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Figure on East 12th Street: Gregory Corso and Buddha

A foreboding figure, like a waiting troll who might ask for a toll, was staring at me from a trash receptacle near Avenue B on 12th Street. It was there and then one day (thankfully perhaps) it was gone. I recite the first two verses of the Dhammapada, translated by Irving Babbit and one short poem by Gregory Corso:

1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the wagon.

2. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.

Buddha

The spirit of Life
pours thru the death of me
like a river
unafraid of becoming the sea—

Gregory Corso

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One Comment

  1. Larry Delinger

    Excellent. I love both readings as well as the visuals. Thank you, Don Yorty.

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