Four Taoist Poems Poem by Daniel Brick
Four Taoist Poems
I
Scattered rocks lie
beneath the moss-covered boulder.
They are Tai Chi students
resting in the shade of their master.
They have learned enough for today -
It's time to stop
and speak softly to the earth.
II
The grasses display no ambition.
They grow everywhere along the Path
with a tangled sense of humor.
There is a deep truth hidden here
but I'm laughing too hard to care about it!
III
Walking in the Marsh
Balancing on one leg,
without a thought in her head,
the bird mocks philosophy.
I'm too stubborn to get the point.
I'll come back next week
when I'm ready.
IV
Suddenly I don't know what to say.
Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut.
The barren branch knows so much more
than I ever will
in the Ten Thousand Years.
the 'Tao Te Ching' for less than an hour, the instructor suddenly changed tactics. 'Take out your notebooks, ' she said, 'and write a Taoist poem or two. Do it quickly, without thinking, before you lose the mood! ' I wrote these four in less than 30 minutes! We were all surprised, every member had written at least two Taoist poems. We read them out loud with genuine delight and humor. 'You see how effortlessly you can flow with the Tao, ' said our teacher.
There is no like There is no dislike I can only say You found The Way. Let us do Wu Wei.
It did my heart good to see you being honored for one of your works. All of your writings deserve this honor.
These poems demonstrate a fairly adequate grasp of Taoism. They have a strength of presence that radiates from the inside out, which is lovely. And even as they spring from a fundamental East Asian doctrine of thought and being they maintain their essential Western character of having to explain themselves to the reader. That is, each has a moment where it steps out of itself as a poem to try to build a bridge between the spare images and the consciousness of reader not fully steeped in interpreting this images for himself. The Eastern Taoist might see this as a momentary lack of confidence, the Western as a gracious offering to the esteemed other assumed at the other end of this act of writing.
Lantz, this is a profoundly insightful comment on my poem. I've read it several times and each time have been enriched. I especially liked your insight into the Western/Eastern components of the poem. I found your point extremely persuasive, The next time I read Ezra Pound's CATHAY, which I revere, I will remember your distinction between Western writer/reader and Eastern.
Four lovely spontaneously penned poems, a product of Taoism, and the notes below making things clearer.
Brilliant Taoist poems. I liked the one, " Walking in the Marsh Balancing one leg Without a thought in her head, the bird mocks philosophy" . Congrats on poem of the Day..
Congrats! When a poet thinks time stops for him, when a poet writes his pen travels with a speed, that of light.
Tranquillity is felt so deeply in your words. The 4 pieces are perfect with a surprise in the speed of time in each piece. Your sense of calm is amazing.
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12/4/2025 9:53:57 PM # 1.0.0
amazing :) brilliant & funny... a native wit, quick and inventive, I would say! Sometimes, beautiful lines form themselves abruptly and fall from mind as precious drops of wisdom..