What is a muse?

Poem:

The way to write a Zen poem is not to write a poem. If it is going to require any effort I don’t even bother. It is better to keep you head up straight And meditate. The way Thomas Merton describes it you can keep you physical body and just lose your ego. That’s a cool concept. It is not the body that should be rejected it is evil. Would you consider the physical body of the Master as evil? That’s an example. The physical body benefits from trickle down. To get that you just have to leave it. You write a poem when a muse arrives. Who or what is a muse is today’s zen koan. DS Poem October 18, 2018 #zenpoem #zenkoan #thomasmerton #thebody #muse I fit  for them, I seek the dark 

till I am thorough fit. The labor is a solemn one, With this sufficient sweet— That abstinence as mine produce  A purer food for them, If I succeed,— If not, I had The transport of the Aim.

Poem 1109

Emily Dickinson

Pure Love, New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, page 280, “It is a mistake to identify the outer self with the body”... the ego, on the other hand is a self-constructed illusion....”