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NARA
It was inside Nara that it finally slipped away. Its tether had grown ever weaker, the first slip was decades before, a book, brief meetings an answerless question. It stretched further in Tokyo, basin incense under the watchful third eye and hung perilously by fewer and fewer threads until, with the monks’ gentle bow, it…
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THE SAVAGE BREAST
You must pause and marvel, if you will, that only the flute – from the simple wooden to the most elegant metal – when played by skilled hands, can transport the listener. Some would say to heaven, others to hell, and often at exactly the same moment.
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DESHAN’S “NEITHER ASKING NOR NOT ASKING”
If you very much want something you must ask for it clearly, but if you ask for it, it will be denied to you. If you do not ask for it, you may be certain you will not get it no matter how much you want it. If you sit and think about this, you…
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BRIEF THOUGHTS (3 HAIKU)
In the sunlit park the small dog watches the man go fetch the thrown ball Maple leaves emerge almost certain that winter is now history A rain of petals cherry snow covers the ground we await the fruit.
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IS THERE AN ECHO IN HERE?
He said to her, “you know it really irritates me how you always seem to repeat yourself. Say it once and that’s enough.” She paused, thought about his comment, then said, “You know, despite what you say, I don’t, I don’t really, but nuance is something that always seems just beyond your comprehension.” He bristled,…
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BEGINNING
“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good.” — B’Reshit (Genesis) 1:3-4 I mean God is omnipotent and omniscient, so why create it if God had even the slightest doubt that it was good, and is God even capable of doubt. But that…
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WINTER FALLS ON JAPAN
Upon the peak of Mt. Fuji the first snow is shrouded by the mother clouds. In the shadows, rice shoots stare up in reverence.
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TUESDAYS ONLY
Everything important, he declared, should happen on a Tuesday. Wednesday, he explained, was saddled with a deep burden of middleness, rendering it unfit for much else. Friday simply couldn’t be trusted, since five o’clock everywhere came earlier and earlier each year it seemed. The weekend was for battling Sabbaths and there would be no winners…
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OF THEE I SING
My ancestors stole your tongue and left you mute in a world you could not grasp. Now as I search for words of forgiveness I can find none, for my voice is clogged with…
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INDEPENDENCE DAY
It is Independence Day in Seoul and I am sitting in my room in the Ritz Carlton looking out over closed shops, traffic moving along the streets watching CNN and AFKN. The shops of Namdaemun are closed, you can walk the small alleys as vendors hawk jeans with mis-sewn Guess labels and T-shirts from the…
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an old writer and his words 