It’s ‘grand opening’ time. The Autumn 2011 Showcase of the zen space has now been launched.
The whole idea of the zen space has been, from the beginning, to bring to the eyes of readers words and the occasional image which have their roots in the mono no aware of haiku and related forms. the zen space is essentially an English Language medium and therefore at least one step away from the Japanese experience. However the object is not to strive for any quasi-Japanese quality but rather, perhaps, not to strive. the zen space is a reaction to the failure of some writers and editors to appreciate this.
The haiku, tanka, etc. in this first Showcase (I’m calling it a ‘Showcase’ rather than an ‘issue’) take us in all directions. In this first Showcase I have grouped them together by author so that, for example, all David Cobb’s are together. Most, though not all, authors are here this time by invitation. If you would like to submit words of your own then click on the ‘Submission’ page to find out how to do so. You can find the Autumn 2011 Showcase via this link or by hovering your pointer over the ‘Experience’ tab at the top of this page and clicking on the drop-down box.
Let’s see where we go from here.
Marie Marshall
Editor.
the zen space 
[…] the zen space Autumn 2011 Showcase has been launched – please feel free to visit. the zen space is a platform for haiku and related words in the English Language (primarily). The first Showcase contains contributed words from Johannes S H Bjerg, David Cobb, A D’Agio, Stella Pierides, Patricia Prime, Bill Ramsey, and Angie Werren. Artwork is by Marie Taylor. […]
Aha!
Oho!
Hi Marie and friends! Richard Vallance here, publisher,
Canadian Zen Haiku canadien ISSN 1705-4508, quarterly, in print
(of which Marie herself is one of our associate editors).
Well, Marie, The Zen Space is indeed a space, a place, a venue for
quiet meditation, Zen, Sufi, Zoroastrian, Taoist, Christian, Talmudic,
and on and on.
I will make a few little observations on the haiku I most appreciate
in my next few messages.
sooooooooooo…
Looks like I should make you a page of your own, just for comments, Richard. 🙂
M
I just went through all the haiku & zen-like poems in your first issue (autumn 2011) & here are the ones that really appeal to me (with some comments):
First we have –
by David Cobb
lonesome scarecrow —
as I cross the stubble
he trips me up
churchyard beech
in the dead of night
I touch its buds
THIS one is amazing!
David is an amazing ‘haijin’, probably the UK’s most respected writer of and about haiku. It’s a privilege to have him here opening the first showcase. http://www.davidcobb.co.uk/
I also really like:
by Patricia Prime
winter arthritis
my hot water bottle
grows cold
percussion session
at the kindergarten
throb of a headache
no guff!
AND
by Johannes S H Bjerg
white poppies –
the still lake throws my face
back at me
(truly haunting)
Johannes has an attitude to haiku in a modern, European context that is truly refreshing and unique.
by Angie Werren
circles in the water
she enters this room
unnoticed
summer morning
there are two doors
one is open
Immediately reminds me of Robert Frost’s:
The Road Not Taken (1915)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(to my mind one of the most memorable poems in English)
by Stella Pierides
swaying branch—
the hummingbird here and not
here
brilliant!…. she has caught it (not really though)
after sitting–
crawling out of its skin
a snake
for some reason, I find this very funny. It makes me love the little critter.
by Bill Ramsey
trickling into grasses
the urine feeling for
its modest way
modest??? From my experiences on canoe trips in HOT weather!
Of course, Bill’s haiku rings true in any event.
i could have crushed
the garden snail—
but i was slow
anti-Zen? whatever… but for the butterfly effect, this could
have been ugly.
by A. D’Agio
when
stop
I
notice
the universe sighed
… and sighs, I think, when anyone on earth does…. especially
when she or he dies.
Thank you for your visit, for reading and appreciating thoroughly, and for all your comments above.
M
It is refreshing to read these haiku. Thanks for such an excellent sellection. Bernard Gieske