Forsaking the farce of form and face
Artists forced to raze the dominant paradigm
Seizing the sense of silence and space

The painter replicates without a trace
Fleeing frigid hue and spectral clime
Forsaking the farce of form and face

The poet shuns a language of sonorous lace
Refuses circumscription to rhythm and rhyme
Seizing the sense of silence and space

Dancers undulate within the sky’s embrace
Respond to a resonating pantomime
Forsaking the farce of form and face

Musicians project a gait of staggering pace
Spurn the tyranny of tone and time
Seizing the sense of silence and space

Genius celebrates a fall from bogus grace
Abandons the sensual for a soul sublime
Forsaking the farce of form and face
Seizing the sense of silence and space

—Preston Keido Houser

More poetry on the Writers in Kyoto page by Preston Houser can be found here.

Click here to hear Preston talk about shakuhachi and Zen, and to hear him play.