Issue Ten - October 2006

Island Buddha

for Jeremiah

by Ande Finley

Buddha speaks
freedom, he says
as we bear him
from his nest
of spangles, batik, dark
Indonesian wood
watch the clerk
wrap him
carefully
cradle him
days and miles away

now he rests
by the crooked cedar
courted by rocks, salal,
stray salamanders
we watch him
cupping warm rain
his small secret smile
invites surprise

in summer
the meadow robes him
in pigweed, nootka,
thistle fluff
we leave him
drowning in green
a billion pieces
of the moon hang,
swaying, in the unsleeping firs
glittering
in his downcast eyes

fog, a bit of snow
endless wet
his heart picks out the gloom
his back settles deeper
we speak to him of fear
his palm opens
to the melting sky
and waves us through

©Ande Finley

Ande Finley is euphoric to see her life-long dream of writing full time manifesting here in her remote Lopez forest. Her English major in college morphed somehow into a professional life of crunching numbers and she guiltily filed her writing life away until all her kids had left home. Now, she mainly composes for herself, but her work has appeared in Uncapped, Satsang, and previously in SHARK REEF. With the help of her brilliantly-creative family, she produced her first chapbook, Simply Love, to commemorate her mother’s 75th birthday. She offers heartfelt thanks to her husband Scott for all the years of unwavering support.

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