Friday, November 28, 2008
Buddhists (poem)
Buddhists
They like order.
Guidelines
to discipline the soul.
They like words
such as suchness, emptiness,
dependent origination.
Sometimes they will sit
in silence
until you think they are
a stone Buddha,
waiting through eternity
for something
to happen.
They have many vows,
ways of speaking,
moving,
dressing
to make them happy.
I am the sort
who would
not fit in.
I would step into the zendo
on the wrong foot,
need to go to the bathroom
at an inopportune time,
forget to tie my robe.
My back would hurt.
My feet would get restless.
start to move about.
I might burst into song
right in the middle of things
just to break the monotony.
I hear they have a stick
for people like me.
Dorothy Walters
November 19, 2008
