Out of the blue
your book came in the mail
caught me off balance
like the unexpected slap
of a Zen master
which of course you were
and are as long as buddha dharma lasts
Instructions to the Cook
a title echoing
the great Dōgen
whose writing still can make
my hair stand up
though you and I'd not met
you wrote Dear Steve
Please prepare the supreme meal!
only later I learned
how over years
you'd fed the bodies
hearts and minds
of hungry souls
manifesting in the slums
of New York city
the bodhisattva path
thinking of you tonight
I'm renewing my old vow
to make myself as savory
and nourishing as my poor skills allow