FORGET IT
to give in
and understand
why tombstones
are so beautiful
how time curves them
until you can’t decide whether
the stone is crooked
or the earth
~
A DREAM OF COTTON DUMB
a poem for Santoka Taneda
you’ve waited
70 years
to be printed
on plastic wax*
stamped
with an 895.644 TAN
and rented
by a brat American
early twenty something
with no understanding
of hard zen
just a dream
of cotton dumb
*plastic wax?
~
HOW VIGILANT, OUR SUFFERING
a spider in the grass
steps in dew
“shit!”
says the spider
~
NEW COMMANDMENTS
like a parting sea
tiny black birds
rose from the tall grass
by the lake
making way
for me and my backpack
full of new commandments
the first being
“all tiny black birds
must part like a sea
when I pass”
~
HERMITS DIE HARD
clouds are the
only passing travelers
that don’t hurt my
stomach
~
SEAN TIERNEY 