BOOK I. BASTARD ZEN

DIET KARMIC

It is said
That nothing
Is ever
Gained without
Losing some.
So tell please:
What lost have
I that gain
I must this
big and fat
Nothingness.

HOME-BUDDHA

At a certain stage, when a person begins
To spend most of his time homing in— helping
With the dishes, fixing things up, moving the
Furniture, in general, electing to
Homesit and stand in good stead, not for lack of
Friends or social pursuits wanting his presence,
But merely because he is quaintly pleased with
His current disposition and would prefer
To linger some in this state of mindless bliss—
It will not take long before he finds himself
Conversing with his reflection: in proper
Mirrors, on glass tabletops, in silverware.

And whoever catches him at that precise
Moment of revelation, which of course comes
At no appointed hour, might as well dismiss
It and go about with whatever business
One is up to, making no mention of this
New-found truth to anyone long after it
Seemed almost novelty, especially to
Him, even on rare occasions when he might
Appear particularly invincible.
Before such a specimen, given the traits,
The normal physiological reaction
Is, of course, to burst out of the door laughing.

You see: having found himself, he has lost it.

TOMA.GOT.CHI

I could.n’t care
For yin and yang.
Ta.rot cards and
I.Ching are not
Made for Sha.mans
Like me. I, soul
Ra.di.ant com.ing
clean in this great
In.fi.nite.ly
U.ni.ver.sal
Kar.mic ma.chine.
But chi be.ing
Spir.it life force
An.i.mat.ing
Soul, I’ll take your
Hor.o.scop.ic
Hex.a.gram.ic
K.wen shit and all.
Are you buy.ing?
Come soak my soul.
I would.n’t mind
An.oth.er round
Of al.co.hol.

SATORI IN 24 LINES

It isn’t
Quite flying
But a child
Who having
Sensed that he
Had lost his
Way worries
Not about
Directions
And proceeds
To follow
The sound of
His footsteps
Certain that
If he walks
Fast enough
Minding not
Where it leads
He would most
Surely fall
Off the end
Of the road
Where his bed
Awaits him

ONION

For we are all
ultimately nothing, doing
absolutely nothing,
in a universe that came
from nothing,
is nothing,
and will go
to nothing.

So why the trouble and what for?
For nothing.

We are just trying
to keep busy in ways we know
such as this—
yet even this
is nothing

LOW-ENERGY LIVING

If I don’t show up tonight,
It means that I am either
Too busy doing nothing,
Or too busy trying to
Be busy doing nothing.
Either way, you’ll find the note
I sent saying something else,
Like:
Preoccupied. Someone died.
Or:
Excuse my being absent,
Big trouble moving bowels.

GRASS

The way
I look
At it:

I am
Turning
To grass.

Slowly,
I am
Changing

Green to
Your mind’s
Grazing.

Years from
Now, I
Will be

Barely
There, and
You will

Hardly
Find me
Growing