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Layabout

By John Brehm b. 1955 John Brehm

Do nothing and everything will be done,

that's what Mr. Lao Tzu said, who walked

around talking 2,500 years ago and

now his books practically grow on trees

they're so popular and if he were

alive today beautiful women would

rush up to him like waves lapping

at the shores of his wisdom.

That's the way it is, I guess: humbling.

But if I could just unclench my fists,

empty out my eyes, turn my mind into

a prayer flag for the wind to play with,

we could be brothers, him the older one

who's seen and not done it all and me

still unlearning, both of us slung low

in our hammocks, our hats tipped

forwards, hands folded neatly,

like bamboo huts, above our hearts.

Source: Poetry (June 2001).

Biography

John Brehm was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and educated at the University of Nebraska and Cornell University. He is the author of Sea of Faith, which won the 2004 Brittingham Prize and was published by The University of Wisconsin Press. In the Georgia Review, Judith Kitchen praised Sea of Faith for its “unified consistency of tone and sophistication of approach,” remarking that the “voice is urbane, humorous, and amused—distanced . . .

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