Po Chü-i Believed in Idleness

by David Budbill

Po Chü-i believed in idleness —
we might call it “staring at the wall” —

that waiting, listening for the words
of the poem to come to us,

voice of the muse, who comes
floating to us from the other side,

but only if we have that openness
to those voices only heard when we

are idle, doing nothing, only
listening.