The Old Country

About 1970 when I was engaged in the study of Shotokan Karate
I was invited to a demonstration of Tae Kwon Do at a
neighboring dojo. The elder Park family grand master,
ninth or tenth dan, was invited in with the insistence of the dojo
instructors that he would not need to remove his shoes
on the mat...He was easily in his eighties

...................................................................

The Old Country

my grandmother
once recalled walking to church
when she was very young
for some miles barefoot, until
in sight of the building

and put on her clean shoes,
for God in the Old Country
never could wear out.
respect for the sacred
is different in the East.

by the way we dream
our walls seem to fall
on one side only,
weightless, into the bowl
of the crescent moon.