From the life

at the end of his time on earth
Wu Daozi master of illusion 
painted a door in one of his pictures
which he then opened
and disappeared through

in some writers’ accounts
such a flourish of legerdemain
would be emblematic of suicide
but Wu’s move surely placed him
among the immortals

motive + means + opportunity
the ingredients of great crime or great art
Wu’s works have been lost and with them
our opportunity to assess his genius
as well as his chance to return 

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Tony Beyer writes in Taranaki. Recent poems have appeared in Catalyst, Cordite, Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook, Tarot, and elsewhere.