When I showed my

11

Year old

Son a picture of the

Ponte

Vecchio the

Old

Bridge of three

Stone

Arches spanning the

Arno in

Florence built in the

13th

Century and not

Destroyed by

Hitler’s

Retreating

Armies in

1944 where

Craftsmen and

Merchants and

Performers have

Pedaled their

Goods and

Services since the

Days of

Cosimo l de’

Medici and his powerful

Ilk who crossed the

Ponte

Vecchio twice daily to

Worship

God and

Money

He said

Dad that

Old

Bridge is like the original

Strip

Mall

Thich

Nhat

Hanh is speaking

Tonight at the

College she said at

Dinner

Tick

Not

Who I asked

You know

Tick

Not

Hon the

Vietnamese

Buddhist

Monk

Oh that

Tick

Not

Hon

Try not to be a

Wiseass I’m leaving in half an

Hour if you’d like to

Drive me

You can either wait in the

Parking

Lot and tune in the

Rutgers

Game or

You can come in and

Listen to what

Hon has to say

Hmm

Rutgers

Hoops or

Buddhist

Dogma she

Rolled her

Beautiful

Aqua

Eyes and moved away from the

Table I did the

Dishes brushed my

Teeth warmed up the

Truck and stood ready to

Roll with

Three

Minutes to

Spare we sat near the

Back the college

Auditorium

Packed like a

Billy

Joel

Concert some

Philosophy or

Religion prof made the

Introduction I caught bits and

Pieces born

1926 almost

70

Years ago near

Hue

Vietnam

Buddhist school

Princeton

Theological

Seminary

Cornell

University

Columbia residing now in the

South of

France at

Plum

Village he stood I thought not much over

Five

Feet

Tall maybe

100

Pounds soaking

Wet his smooth

Bald

Pate glistening under the stage

Lights his

Eyes

Shining

Radiant his

Smile a mile

Wide he said in a soft

Lilting

Voice I am

Here you are

Here we are

Here I am happy to be

Here with

You at this moment the

Here and

Now let us

Maintain our

Presence in the

Here and

Now by taking a nice

Breath in and letting that nice

Breath out do not

Force the

Breath in or

Out just

Breathe in and just

Breathe

Out be

Nonviolent with your

Breathing be

Gentle with your

Breathing be

Tender have

Respect for your

Breathing have

Empathy have

Compassion for your

Breathing and now

Here and

Now

Treat every moment of your

Life and every

Person in your

Life and every

Animal and every

Plant and every

Living and

Nonliving thing and every

Thought and every

Action exactly the same way you

Treat your

Breathing and all will be

Well with your

World and all the other

Worlds

Swirling

Around

You this is what

Thich

Nhat

Hanh told us in the

College

Auditorium on that cold winter

Night now

Suddenly

Thirty

Years

Ago when I was still

Young and

Overflowing with the

Usual

Piss and

Vinegar rarely has a

Day passed since that

Night when I have not

Heard the little

Monk’s

Words

Echoing off the

Walls of my

Soul

Clawing at those

Walls in a

Herculean effort to

Gain

Traction and make me

See the

Pure

Simple

Diamond

Light

(The Diamond Sutra posits that something is what it is only because of what it is not.)