Emerg Infect DisEIDEmerging Infectious Diseases1080-60401080-6059Centers for Disease Control and Prevention257084507-999910.3201/eid1403.079999Another DimensionThe Same AirZolynasAl32008143531531—for Guy Murchie, The Seven Mysteries of LifeThe same airthat movesthrough me and youthrough the waving branchesof the bronchial treethrough veinsthrough the heartthe same airthat fills balloonsthat carries voicesfull of lies and truthsand half-truthsthat holds up the wings of butterflieshumming birds eagles hang gliders 747sthe same airthat sits like a dull relativeon humid lakesin Minnesota in summerthe same airtrapped in vintage champagnein old bicycle tires lost tennis ballsthe air inside a vial in a sarcophagusin a tomb in a pyramidburied beneath the sandthe same airinside your freezerwrapping its cold armsaround your t.v. dinnersthe same air that supports youthat supports methe same air that moves through usthat we move throughthe same air frogs croak withcattle bellow withmonks meditate with and onthe same air we moan within pleasure or in painthe breath I’m taking nowwill be in China in two weeksmy lungs have passed an atomof oxygen that passed through the lungsof Socrates or Platoor Lao-tsu or Buddhaor Walt Disney or Ronald Reaganor a starving child in Somaliaor certainly youyou right here right nowyes certainly youthe same airthe very same air

Zolynas’ books include The New Physics, Wesleyan University Press, 1979; Under Ideal Conditions, Laterthanever Press, 1994 (San Diego Book Award, Best Poetry, 1994); and The Same Air, Intercultural Studies Forum, 1997. Seven of his poems were recently featured in the movie Fighting Words (Indican Pictures, Los Angeles, 2007). A long-time Zen practitioner, he teaches at Alliant International University, San Diego, California, and lives with his wife in Escondido, California.