Meditation on Calligraphy

This next poem, "Meditation on Calligraphy," is one inspired by a class I took over the summer on Zen Bhuddism and its relation to poetry. One of the things we covered in that class was the art of Zen calligraphy. The beauty of this form is its existential nature. The calligrapher focuses only on the present, planning out his movements with precision, blocking out all else - other thoughts, worries, obligations, etc. It is through this process of meditation that he prepares his action, and then, in one solitary movement he puts the brush to the page. He performs the action on which he has meditated, and then he is finished, left alone to comtemplate his actions. The last line of the poem is borrowed from another poem by a friend of mine. It happened to fit quite well with the poem I was writing, and as T. S. Eliot said, great poets do not borrow, but steal. Thanks, Corey.

MEDITATION ON CALLIGRAPHY

The hand meditates
over canvas,
contemplating the brush,
the page, nothingness -
every flicker of
the horsehair tip,
before setting ink
to paper.

In suddenness,
the moment,
aware,
the hand strikes -
one quick motion -
thoughtless and full
of thought.

Finished - the line,
thick, and black
on the page.
Brush at his side,
he is still, content.
Sitting just to sit.