Bugs in a Bowl Poem by David Wolf Budbill

Bugs in a Bowl

Rating: 4.5


Han Shan, that great and crazy, wonder-filled Chinese poet of a thousand years ago, said:
We're just like bugs in a bowl. All day going around never leaving their bowl.
I say, That's right! Every day climbing up
the steep sides, sliding back.
Over and over again. Around and around.
Up and back down.
Sit in the bottom of the bowl, head in your hands,
cry, moan, feel sorry for yourself.
Or. Look around. See your fellow bugs.
Walk around.
Say, Hey, how you doin'?
Say, Nice Bowl!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Topic(s) of this poem: bugs
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Fabrizio Frosini 22 July 2015

Hanshan (Chinese: 寒山; pinyin: Hánshān; literally: Cold Mountain, fl.9th century) was a legendary figure associated with a collection of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the Taoist and Chan tradition. No one knows who he was, or when he lived and died. In the Buddhist tradition, Hanshan and his sidekick Shide are honored as emanations of the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra, respectively. [from Wikipedia]

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David Wolf Budbill

David Wolf Budbill

Cleveland, Ohio
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