Benji Poem for Jumyo Seishin Sue Oehser

Benji Poem
for
Jumyo Seishin Sue Oehser

Here we are again, as always,
for now. Our whole lives
we’ve been praying for peace
and finally the world has grown
quieter than silence. The main gate
squeaks open. In the kitchen,
a carrot is chopped like a finger.
Who ever said that harmony
wouldn’t hurt?

And so we sit together,
the afternoon sun sneaking
through the zendo blinds,
specks of dust tumbling down
streams of light. You see,
our skin is always dying, always
taking flight from the body
and becoming this air
that we breathe.

The Buddha heaves a sigh.
On the altar, the candle flame
burns upright and restless.
What are we waiting for?
we ask ourselves and each other.
What is the orbit of this dream?
Out of the corner of our eye,
a bright, bitchin’ pearl
accomplishes nothing
with her friends,
falling awake.

Let us hear from the shuso!

—Preston Evers