Interview T & F

An Interview T & F Preamble: Anywhere there is water, there I dip my line. Life can skim the surface. Life can reside in depths. And truth is a bad deal, my friend, it ruptures the Bohemian night. Precision was what he was after, like an imprisoned felon seeking reprieve. It’s been so long; memory could be wrong. So, fuzzy wuzzy was he, but logically he was not he. Sorry, my line drifts… Note: Neither Franz Kafka nor Tao Qian knew of each other and neither cared about fame. They lived literally worlds apart both in time and in space. What follows is a brief fictional interview Franz did of Qian: F: I heard it said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. T: Yes, the I-Ching, The book of Changes. F: Yes, things transform; they undergo metamorphoses. By the way, are you afraid of roaches. T: Only of the kinds that move about, only of the kinds that dwell in high places. And I smoke them out. They pass legislations and suddenly the illegal becomes legal. They eat a meal, walk as far as half a block, and consume another meal. Their entire life is a repetition of meals. F: Interesting. I understand that you are a famous poet in China. Is that correct? T: Look at it this way, my friend, if you are a successful traveling salesman of restaurant cookware, then I am a poet who has drowned himself many times in wine. F: I understand that you gave up a high government post to become a rustic farmer of chrysanthemums. T: Yes, my friend, just as you prefer Prague coffeehouses, I prefer the anonymity of village dung. Confucius said there is beauty in all, except some fail to see it. F: Quite true, my friend. I have learned from you. Have you written any of this down? T: Though I have scribbled volumes, it is literary lightweight. Burning it will only produce a pale fire. F: Thank you, my friend, I have learned from you. Now I must find my friend Max and give final instructions. T: Goodbye, my friend, when you come this way again, look for the house surrounded by five willows. Epilogue: Friends can be as eloquent as the long Great Wall of China or as terse as a legal brief. You can hear each murmur in a crowded courtroom or the silence of a bamboo leaf.