Sorry, the reply so late, the holidays and company you know

I like the listing of contrasting pairs and the imagery.  You have the
phrase "roses is" and I am sure that is a typo.  Maybe you meant rose is or 
change
it to are.

Sue, I read that a zillion times and missed it.  Below my zig is the last 
revision and it is fixed.

*

I'm not entirely sure about finishing with another interrogative. To
be honest I find the poem ends on New Orleans. But that may reveal
more about my attitude to koans than to the poem.

John, it is borderline.  Thomas liked it however for Zennish reasons.

*

Oh no, Gar' & JC, not another form?  Are you going to tell us what it is or
will I be left in the dark?
bw
christina

Christina, besides all the other answers - a koan is a small metal plated 
circle used for currency, it takes two of the quarter size to buy a daily 
paper and 5 for a coke on the ferry

*

The images here are very enjoyable but this is another of those poems that I 
read as if it is suggesting that questions such as the literary master asks 
actually have an answer. I remember you posted another poem recently where I 
made a similar comment (I´ve forgotten the title) but I remember (I think) 
that you replied that in fact you felt that the point was that no answer is 
given. It was the poem that ended with words on a boys yellow balloon. So 
the point here is perhaps that I´m reading these differently to how you do. 
It is true that no clearly delineated `philosophy´ is expressed to answer 
the question, but for me the very implication that things such as `the 
flight of dandelion seeds´ might be described by the term `answers´ is a 
step too far down the romantic path. But maybe I´m guilty of reacting 
without examining closely. Would you read this piece as casting doubt on the 
validity of such questions and their supposed answers?
--Mike

The koan has no answer.  Granted there are obvious likely answers in 
"infinate,"  "the number the poet writes," "one,"  and others; but none are 
right.  So any answers simply offers an opportunity for the teacher to chide 
the student for failure.  IMO, the final line, warns the teacher that his 
game has been found out.

"too far down the romantic path"?  Perhaps, but the garden is full of images 
used by the romantics and other schools.  Their use or overuse does not 
invalidate their existence however.

Thanks much for the great commentary.  But how would you answer - either?

Smiles.

Gary







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