know there is absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. It wasn’t even that I couldn’t recall what it was precisely that was gone, for that is the nature of departure and longing. It was more that…
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RED EYE
No matter how hard you look at maps you cannot find that evanescent border that divides weariness from exhaustion. You need no papers to slip across, no guards or fences will greet you, you may be well across before anyone notices. The return journey is harder still for you won’t have marked your way, and…
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ARRIGATO, GAZAIMUS
The old man walks slowly through the opulent lobby the light of the triple chandeliers refracted into a thousand spectra that dance on mirrored walls. The guard gently touches his elbow steering him as though he is blind drunk, while the bellman walks a step behind, like Charlton Heston through an invisible sea. The man…
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AT THE GATEWAY OF HEAVEN
There is hell to preserve heaven, an AntiChrist as Jesus’ counterpart. At the Ritz Carlton Seoul I am given room 666. There is an apple on the desk. Someone has taken the Gideon’s. God is on the eighth floor.
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an old writer and his words 