PEELING POTATOES INTO MU

“They question me about my motives and knowledge. All the time my pulse beats ‘nothingness, nothingness.’” - Maura “Soshin” O’Halloran (1955-1982)

they erected you a bronze statue

crowned head surrounded by

a bronze halo, the whole thing

set on a heavy stone pedestal

a monument for someone who

peeled potatoes until

her hands bled and oozed pus

until she saw through all makyō

what little you slept was upright

your back straight like a statue

so you could sit zazen

even in your dreams

the chilling cold made

a home in your bones

enlightenment happens when

you have nowhere to go

so you dissolve like candlewax

they cast you into bronze

cast you as the reincarnation of Kannon

the bodhisattva of compassion

I know this is probably heretical

but what if your compassion

wasn’t reborn but born

out of your own frazzled eyes

your cracking periwinkle hands

that bowed towards every direction

and cradled each potato

with the same care

peeling them into emptiness, mu

awakening for all beings

Maija Haavisto has had two poetry collections published in Finland: Raskas vesi (Aviador 2018) and Hopeatee (Oppian 2020). In English her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in e.g. Wondrous Real, ShabdAaweg Review, The North, ANMLY, Asylum, Eye to the Telescope, Shoreline of Infinity and Kaleidoscope.