Richard Collins
As Unattached As Leaves In October
after Bai Juyi*
Sometimes I feel like the later Byron,
Woe befall: I've seen it all.
But that's a cynical teenager's call.
In my maturer moments
(call them pantheist sentiments
or the pleasure one feels at simply persisting)
like the old Chinese poets,
I still get a frisson at the coming of fall.
* I sit up all night in zazen /
yet autumn can still bring a sudden sigh /
two last ties /
otherwise / nothing obstructs this mind of mine. – Bai Juyi
Bio
Richard Collins is a Zen monk who lives in Sewanee, Tennessee. He has taught at universities in the US, Wales, Romania, and Bulgaria. His recent poetry appears in Alien Buddha, The Crank, MockingHeart Review, Northridge Review, Shō Poetry Journal, Think, Urthona, and Willawaw Journal. His books include No Fear Zen (Hohm Press, 2015), and In Search of the Hermaphrodite (Tough Poets Press, 2024).