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Once Upon a Time: Stories & Poems of the Dharma
Spring 2013   Vol. 29 #2
Spring 2013   Vol. 29 #2

Poems/Not Poems | No Fixed Self

Skipping Rope (Retreat poem #7)

By Walt Opie

 
 

“Be interested in whatever is happening!”–Sayadaw U Tejaniya

 

We are in silence.

I’m downstairs alone in the yoga room.

A fellow yogi comes in,

closes the door, kneels and begins

going through a box of various

gym objects.

 

She finds a jump rope

with wooden handles,

steps to the center

of the room, starts

skipping rope,

laughter spilling out of her.

 

She keeps going,

but not like a boxer

in training—

more akin to a kid,

jumping and stopping,

smiling to herself.

 

I lift 15lb weights

in my corner,

imagining her

some decades ago.

 

Later we eat lunch beside each other

in the dining hall

as if total strangers.

 

∞ 

 

From the Spring 2013 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 29, No. 2)
© 2013 Walt Opie

Author

A graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Program, Walt Opie has an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts and has published in Eleven Eleven Journal.

Artist

Photograph by Walt Opie.

Author

A graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Program, Walt Opie has an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts and has published in Eleven Eleven Journal.

Artist

Photograph by Walt Opie.

 
 
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