Cousing Jing Poem by RIC BASTASA

he had put it on
record
his cousin was too
damn stupid to
understand what was
there so real
inside him
and it was carved in
stone
that figure of a man
a thin man
deprived of the much
needed compassion
so many stories
have been told propagated
like a hardheaded vine
and it was too
deafening

and then all those
stupid listeners
wander why he chose
distance
why he settled in an island
in the middle of
the ocean
where storms are
everyday occurrences
why he dropped his name
why he burned
the boat that took
him there