Poetry

Ken Kessel

      

            For a Friend,On Her Daughter's Birthday

	Sun rising
	PUSH HARD
			
	Sun setting
	Where did all the time go?

	What hasn't changed
	After all these years 
	It isn't a question of time

	Nursing, holding, walking together
	When she runs off
	Do laugh or cry?

	As the butterfly leaves
	Does the flower know 
	What she's gotten?


            For Richard,On the Death of Your Father

	Earth is small
	Sky is vast

	Does the cloud come to the mountain
	Or the mountain to the cloud?

	What passes?
	What lingers?

	Autumn wind
	Chills the bones

		
             On the Death of Brenda's Mother, dated 4/8/98

	Generation reaches generation
	How to light the candle

	Does the wax consume the flame
	Or the flame the wax?

	When it's all consumed
	What remains
	Remains bright

	Generation teaches generation
	Baby cries, mother holds her


             For Elizabeth, on the Death of Your Father

	The hand that touches
	The hand that takes
	 How do you reach it 
	When it's gone?
	 I wail at the heavens
                  These tears of love


              For Heidi, on the death of her mother
	
	Turning around the bend
	What once was
	Now appears as 
                  Vast expanse
	Of sky
	And sun
	Reflected 
	In a thousand ripples

		
              For Dae Bong Su Nim's Transmission - 4/3/99

	From the valley
	Mountain peak disappears
	In the mist 
	From mountain peak
	Valley obscured
	By the trees

	The boatman on the river
	Hears the snow owl's
	Piercing cry

	Caaaa!


             Transmission of the Lamp - The Lost Volumes

             (In observance of the Zen Master's Birthday, November, 1999)

	Wu Kwang
	Was a man of New York
	But he was not born in New York
	His family name was Shrobe
	And while he resided for over 30 years on 14th Street
	He had no fixed abode

	He attained the way
	Sitting on a cushion
	And realizing that he was 
	Sitting on a cushion

	Thus is it said
	"The man who is sitting
	Is already sitting
	Though they are never separate
	He truly knows 
	His ass from his elbow"

	Is is said that on occasion 
	He would retreat 
	Deep in the Northern mountains
	While this may be so
	Few saw him there
	And despite the remoteness
	He never lacked for comfort

	In his youth
	His breadth was immeasurable
	Near the Millennium
	He discovered his health
	And thenceforth
	According to legend
	Dined solely on green tea
	And barley soup
	His memory improved with age
	And his beard never grayed

	He mastered first the tantric pulses
	Of Thelonious Monk
	And next the pranic forces
	Of Vedic traditions
		
	But let go of both
	To enter the Main Stream
		
	And preached,
	"My miraculous power is that
	I pay my taxes by April 15th
	And my rent
	On the first of the month"
	(Truly he had pierced the ineffable)

	He also once said
	"Don't write a check 
	You can't cover,"
	And on another occasion,
	"If you can't pay me now,
	Pay me later"

	Students today
	Still discuss this

	A student once asked
	"How can I enter the way?"
	
	The master said
	"Tokens"

	The student persisted
	"Tokens are subject to coming and going
	Appearance and disappearance"

	(This was no ordinary person)

	Wu kwan responded
	"Then get a Metro Card"

	(He reveals his sword
	Only when challenged)

	The student was speechless

	(Who wouldn't be?)

	But tell me
	Is this the silence of Vimalakirti
	Or Elder Ting?

	Another student remarked
	"Already swiped"

	The Master hit him

	The student bowed
	
	Wu Kwang demanded, "What is it?"

	The student couldn't answer
                  So Wu kwang sent him 
	To buy bagels for the Sangha

	(Removing frost from snow)

	When he lectured
	Students gathered like clouds
	But when he finished
	He left no trace
                
                  Gatha:

	The way from Union Square
	Is clearly marked
	But few can find it
	Out of ten million
	Not no one
	But only a few
	When you arrive
	Press 2E         
 
              Birthday Poem for Zen Master Seung Sahn:
              An Unauthorized Biography, With Commentary
	
	How many birthdays           
   	Does it take
	To make
	A Zen Master?

	Why make anything?
	
	August 1, 1927.
	"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
	"Aigo! Aigo! Aigo!"
	What is it that is born then?

	Body and mind appear
	In a gush of blood and cries
	Why did you do that?

	Young boy playing in the fields
	With a scythe
	Slashes his leg
	But having too much fun,
	Doesn't notice
	Until his mother calls
	"Duk In A! Il I Wa!"
	Aigo! Blood again!
	What is born then?

	Body and mind disappear
	Into Samadhi of play
	Originally nothing
	Then how does that cut appear
	Why did you do that?

	Protestant radical liberationist thief
	Makes off to the North
	With some ill gotten goods
	For a well-gotten cause
	Lands up jailed
	And wondering what's important.
	What is born then?

	Body and mind reappear
	Into ideology
	Look what happens when you do that!
	Be Careful!

	Shaved head for 100 days
	Empty gourd bangs 
	On empty gourd
	Boy walks through a wall
	Somebody said something got something.
	What is born then?

	Pine needles make you green
	Sea dragon swallows the sun
	Body and mind explode
	Who said who got what?
	I told you to be careful!
	Show off!

	Shining gourd head rearranges nuns' shoes
	Seeing into the way of a mouse
	Makes an old gray gourd very happy
	Ken Kessel, August 2, 1997
	Old woodfish sings
	"I am the flower, you are the bee"
	Says to shut up for three years
	What is born then?

	Body and mind become
	Don't Know
	It's about time

	Mountain bee flies this whole world
	Pollinating twelve divisions and ten
	Directions
	Achoo!
	You can swing, but can you swat it?
	Flowers pop up on six continents
	Still working on enlightened penguins!
	What kind of birth is this?

	How much time do we have
	Until his mother calls him back:
	"Duk In A! Il I wa!"
	What will be born then?

	Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
	Aigo! Aigo! Aigo!

	What do you give
	To the man
	Who has nothing?

	What are you doing now?

	Happy Birhday, Dae Soen Sa Nim.