Poetry and Fiction

Love Letter from the Universe

The prospect of enlightenment
comes like the picture of a mail-order bride
her features serene on the Polaroid
discolored from its long journey.

The price for her passage – everything
my wobbly table, gall bladder,
stash of Belgian chocolate.

Maybe I should hang on
to my beachfront bungalow instead
even as the ocean washes my front yard
away.

Those who’ve phoned long distance
report their beloveds’ voices
melodious as temple bells
but I need answers. What kind of wife
will enlightenment be? Will we fight
about money? Will she support
my dreams?

No one to ask.
Despite the vast matchmaking endeavor
not one man alive today
has tasted his lover’s breath
or freed her firm body
from the loose silk of her robe

The Life You Know

The Buddha’s life you know
is not the Buddha’s life.
Those inscriptions on ancient pillars all over India
merely fables from the same dramatists
who brought you General Hospital.

The real Buddha was born in Patterson, New Jersey
in 1946 (or was it 1974?).
He despairs of finding true love
or
her boss does not recognize her potential.

The real Buddha’s life is your life
but not the life you think.
Not the moon on the lake
nor the lotus in muddy water
Not the life of a wooden statue
whose carvers recited a verse
with each stroke of the chisel

Not the day-to-day loudmouths,
traffic jams, and credit-card debt
but not separate from them either.
It is tapping your shoulder
whispering in your ear.

The real Buddha’s life
is where you choose to see it

Jon Wesick

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 over two hundred poems in journals such as The New Orphic Review, Pearl, Pudding, and Slipstream. He has also published forty short stories in journals such as Space and Time, Zahir, Tales of the Talisman, and Metal Scratches. 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.