Excerpts from
C H A R L O T T E ' S _ W A Y
by Norman Fischer • 20 pages • accordion style • 2008 • $12
Design by Terri Wada

When they crumble gently as they leaf
The house flutters like the membrane that it is, tentative
Gesture like a lump humping up from the earth then falling back
As the planet continues with its breathing
Is death returning home some way no one imagines
Setting down the spines and fibers of the flexible material
Till all is level and true finally behond conceptualization and concatenation
Or is there just the ongoing disturbance of more and more life
Blot on the sheer fabric of nothing?

Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a poet, priest, and a former abbot of San Francisco Zen Center. He is founder and teacher of the Everyday Zen Foundation (www.everydayzen.org) dedicated to sharing Zen teaching and practice widely with the world. His latest book is Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer's Odyssey to Navigate Life's Perils and Pitfalls. He has also written Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Growing Up and his latest volume of poetry is I Was Blown Back.