Sunday, February 13, 2022
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (54)
IF I HAD
If I had a larger vocabulary
I wouldn't know what to say,
the old monk said.
~
WHEN YOU TURN
When you turn
inside out
upside down
you get
upside out,
the old monk said.
Try it. You'll see.
~
WHEN THE WORLD
When the world
goes quiet
it makes you
wonder,
the old monk said.
~
SOMETIMES THERE'S
Sometimes there's the girl
and sometimes it's the tiger
but often there's nothing
behind either door,
the old monk told them.
~
NOT PARTICLE
Not particle
nor wave,
light is a sheet
flapping in
the great wind,
the old monk said.
~
LIGHT IS
Light is
the mane of a hard-
running horse,
the old monk says.
~
THE WATCHERS
The watchers watch
the crows and the corn
in the field,
everything, that's
what they do,
the old monk says.
~
MORNING COMES
Morning comes sooner
on the mountain,
and lasts longer,
the old monk says.
~
IF YOU FOLLOW
If you follow
your shadow
you are
going home,
the old monk says.
~
THE LOWEST
The lowest is first
off the apple tree,
the old monk says.
~
