The Skandhas

By Anson Wang

When a person falls out of love with someone, do they cease to exist? Yes, they shed into a new existence, a new self.

The children are making their own adjustments

Cynicism tapered back down to a blankness

Just by being present,

They’ve made me forget my own indictments

And now, I’m only afraid that we’re all a bit too blank

Even when we aren’t, because it’s what we once were

And all we can pretend to be is what we find

Stuck to ourselves, like an advertisement slid under the door

Giving in to depths we’re not responsible for

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They write and write and fill in the blanks and do what’s asked

And sometimes more, this one is blooming beyond what she can even comprehend

I wonder what comprehension would do for her

Would she cash out early?

Has she even learned to think in terms of cash?

The enduring self is an enveloping of the person’s skandhas. It is a perception of all a person’s constituents. 

The eye can’t see itself, the tongue can’t taste itself

Can skin touch itself?

I’m not sure that I can perceive myself

My only experience is what gets fed to me

I process it all and then log it, in the center behind my eyes

Have I even seen myself? I’m not so sure I exist

All I’m composed of is getting to the next thing,

But when I think I’ve got it

It disintegrates in my hands.