Giving Rein To Loftier Ideas Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

I ambled into
the Teacher’s Center
plopped next to Herbert F
who said,
“What’s up, Bernstein.”
‘You’re not going
to believe this...”
“From you
I’ll believe anything.”
“This extraordinarily beautiful woman walks
into the Buddha’s Bookstore
a small store
so when someone comes in
you notice.
I was reading
The Platform Sutra
a new translation.
She moved a few paces to my right
then stood next to me
saying, ‘I want someone
to say my name.’
I didn’t know
what to say
when she repeated
‘I want someone to say my name.’
I mumbled, ‘What? ’
Again
‘I want someone to say my name.’
I said, ‘I will say your name
but first tell me your name.’
She only sighed
with such passion,
such longing...
am I making myself clear?
Probably not,
anyway she moaned,
‘MY NAME.’
‘Babette.’
‘No.’
‘Naomi.’
Out she went.
Had she actually forgotten
her own name?
How could she expect
a total stranger
to know her name?
See what I’m getting at? ”
“Probably high
on some exotic drug—
so go back
speak to the dear woman
then get the name,
of the pill
I’m talking about.”
“She looked a bit
out of it
perhaps because of
spiritual agony—
searching for her true self.”
“She was,
maybe,
searching for more dope.”
“Everything with you
is drugs.”
“Alas,
you’ve found
my true self
at last.”