Zen poān

For every action there’s a reaction,

and, for a living organism, every moment is a crisis
of eating or being eaten.

So is there some way to slow down
time, sit still, and try to absorb things by osmosis?
For every action there’s a reaction,

sure, so you must always know the faction
you’re fighting with. Lao Tzu’s advice is:
you can eat what you like eating,

but you’ll never get any traction
if you go wading wearing water shoes.
For every action there’s a reaction—

a splash—of some kind,
but feet made of water can’t kick.
Do you think you can escape by being eaten?

OK, chop wood, carry water.
Try to seep into the interstices
between the reactions and the actions.
Eating’s just a mode of being eaten.