Angkor What?
Angkor What?
If I could be what I am not,
I’d be someone who’d visited Angkor Wat
who, sitting ‘neath the towers Khmer,
found some bliss beyond repair.
But I am not what I am not
and have never been to Angkor Wat,
and bliss is something I’ve been known
to fix until it starts to groan.
So I must face myself as is–
that is myself with a face like this,
that grins, scowls, frowns (most unlike Buddha)
and is always stuck in would’a, should’a.
But this I tell you–I tell you what–
if we never get to Angkor Wat,
some kind of bliss we still have got
though, sure, it sometimes may get mired
in suffering, you know, and desire–
(thank God)–
Whenever you sit just right there
though you are not a tower Khmer
my Dharma still becomes quite clear
to be to be to be right here.
As Bodhisattva, I may be jumpy
and this Nirvana may be lumpy
but I will take it any time
as long as, anchor, you, are mine.
*******************************
Here’s a sort of nonsense poem for Tony Maud’s terrific prompt on dVerse Poets Pub. Angkor Wat (pronounced like the English word “what” ) is an ancient Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia, one of the wonders of the world. And I’ve never been there! (Though long wanted to go, always finding the Khmer buddhas particularly beautiful.)
Also, the above was supposed to be a free stock image of Angkor Wat–I’m not sure how the little elephant got in there though.
PS_-this has been edited since first posting.
Explore posts in the same categories: elephants, poetryTags: Angkor Wat with maybe not Asian elephant, Angkor What?, bliss beyond repair, Love poem for would-be buddhist, love poem with pilgrimage not made, manicddaily, not-quite-nonsense love poem
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ManicDDaily 
September 19, 2014 at 10:55 am
love the elephant – it’s in a different font than the photo, making it an elefont (groan). fun bit for the prompt ~
September 19, 2014 at 11:50 am
Ha. Yes. I have a day job (!) so cheated this morning and stuck an old elephant from one photo into this photo–courtesy of the wonderful brushes app on the iPad. I really like to do the drawings, but today not the day. Thanks.
September 19, 2014 at 11:54 am
ps –if you have an iPad –and I have mixed feelings about them, given my eye issues–I really recommend the brushes app. It costs about 3 or 4 dollars and it is just wonderful for drawing, painting, collage especially. Very easy to use–a cheater’s dream. k.
On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 11:55 AM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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September 19, 2014 at 12:07 pm
iDon’t. 😉
September 19, 2014 at 12:38 pm
Ha!
September 19, 2014 at 11:08 am
Lots of fun, but like all your writing, k, very human and true as well. This was on my list of things to see once–like many another, I have only visited via photos, but feel a bit closer now after a poem like this.
September 19, 2014 at 11:51 am
Ha. I don’t know about that. I have a friend whose been a couple of times–once during the really terrible years when there were only about three people there. I really do love the faces on those Cambodian buddhas. Maybe sometime! k.
September 19, 2014 at 11:16 am
smiles.. saw the elephant only after you mentioned it… what a beautiful place and i’m sure one day you gonna make it there… my list of places i would love to go is long as the river nile… ha
September 19, 2014 at 11:52 am
I can imagine–and you get to them! And make paintings! Yes, the elephant is hiding. No bodhi tree so made do with a palm. k.
September 19, 2014 at 12:52 pm
This is just so clever and I smiled all the way through – I love “but I am not what I am not”, and “to be to be to be right here”. Awesome work!
September 19, 2014 at 1:39 pm
Thanks so much, Sherry. k.
September 19, 2014 at 1:17 pm
Angkor Wat has been on my list for a long time as well. Have a great book on it, “The Civilization of Ankor”, by Madeleine Giteau (it’s old, 1976, so recent research may invalidate some of the copy, but the book has many interesting photos which remain pertinent). Hope you (and I) get there.
September 19, 2014 at 1:40 pm
It’s been one of the places on my hitlist for years. Apparently it’s packed full of monkeys?
September 19, 2014 at 2:27 pm
Too much good fun here; had to look 3 times to find the elephantus sillinikidemius; sometimes I feel like the dVerse pub is “packed full of monkeys” & I am the jester; smile.
September 19, 2014 at 3:09 pm
So witty and clever — I’m still smiling.. and to be what we are not sure to visit what?.. ha.. and that little elephant — wat is he doing there?.. probably the lumpy Nirvana..
September 19, 2014 at 5:22 pm
heh-heh, he’s there! My fave elephant 🙂 Love the poem, love the image – great stuff k. 😀
September 19, 2014 at 10:01 pm
Thanks so much, Polly. Hope all is well. K.
September 20, 2014 at 2:12 am
If someone wrote a poem like that about me, I’d be a very happy man. Lovely, k.
September 20, 2014 at 7:18 am
Thank you, Tony.
On Sat, Sep 20, 2014 at 3:12 AM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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September 20, 2014 at 7:16 am
really enjoyed this, especially clever about “what I am not” 🙂
September 20, 2014 at 10:29 am
Made me smile all the way through but with wisdom as well.