Origins

a memory-poem of my paternal grandfather, Hap Owen, Sr. (1919-2014)

He asked me,

as if looking

for one definitive moment in time:

How did Zen begin?

I pondered the matter a moment.

"Some say it started with a flower held up in the air,

but you can't rely on formulas.

Zen man Ikkyu

was enlightened

by the sound

of a squawking crow."

image: Clark Gu