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It was a long time ago,
but I still fail to grasp
what can happen
to a child
in a moment,
still smell
the tang of alcohol
on the driver’s breath.
First angry,
slowly numb,
even years later,
I still feel
nothing.
Many mornings,
I sit hunched over in silence,
meditating on nothing,
waiting to combust.
Ed. Note: If an alcoholic repeatedly goes through alcohol withdrawal, then over time the symptoms he or she experiences will become more severe. This is caused by a chemical process known as kindling which is comparable to a fire that starts with only a small amount of wood, but soon becomes uncontrollable.
Peter Schireson is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and dharma lineage holder, having trained in both the U.S. and Japan.
Copyright 2020 Peter Schireson
Thanks for linking to his bio. Amazing guy. Makes me want to know from where that poem sprang. Doesn’t every good poem make us want to do that? And that seems to be the very essence of poetry. Sometimes hard for this prose writer to grasp that a glimpse can be enough….
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How by saying so little one can say so much….
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