Everything You Know Is Wrong

There was no revolution in China:
the workers don't call each other "comrade"
there's a Kentucky Fried Chicken stand
across from Mao's mausoleum
the Forbidden City is no longer forbidden
the Great Wall is crumbling
and the restaurants don't serve tea or tell fortunes

Buddhists in Thailand drink Pepsi in the temples
smoke cigarettes in the shadows
teenaged monks with shaved heads and saffron robes
play games on their iPhones
and pin up posters of girls in bikinis

The sun isn't red over Japan
the samurais are wearing gray three-piece suits
Hiroshima is not in ruins
and New York has moved to Tokyo

Everything 
                 (you know)
                                  is wrong

logic is illogical
the spiritual path has no directions
there is no one buried in the tombs
the seed contains the fruit
we are awake only in dreams

                                                   Kyoto