poem

I must stop apologizing for how seldom I get to the blog.
Okay. Stopped.

Here's a piece that seemed to want to go out
into the world at this point.

TO A WRITER FRIEND WHO PONDERS HOW HE MIGHT ESCAPE
THE DISASTER OF ATTACHMENT TO AN OVERWHELMING "I"

IKI
sincere classiness
no excess, no
tawdry ostentation

SHISUMI
astringency
the blur
of melting sweetness
rots the palate
of the spirit

KARUMI
the ordinary
everyday graces

SABI
loneliness (better: "solitude")

spare brushstrokes the loved one's
single cry

WABI
simplicity

YUUGEN
the mystery

USHIN
with heart