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MacQueen’s Quinterly: Knock-your-socks-off Art and Literature
Issue 32: June 2026
Haibun: 105 words
By Jared Frank

a practical koan

 
if you meet a buddha on the road, kill him 

if you meet a baby on the road 

call the police 

if it looks injured 

stay with it 

when the police arrive 

give your account as an eyewitness 

if the baby is bawling but otherwise healthy, and the police say yes of course you can do that ma’am, hold it and comfort it, and lie to it, tell it that everything will be ok

if you start crying as well, wipe away your tears and ask yourself: what is this world coming to?

lost in thought 
a butterfly meditates 
on a peony 

 

Bio: Jared Frank

 
 
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