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Four Poems

Four Poems A Rainbow There are such things, straightening clothes. Asking the Way You blockheads who ask what Buddha is should start asking about every sentient being instead. positions 8:2 © 2000 by Duke University Press positions 8:2 Fall 2000 Ask about everything. When you’re hungry ask about food. Ask the moonlight about the way. Find a port where lemon trees bloom where lemon trees bloom. Ask about places to drink in the port. Ask and ask till nothing’s left to ask. Discontent Discontent! What a powerful thing it is. We all should have more discontents that ought to be than discontents that are. The discontent that I feel for myself when at midnight I inspect myself under direct light from a lamp. Half-written texts books as yet unread a watch gone dead these are surely my strength. Outside the window I see cars rushing down Route 38 by night. Even they are my discontent. What a powerful thing! Note “Echo,” “A Rainbow,” and “Asking the Way” are from Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems by ¯ Ko Un, trans. Young-Moo Kim and Brother Anthony (Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1997). ¯ Reprinted with permission of the translators. “Discontent” is from http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

Four Poems

Un, Ko
positions asia critique , Volume 8 (2) – Sep 1, 2000
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2000 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-8-2-557
Publisher site
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Abstract

A Rainbow There are such things, straightening clothes. Asking the Way You blockheads who ask what Buddha is should start asking about every sentient being instead. positions 8:2 © 2000 by Duke University Press positions 8:2 Fall 2000 Ask about everything. When you’re hungry ask about food. Ask the moonlight about the way. Find a port where lemon trees bloom where lemon trees bloom. Ask about places to drink in the port. Ask and ask till nothing’s left to ask. Discontent Discontent! What a powerful thing it is. We all should have more discontents that ought to be than discontents that are. The discontent that I feel for myself when at midnight I inspect myself under direct light from a lamp. Half-written texts books as yet unread a watch gone dead these are surely my strength. Outside the window I see cars rushing down Route 38 by night. Even they are my discontent. What a powerful thing! Note “Echo,” “A Rainbow,” and “Asking the Way” are from Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems by ¯ Ko Un, trans. Young-Moo Kim and Brother Anthony (Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1997). ¯ Reprinted with permission of the translators. “Discontent” is from

Journal

positions asia critique – Duke University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2000

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