Death of Thich Nhat Hanh
The singing on your phone
cuts across the lines I am reading.
It is lament.
Buddhist monks clad in brown sing in unison.
They breathe as one.
The music is monotonous and dull and sad,
there is no harmony.
You say it is joyous.
Lament, lament
in peace, a sigh vocalized—
we lie in bed and listen, we feel what is in the singing,
we do not understand the words.
Bruce Parker holds an MA in Secondary Education from the University of New Mexico. He taught English as a Second Language, has worked as a technical editor and as a translator. His work appears in Triggerfish Critical Review, The Field Guide, October Hill, Cerasus, (UK) and elsewhere, and is forthcoming in Wild Roof, Crosswinds, and New American Writing.. He lives with spouse poet and artist Diane Corson in Portland, Oregon, and is an Associate Editor at Boulevard. Hie has published a chapbook, Ramadan in Summer..
The Marbled Sigh 