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BUDDHA, BARBIE
by Su Smallen

Buddha takes aerobics class from Barbie
and hates it.  He has trouble straightening
his legs.  He hates feeling his bones

jost-

ling.
He even grows to hate Barbie herself

("just during class")

her cheery stamina and the way nothing
of hers jostles, just her hair.
Buddha prefers his suffering to be the mental kind.


Barbie takes meditation class from Buddha.
First, she can not sit in lotus
position.  She can not breathe

from

her

("I don't have a diaphragm.")

She knows everyone is staring at her.  Buddha says
suffering is the key.  They think
with all those accessories, she has not
suffered.

("Well, have you ever tried to open a snap as big as your hand?")


Caught in rush hour after classes, Buddha and Barbie are idling side by side by chance.
Buddha, going east, admires Barbie's snap purse on the dash

("what's it like to have accessories?")
Barbie, going west, admires Buddha's tummy spilling around the steering wheel

("what's it like to be tender?")
The din of traffic simulates a vow of silence.


They start up again, about to pass when they bash

fen-
ders.
Barbie's in a state, her car is dented.

("Oh my Hand! Hand damn it!")
Buddha says "All is one."
Buddha says "Empty yourself of concept."
Buddha is speaking aloud to himself.  He is hating

feeling

his bones

jost-

led.
Barbie freaks out.

("I'm nothing but concept!")
Buddha says, "I will give you my car if you give me your purse."
Barbie

("he's got to be kidding")

figures Hand will be less
upset about the purse than the car

("I hate that snap anyway.")
Barbie gives Buddha the purse and drives away in Buddha's car.


Buddha

 smiles

   sits on the shoulder,

in the grass and wild flowers,

with the purse in his lap,

snapping

and   unsnapping.


("All is one") and he puts a blade of grass in the purse.
("Empty yourself of concept") and he takes out the blade of grass.



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