Reading Zen on the Train
It’s in these pages – the isolated monastery gnarled plum tree blossoming in the snow bell at 4:00 AM, old monks, black robes zafu, zabuton, full lotus sound of a wooden block in the courtyard
Cell phone ring “Hey Bro, I’m on the train by Solana Beach! Where’s the nearest liquor store?” Neither tattooed hand covers the mouth that coughs infectious spores into shared air.
Bell reverberating into silence sore knees, lonely candle Even here, the dust and dirt of this world Do you want something more than this?
“My supervisor sets me up for failure. Those guys in Irvine haven’t cooperated at all. When I went to her for help, she said I should develop a working relationship with them. Working relationship.”
Drum beat, kesas on shaved heads “I wear the Tathagata’s teaching saving all sentient beings.” Hanya Hara Shin Gyo bows, a cascade of bells
“Tickets please!” The conductor carries his silver punch from seat to seat. A boy with Down Syndrome recites the schedule.
Breakfast – a ballet of chopsticks and lacquer bowls work, kitchen wash rice, chop vegetables a sutra in a bag of mushrooms
The Coaster approaches Del Mar. Passengers scan the ocean for fins. A baby dolphin jumps from the waves.
The abbot, an ancient buddha the koan – polishing a brick to make a mirror No ultimate – No Buddha No everyday – No teaching Fish cannot live in sterile water.
Host of the Gelato Poetry Series, instigator of the San Diego Poetry Un-Slam, and an editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual, Jon Wesick has published nearly three hundred poems in journals such as the Atlanta Review, Pearl, and Slipstream. He has also published over fifty short stories. Jon has a Ph.D. in physics and is a longtime student of Buddhism and the martial arts. One of his poems won second place in the 2007 African American Writers and Artists contest. |