Layers

--James Laughlin

that don’t peel like an onion

not tightly joined   perhaps

more like those little Russian

wooden dolls where six identi

cal shapes fit perfectly in

side each other   now add time

and you have it the layer of

childhood   the layer of ado

lescence   the layer of blos

soming (whatever form that

takes) and so on to the layer

the Hindus call the ashram age

when we live in the forest

or go through the villages

with our begging bowls   and

yet however hard we try to

find the great nothingness

to escape the layers they

are always there unforget

tably wrapped around us re

calling what we were   deter

mining what we’ll always be.