printable version PDF version

Contradiction
by jillian Wednesday, Aug 29 2018, 9:01am
international / poetry / post

it dawned on me as dawn itself
that all my research into
the Mahayana amounted to nothing --
it was obvious from the start,
Nirvana or the quintessential state is
beyond the known/thought, culture

Nirvana must be apprehended, experienced
not written about or discussed

and yet i have wasted so much time
pursuing a contradiction, foolishly attempting
to capture the infinite with the finite,
it was the Heart Sutra that captured me

it stated as much, it destroyed all the tenets
of doctrinal Buddhism in poetic verse,
i should have known

my doctrinal thesis follows:

artificial lakes with fake islands
for introduced water birds
to breed and nest safely, tamed wild ducks
mostly

today i stroll on the manicured lawns
of this park, a black swan, originally
from western Australia, seemed to charge me
then stopped abruptly dancing it seemed with its wings
outstretched and lolling its long curved neck,
indeed, it had learned to beg humans for food
and lost its identity in the process, as the water catchment
is now lost as a tidy park

its mate also approached but with a different attitude
and movements, it was not begging for food and seemed to care
less about me

its movements were speech to its mate that turned and entered
the polluted lake, i watched them both land on the raised island
in the centre and disappear into the undergrowth,
most probably to attend to their nest

humans engaged in picnics, barbecues and beer,
it is an Australian park after all

i had nothing to sizzle on a park hotplate,
now installed with gas bottles,
so i turned into the ochre sunset
and threw a fake silver coin into the fake lake
and resumed my journey

https://cleaves.zapto.org/news/story-714.html