Finding My Center

by Sharon Scholl

Buddhists say there is no self

to have a center.

We are a loosely strung chain

of habits, memories and dreams

assembled in a waking mind

each morning.

How delicate this airy substance

called the self. A simple stroke,

one tiny vein bursting in the brain

and we are gone.

We tell ourselves who we are

and what this day is all about,

depending on a confirmation

by people loved and trusted.

If they ask who we are,

we have most likely vanished.

***

Sharon Scholl is a retired college teacher who convenes a poetry critique group and maintains a website (freeprintmusic.com) of original music and poetry for small, liberal churches. Her poetry chapbooks, Seasons, Remains, Evensong, are available via Amazon Books. Her poems are current in Third Wednesday and The Bluebird Word.