Erasure from the Zhuangzi translated by Thomas Merton
out a hand
down a foot
a knee
like a dance what
is Tao?
when I first began
I would see me
all in one mass
after three years I saw
but now I see
with the eye free to work
space finds its own way
I cut no joint chop no bone
a year I have used this
it has cut
its edge
keen
when this finds space
there is all the room
I feel slow down watch
hold back move
and whump the part falls away
like a clod of earth
then I the blade
stand still
clean and put it away
From A coat of ashes. First published in The Authorised Theft: Writing,
Scholarship, Collaboration Papers, the proceedings of the 21st Conference
of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs.
Scholarship, Collaboration Papers, the proceedings of the 21st Conference
of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs.