Sangha Expressions: Three Poems by Jian Zhi Peter

By Jian Zhi Peter Tolly, ZRS Board Secretary, excerpted from the October 2018 ZRS newsletter

 

Rumination

A sheer torrent
my need for story:
I can dredge for days
but was dead
in the flow
from the start

 

*          *          *

 

Dhyana

The unbeknownst pregnancy
of my angst giving birth to this
synthesis upon synthesis

 

*          *          *

 

Form & Emptiness

A flame clinging to a wick, my personality
flickers out in a moment of focus.

The people who entered the zendo
in stillness become cold candles

no different from dust-laden clutter
in an undisturbed attic—just dust actually

the indistinct shift of an endless dessert
nameless, faceless, on fire