zenshin

Zenshin Phillip Whalen
“Hymnus Ad Patrem Sinensis”:
I praise those ancient Chinamen
Who left me a few words,
Usually a pointless joke or a silly question
A line of poetry drunkenly scrawled on the margin of a quick
splashed picture — bug, leaf,
caricature of Teacher
on paper held together now by little more than ink
& their own strength brushed momentarily over it.
Their world & several others since
Gone to hell in a handbasket, they knew it —
Cheered as it whizzed by —
& conked out among the busted spring rain cherryblossom winejars
Happy to have saved us all.
31:viii:58