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| William O'Hearn |
By Chance
Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, Oregon
I found a forested wilderness in the city.
Amid human hurry I stroll now, contented and at ease.
Narrow trails lead to lakes and mountains.
A wide heart-mind buffers dust and noise.
Wherever I look, tranquil vistas are visible.
Whenever I think, the remote abode’s obscured.
Far from any monastery, this lacebark pine’s
patchwork trunk is the only robe I need.
“By Chance”/Poem Notes:
Classical Chinese uses the same word (xin/pronounced: shin) for both heart and mind (heart-mind).
Dust (often referred to as “red dust” in Chinese poetry) is the negative fallout associated with life lived in the ego-driven human world.
Poet Tao Yuanming (365-427 CE) wrote, “When thinking is distanced, the abode becomes remote.”
The lacebark (aka whitebark) pine has multi-colored, mottled bark that peels as the tree matures. Ch’an Buddhist monks often wore patchwork robes that resembled this bark.
This poem was written to commemorate the planting of a lacebark pine in Lan Su Chinese Garden on January 22, 2020.
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| Daniel Skach-Mills |
A 2026 Pushcart Prize nominee, Daniel Skach-Mills’s poetry is forthcoming in The Pensive Journal and Wild Roof Review. His book, The Hut Beneath the Pine: Tea Poems, was a 2012 Oregon Book Award finalist. A former Trappist monk, Daniel lives with his husband in Portland, Oregon, where he served for 15 years as a docent at Lan Su Chinese Garden. He was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer in 2024.
This is an utterly beautiful poem! It's so amazing when we can find calm in the midst of city rush.
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