Poem 421

True story … you could take it as a joke puncturing the idea of enlightenment or see it as a lesson that there are many (arbitrary) roads to nirvana and contemplate the example of the laughing buddha …

Seeing The Light

how many birds can you fit
on one finger
                            said 
a friend of mine
as an example of a zen question

I thought about that

where did you start
where did the buddhist initiates start
sent away for days
to try to solve it

it was a seamless question
no start or finish
it seemed to disappear inside itself
like the figure we were shown
in mathematics
the twist of paper
with only one side


as many as will fit 
                                     was the answer
he gave me when I asked

that made all kinds 
of sense
answer fitting question
in a seamless loop
bookends
with no books between
purposeless
reasonless
complete


when I saw him again
I told my friend
I thought I was beginning
to get it

he said the birds 
                                  finger thing
wasn't a zen question
he hadn't been able
to remember any
so he made one up