“these wide black sleeves”
James: it’s a line i cribbed from the zen poet, Ryokan. he says something like, “the pain of life makes me want to protect everyone. if only these black sleeves were wider, deeper, i’d put everyone inside.” i like the metaphor because I know the feeling. it is a boundless one. as we open ourselves, we identify more strongly with other living things, their joy and trials, glee and pain. to know this truth in the deepest sense means understanding if you hurt yourself caring for others, they share in the hurt. you see, in the poem, ryokan says IF his sleeves were bigger. they are not. they are only ryokan sized. for this sit we will work on exploring the boundaries of our body, the gauzy interface between it and the room, then showering it with petals of love enough for everyone.
