Jon Wesick

Reading Zen on the Train It’s in these pages – the isolated monasterygnarled plum tree blossoming in the snowbell at 4:00 AM, old monks, black robeszafu, zabuton, full lotussound of a wooden block in the courtyard Cell phone ring“Hey Bro, I’m on the train by Solana Beach!Where’s the nearest liquor store?”Neither tattooed hand covers the mouththat coughs infectious spores into shared air. Bell reverberating into silencesore knees, lonely candleEven here, the dust and dirt of this worldDo you want something more than this? “My supervisor sets me up for failure.Those guys in Irvine haven’t cooperated at all.When I went to her for help, she saidI should develop a working relationship with them.Working relationship.” Drum beat, kesas on shaved heads“I wear the Tathagata’s teaching saving all sentient beings.”Hanya Hara Shin Gyobows, a cascade of bells “Tickets please!” The conductorcarries his silver punch from seat to seat.A boy with Down Syndrome recites the schedule. Breakfast – a ballet of chopsticks and lacquer bowlswork, kitchenwash rice, chop vegetablesa sutra in a bag of mushrooms The Coaster approaches Del Mar.Passengers scan the ocean for fins.A baby dolphin jumps from the waves. The abbot, an ancient buddhathe koan – polishing a brick to make a mirrorNo ultimate – No BuddhaNo everyday – No teachingFish cannot live in sterile water. Host of the Gelato Poetry Series, instigator of the San Diego Poetry Un-Slam, and an editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual, Jon Wesick has published nearly three hundred poems in journals such as the Atlanta Review, Pearl, and Slipstream. He has also published over fifty short stories. Jon has a Ph.D. in physics and is a longtime student of Buddhism and the martial arts. One of his poems won second place in the 2007 African American Writers and Artists contest.