Toe Story: A Meditation

What's the ugliest part of your body?

Some say your nose.

Some say your toes.

But I think it's your mind.

—Frank Zappa, We're Only in It for the Money (1968)

Meditating on my right foot today

(although the left would likewise fit the bill),

when Big Toe plays at "helicopter mom,"

the diminished lesser ones dissent.

None can ever into a Great Toe grow,

but insofar as reaching, forward bent,

for fractals left in the Serengeti,

long aeons ago, don't think them petty!

So, did those feet in ancient time (I ask

like Blake) walk upon Afric's mountains green?

And were I a Civil War amputee,

might those coagulating toes be mine?

Did I just see Dōgen Zenji * frown?

(Yes, foolish mind! Please keep it down!)

*Dōgen Zenji = Zen Master Dōgen (Kyoto, Japan, 1200–1253)

Friday, September 12, 2025