Shinkichi Takahashi, "Burning Oneself to Death"

June Apple at Tavern Books, Augusta, Ga.

Burning Oneself to Death

That was the best moment of the monk’s life.

Firm on a pile of firewood

With nothing more to say, hear, see,

Smoke wrapped him, his folded hands blazed.

There was nothing more to do, the end

Of everything.  He remembered, as a cool breeze

Streamed through him, that one is always

In the same place, and that there is no time.

Suddenly, a whirling mushroom cloud rose

Before his singed eyes, and he was a mass

Of flame.  Globes, one after another, rolled out,

The delighted sparrows flew round like fire balls.

                                                                --Shinkichi Takahashi

Here is one of many possible ways to respond to Takahashi's poem.  This particular response is part of an anthology I pulled together that I called "I Would Break: Poems of the Body."

In Shinkichi Takahashi’s “Burning Oneself to Death” the spare but visceral imagery suggests that with the loss of the body comes a kind of enlightenment.  Here, the monk’s self-immolation is described as “the best moment of the [his] life,” and as “smoke wrapped him, his folded hands blazed.”  The comforting connotations of the words “wrapped” and “folded” imply that this fiery termination has ensconced the monk in a sensation of dignity and euphoria.  Here, at “the end/ Of everything,” he achieves a consoling revelation that “one is always/ In the same place, and that there is no time.”  But there is a feeling of power here, too.  The monk’s folded hands, after all, “blaze” as he becomes a “mass/ Of flame.”  Ending the line on the word “mass” emphasizes it, too, suggesting a weight and physicality to the fire the monk has become.  This elegant paradox implies that there is a great power hidden inside loss.

This week for your anthology: For Friday,  draft two more response paragraphs, or "notes."  Try to make one a close reading of a film, if you like.  Submit this draft electronically,  using an alias, to the appropriate class homework folder.  The file name should be your alias.
Reading Logs:  Recall that you should have updated your reading by today for week #3 of the quarter.  In total, you should have three nicely composed reading log posts by now for quarter #4.