Anne Bower

Less is More

Watching others do tai chi

my eyes deceived me,

took in arms circling,

hands punching,

feet kicking,

in a dance of

strange harmonies,

slow, graceful,

a peculiar, choral

boxing match

with phantoms.

My eyes had focused

on hands and feet,

and not until months--

no--years of tai chi study,

did I fully realize

the body's core--

that's where the power lives.

Now I see

it's not the big gesture,

the high kick,

the swift twirl,

but how internal power

can gently push up

from small, slow,

deliberate steps,

through the body

and out through palms and fingers.

Less is more my teacher says.

Less gesture, more focus.

The wheel's hub is small

but it turns the whole rim.



About once a month I  post a new poem here.  If you like one and want to republish it elsewhere, please contact me to seek permission.

Email:  anniebower@yahoo.com

Phone:  802-457-2877

Write:  Anne Bower, P.O. Box 74, S. Pomfret, VT 05067