Heart Sutra

On November 22, 1994,

the author of this poem, riding

the N.Y. subway, clearly saw the emptiness

of all conditions. O Señorita,

form is no other than emptiness,

emptiness no other than form; your form

is exactly emptiness, and

emptiness always exists as form.

There is nothing that can be known

that isn’t exactly this. Past &

future, time and space, aging and

death, the subway, the city, your Spanish

lips, all desire a dream within a

dream as we sit here with

compassionate indifference to that

which has never been and will

never die. It is 5:55,

2nd Ave. and Houston. At

Frutti di Mare my date arrives

45 minutes late. That’s OK, I say.

There’s no time like this time.