Monk on Fire

by Michael C. Keith

Keith.Buddah

Douse me . . . please.

Douse me now.

Strike the match.

Let me light the world.

(Thich Quang Duc burned himself to death at a busy intersection in Saigon in 1963. He was protesting the U.S. supported regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, which had long been persecuting the country’s Mahayana Buddhist monks.)

 

Category: Poetry