Smatterings of Buddhist
Part I
I detect smatterings of Buddhist
in your Japanese,
the way I occasionally
take milk in my tea,
and I wonder if you
still believe
you know what you're saying.
The first rule of knowing
is to know that
you know nothing.
Part II
There are smatterings of merger
in talk of paradigm shifts,
yet two parts become one
only when a separate part dies,
the proverbial third wheel
that wanted to tag along
for the ride.
I learn rejection through osmosis,
its coldness seeping into the
soles of my shoes, transmitted to my
brain with a shudder of revelation.