What does it tell us
that the Chinese artist
with writing brush
and fresh ground ink
on a silk scroll
has taken the bamboo
its shoots its culms
its nodes and internodes
its papery leaves
rendered with a single stroke
has taken this
as his or her foundation
the practice of a lifetime
as a violinist
however skilled
will continue daily
to practice scales
arpeggios and double stops

For us westerners
since Greece and Rome
the human body has been
central to our art
based on anatomy
an effort to convey
the living form
in all its density
its depth
gift of the ancient Greeks
with their erotic
and unabashed athleticism
then with the Church's
focus on God's body
in all its physicality
upon the cross

By contrast the bamboo
is light and airy
empty at the core
easily bending
before the wind
able to shake off winter snows
ride out the summer storms
something the artist
scholar and bureaucrat
might well admire
and strive to emulate
while meditating
on what the brush
can only just suggest
the emptiness
hidden within the heart
of the bamboo
and likewise at the heart
of who and what we are