Lineage – a poem by Corbin Buff

Lineage

What realm is this, 
where the palace steps are made 
of polished jade? 

I still smell 
the agarwood incense
of Li Ch'ing Chao, the plum blossoms 
and thick green wine
dissolving the mind 
into a fog 
of puerh and perfume.

Here I bow again 
to the old masters—
the fellow seekers 
and teachers 
I will never meet.

Ryokan, Basho, Tu Fu!

I walk these mountains 
in search of you.

Corbin Buff is a writer living in western Montana. Recent work has appeared in Misfit Magazine, The River, Cajun Mutt Press, and elsewhere. His chapbook Original Face was published in 2025. Find him on instagram: @buffcorbin or his website: www.corbinbuff.com