Those Old Zen Blues~ a Poem by James Broughton

or After the Seminar
From the book, A Long Undressing, collected poems: 1949-1969

It’s not because it is.
It’s not because it isn’t.
It is because it is
because it’s not at all.

In Zen you can’t yen for anything
since nothing can be had.
When nothing is real in reality
nothing is good or bad.

There’s nothing in heaven, nothing in hell,
and nothing is what I am.
Something is where it always was
but it doesn’t give a damn.

It’s not because it is.
It’s not because it isn’t.
It isn’t because it’s not.
It’s not because at all.

The life I think I ought to live
is just a thought in my head.
I ought to throw my thoughts away
and believe in nothing instead.

There’s nothing where I start from
and nothing I comprehend.
Unless I get enlightenment
I’ll be nothing in the end.

It isn’t there because it’s there.
It’s there because it isn’t.
It’s where it is because it is
and not because it isn’t.

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