Three (New) Cold Mountain Poems
Douglas Twells
1
The butchers?
They’re snoring in the backroom.
You must have tried to get home.
Yet, passed out, here you are,
blocking the lane.
Perhaps you dream you’re Hanuman,
taking long rest, recalling exploits grand—
leaping the hundred-league ocean,
saving your beloved king’s queen.
Eons after, now you’re blocking your brother,
Bhimsen, lost and looking for lotus.
Listen! So old and sick too,
that massive ape had an excuse.
But you, what ocean have you leapt?
Just jug and drink and now you think
you have the right to sprawl like this?
It’s nearly dawn, Han-Shan.
The village begins to stir.
What would make you wake,
give over dream,
give way the path,
allow someone to pass?
Better yet,
take up your pack
and take the lead.
Who better than you
to show the way
and convey the rest of us
to Cold Mountain?
2
Planting time again, tomatoes.
This time, if you even plant,
you’ll plant them in your mind.
Which are real? they often ask.
What’s the difference between those,
or ones ripening on the vine?
So they ask.
Your answer?
Actually no one ever asks.
But let’s get to the point
Your answer: climb.
Climb Cold Mountain.
Search out the garden.
Harvest the tomatoes.
Only mind makes them real.
3
stumble to the storeroom
collapse on a bag of grain
join all those sleeping seeds
dream of coming rain
dream in different languages
no one knows but you . . .
Wake up! Oh, that headache.
No regret. You can’t say no
every time the butchers
close their shops,
bang their pots,
invite you down,
and pass that jug
round and round . . .
Listen! Sometimes it’s nice
just to nap on a gunny sack.
Besides, where’s Cold Mountain?
It’s wherever you happen to be.
Douglas Twells
Following service in the Peace Corps in India, Douglas Twells completed his MA in South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago. He later returned to India for further study in Sanskrit and Hindi at Benares Hindu University. Retired from a career in university administration, Twells continues to write poetry and study ancient Indian literature. His poems have appeared in several journals including 3rd Wednesday, The Nature of Our Times: The Gallery, and Arlington Literary Journal. Twells lives with his wife in St. Louis.