Off the Tree

A Steady Succession of I's

What’s forming now?

Sometimes it’s too crowded to see.
Sometimes its movement, clear.

A ferris wheel dropping off new characters every time it reaches the bottom.

The One Who Seeks.
The One Who Made This Dinner.
The One Who Must Fix Silence with Conversation.

I read the following exchange:

Monk: What happens when the leaves are falling and the trees are bare?
Unmon: The golden wind, revealed!

I lean forward.

Without a word—
I know that tree.
I’ve seen this wind take the leaves.

Then—the crowd begins to speak.

I should write something.
Hurry, get it down.
This is good, it will lead somewhere.
I understand what it means.

Each a leaf.

Falling. Joining colored wind.

If there is an exit from this, I haven’t found it.

The realization aches.

Seeker.
Writer.
The One Who Needs Fixing.

A steady succession of I’s.

Golden.

What’s forming now.

The exchange is a Zen koan attributed to Yunmen (Unmon).

—

If you’d like to read as new pieces arrive, you can subscribe.

---

Related Reading

If this piece resonated, you might also like:

• A Loop About A Loop — A question interrupts.
• The Circling Forms a Center — Some days the creek disappears.
• The Chisel and the Level — Two pages in, the “I” disappeared.