M.S. Rooney

Katagiri Roshi, man I met twice.To sit with youwas to be in a bowl of light.When I heard you were dying,I wrote. Your wife wrote back for you:“A pick-up-truck is standing stillon a vast field.I see many beings bringing oilacross the fieldfrom the ten directions.The truck will make his engine-starting noise soon.Thank you.” Oil, trucks: what would they sayat Eiheiji Monastery to that, Roshi?Would they say you had founda new wayto drive the teachings West? M.S. Rooney lives in Sonoma, California with her husband, poet Dan Noreen. Her work appears in journals and anthologies, including ASSISI, BLUESTEM, THE CORTLAND REVIEW, FUTURECYCLE, MAIN STREET RAG, and THEODATE.