[Image: Senecio, by Paul Klee. 1922; watercolor, pen and ink. This work seems to have drawn an interesting range of interpretations. Sometimes it’s described as just a mask, or a mask-like representation of a human head; it’s apparently referred to sometimes by the alternate title Head of a Man Going Senile; and Wikipedia notes that Senecio is the scientific name for a genus of the daisy family and is Latin for, simply, “old man.” For a fairly exhaustive rumination about it, see this book (starting at the page to which that link takes you). Note that the “about this book” description of the book says, in part, that it “reveal[s] the importance of metaphysics in everyday life through a disclosure of the grounding principles that inform the bureaucratic approach to human predicaments” — so, brace yourself accordingly.]
From whiskey river’s commonplace book:
Individuality
Individuality?
is not of the substance of elements.
It is an organism, indivisibly
occupied
by elementary objects of a divergent character:
if you
were to attempt division, these parts
would die.Myself,
for instance: an entire dramatic company.Enter an ancestor, prophetic;
enter a hero, brutal
a rake, alcoholic, to argue
with a learned professor.
A lyrical beauty, rolling her eyes
heavenward, a case
of chronic infatuation —
enter a heavy father,
to take care of that.
enter a liberal uncle — to arbitrate….
Aunt Chatterbox gossiping in a corner.
Chambermaid Lewdie, giggling.And I, watching it all,
astonishment in my eyes.
Poised, in my left hand
a sharpened pencil.A pregnant woman!, a mother
is planning
her entrance —
Shushhh! you
don’t belong here
you
are divisible!
She fades.
(Paul Klee [source])
…and (in somewhat different words):
While I was at UCLA, D.T. Suzuki (the famous Zen scholar, writer, master, etc.) came to visit. They set up the Regents auditorium for him. So we were all there, the audience all excited, and out came the head of the Oriental department. The audience all quieted down. The [department] head introduced [him]: “Here is D.T. Suzuki, world class Zen scholar, writer, master, etc. Here he is!”
We all sat in silence. This little guy comes out to the mike. Adjusts a pair of glasses. This is him, we’ve seen pictures of him before, but he looks smaller and etc. He reaches out and taps the mike.
A hollow ping sounds though the hall. He says, “Zen Buddhism, very hard understand. Thank you,” and walks off stage.
The audience went crazy! There was a mad struggle backstage, and then the head led Suzuki back out, a couple of the department professors with him. They set up some chairs, sat Suzuki down and asked him questions for an hour so everyone would be satisfied.
But I can still hear his voice: “Zen Buddhism, Very hard understand…”
(Jonathan Greenlee [source])
Not from whiskey river at all (as far as I know!):
Counting Backwards
How did I get so old,
I wonder,
contemplating
my 67th birthday.
Dyslexia smiles:
I’m 76 in fact.There are places
where at 60 they start
counting backwards;
in Japan
they start again
from one.But the numbers
hardly matter.
It’s the physics
of acceleration I mind,
the way time speeds up
as if it hasn’t guessedthe destination—
where look!
I see my mother
and father bearing a cake,
waiting for me
at the starting line.
(Linda Pastan [source])
…and:
Once there was a monk who was an expert on the Diamond Sutra, and as books were very valuable in his day, he carried the only copy in his part of the world on his back. He was widely sought after for his readings and insight into the Diamond Sutra, and very successful at propounding its profundities to not only monks and masters but to the lay people as well. Thus the people of that region came to know of the Diamond Sutra, and as the monk was traveling on a mountain road, he came upon an old woman selling tea and cakes. The hungry monk would have loved to refresh himself, but alas, he had no money. He told the old woman, “I have upon my back a treasure beyond knowing — the Diamond Sutra. If you will give me some tea and cakes, I will tell you of this great treasure of knowledge.”
The old woman knew something of the Diamond Sutra herself, and proposed her own bargain. She said, “Oh learned monk, if you will answer a simple question, I will give you tea and cakes.” To this the monk readily agreed. The woman then said, “When you eat these cakes, are you eating with the mind of the past, the mind of the present or the mind of the future?”
No answer occurred to the monk, so he took the pack from his back and got out the text of the Diamond Sutra, hoping he could find the answer. As he studied and pondered, the day grew late and the old woman packed up her things to go home for the day.
“You are a foolish monk indeed,” said the old woman as she left the hungry monk in his quandary. “You eat the tea and cakes with your mouth.”
Dan Bammes [source])
…and:
Star
All the way north on the train the sun
followed me followed me without moving
still the sun of that other morning
when we had gone over Come on over
men at the screen door said to my father
You have to see this it’s an ape bring
the little boy bring the boy alongso he brought me along to the field
of dry grass hissing behind the houses
in the heat that morning and there was
nothing else back there but the empty day
above the grass waving as far away
as I could see and the sight burned my eyes
white birds were flying off beyond usand a raised floor of boards like a house
with no house on it part way out there
was shining by itself a color
of shadow and the voices of the men
were smaller in the field as we walked on
something was standing out there on the floor
the men kept saying Come on overit’s on a chain and my father said
to me Don’t get too close I saw it was
staring down at each of our faces
one after the other as though it might
catch sight of something in one of them
that it remembered I stood watching its eyes
as they turned away from each of us
(W. S. Merwin [source])
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