“You may say, ‘I must do something this afternoon,’ bur actually there is no ‘this afternoon.’ We do things one after the other. That is all.”
—Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, “Breathing”
Woke up this morning with the intention
that I must do something this afternoon.
But instead
I entered the morning
doing one thing after the other:
ate a small breakfast, then washed the dishes.
Fed the dog, walked the dog
past the trash blown around the closed McDonald’s
where tulips are beginning to rise
next to the torn base of what had been a signpost
and back up the alley that looks like
what’s left over from an old armeggedon.
But one after another, things became clearer;
washed the kitchen floor,
put away canned food bought yesterday,
took a bath,
and dried myself in silence.
Perhaps I’ll mop the bathroom floor,
but the dog wants another walk.
One thing,
one simple thing after another.
The Adequate Symbol 