SQN - Sine Qua Non - Issue Two - Journal - Page 98
SINE QUA NON
Kate Falvey
Zen Triptych 3: The One About the Bottom Falling Out
Chiyono lugged the bucket
to and from the well without
complaint or much reflection.
This night, the moon swelled in
the water as she walked. She
was entranced by the reflection.
Her foot, this night, caught by a cedar
root, made her lurch and steady the
bucket, the water moon juddering.
The decrepit bamboo straps split, with
a sticky sigh, tired of holding the bucket
together for so many uncomplaining moons.
Chiyono, too, cracked open, seeing no water
in the bucket, seeing no moon in the water.
Then she wrote a poem.
The poem held the water and its vanishing.
The poem held the moon and its vanishing.
The moon held the moon, the water the water.
Chiyono held the bamboo strips and gazed
from the empty socket of the bucket to the
full face of the moon. She held her sides
and laughed.
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