POESSAYWORLD
West Meets East and Aristotle Meets Basho

Poessayist: John Dougill

Spirit of Place

In
an ancient
ceremony
priests
in
colorful
costumes

bear
a
box
out of
the shrine

and
place it
carefully
in
a taxi


'What
is
in the
box?'

'Nothing'

Empty box
Empty mind

John Dougill
2001 Nov

Vowel Movement

When
the gaijin
told them
that
in his
country
all
children
played on
kuso/shit

(he
should have
said
kusa/grass)

no one
reacted
at all


Were
they not
listening?

Were they
being
polite to
foreigners?

Or did
they think

Shit
happens
everywhere


John Dougill
2001 Dec

Zazen

In
the temple

I
thought
I would
find
enlightenment

but
all
I found
was

a
painful back




No
wonder
the
priests
say

life
is
suffering





John Dougill
2002 Feb

GOOD AND BAD

When
you
said
the
'pink
salon'
was
a
bad place

I
thought
I
knew
what
you meant

But
what
you
meant


was
they
charged
customers
too much

A
bad
misunderstanding
perhaps

but
it
made
me
feel
good


John Dougill
2002 May

John Dougill's e-mail: dougill@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp


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