the burning man

there's
the obvious
sources of pain:
war
fire
flood
the big c
the nut house
incarceration
amputation
divorce
poverty
etc...
the list
is long
& mighty
but then
there's
the man
who is
on fire
just sitting
there in an
easy chair
gazing at
objects standing
on the surfaces
of things
that are made
up of 90 degree
angles
or things
leaning against
one or more
of four walls
he is burning alive
like the monk
in vietnam who
doused himself
w/gasoline
& sat there
crosslegged
& ablaze
only this man
isn't physically
on fire
it's subtler
than that
it's his cells
that are burning
each one
a small pool
of gasoline
aflame
each mutinous
nucleus
like the
burning
vietnamese
holy man
only these
trillions
of miniature monks
are protesting
not war but
peace