Snow on Camellias

I chop wood I carry water
I attain spiritual perfection
I chop wood
I carry water

- zen koan -

I hunger for cold country bamboo
Tumbling snowflakes
And a world other than this
Windy
Snow-scoured
Sagebrush plain
Decorated with the lights of a groaning rig
That waits for me and my broken hands

This a brutal place
The oil patch of Wyoming
Made-to-order by brutalized men
Hungry for work
With little birds to feed

Working outside in the cold
I am waiting for the Jodo-Shinsu school
To re-manifest itself

Snow fallen on a box of red rags
Snow on Camellias

Japanese ghosts
Walking to Wyoming
Soldiers artists
Artist artists
Pilgrims
Teachers
Poets enough for a school

But not in my time