Summer 2015 Showcase

It’s a beautiful time of the year in Scotland. At 10 o’clock in the evening it is possible to go for a stroll in daylight, before retiring to bed. It’s not quite ‘murk’, it’s not quite ‘gloaming’, and the cloud-scatter of light from the departed/returning sun seems to tinge the clouds on the northern horizon all night. By half past four there is colour again in the streets and gardens, odd birds are hopping and chuckling on the green. Tonight, as I prepare this showcase, I’m looking forward to the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in the western sky, as they come together to make one super-star. The weather forecast hints at clearing skies…

In this Showcase we have illustrations by Claudia Schoenfeld, an artist and poet I have long admired. Her work reminds me of Expressionism, Paul Klee, and Marc Chagall. Some of her output can be found here, at Painter in Da House. We also have flashes of brilliance, in words, by a number of people.

This is a highly visual Showcase. If you have started to read already, then go on, right to the end. You know you want to…

Marie Marshall
editor
the zen space

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Ernesto P Santiago

my liver, kidney, pancreas…
the stardust
is corroding

dragging the old raft
the coolness of the sea
suffocated by olives

black moon
flowers stooping
upon flowers

capturing the night –
a skyrocket
is scentless

butterfly, if only
I could show you my heart
with a kiss

Fulmen

My mind is clouded
with things beyond my control, and
there is no stopping
this suicidal thought.

lightning strikes
what will I do
when my lips searching for your body?

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Steve Goble

You, me, ocean, tree,
Elemental rentals
Vibrant notes
In a cosmic chord
The universe hums to itself

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Rachel Sutcliffe

longest day
all the leaves of the lettuce
this slug

deep in the heart
of the roses
love struck bee

longer days
more and more notes
of birdsong

ferry crossing
the scent salt spray
on your skin

summer heat
the dry creak
of the garden swing

rock pooling
sunlight fractures
through our nets

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Tyler Pruett

clear volcano water
people coming and going
muddy it

chicken soup
I wonder from which
free range

in the fog high beams just make it worse freddie boy

interstate
heading north
away from you

when I too die be sure I rest
beneath this knotted maple

north star
the futon blankets
pulled east

stars inside the icicle
melt too

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Scott Wiggerman

full moon
behind a haze of clouds
her memory

mountain peaks
stenciled against gentle blue
our rough edges

mud-colored
the Rio Grande
drinks widely

sleeping rattler
on the mountain trail
my gait awakens

frantic orbit
of two butterflies
we never go anywhere

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Ray Sharp

While we are sleeping
our minds have minds of their own —
stray dogs on a scent.

The voice in my head
will someday hush – we all share
this singular fate.

A winter poem —
black words perch on white paper —
five crows on a wire.

Snow on my shoulders,
I am a pine in winter,
feet drifted over.

Caw, crow, black angel,
flap your two wings, life and death,
you need both to fly.

Dead mouse in the trap.
I do not like this routine —
the killing — winter.

When you were a bird
and my arms were open wide —
branches of a tree.

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Kevin J Mackey

water splashing
the day stills for a time
fountains at play

sun ‘gainst my closed eyes
the light and heat…all pink-tinged
I can see patterns

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Shloka Shankar

Tantalus’ moon yourvoicenowadream

slashes of rain
fill this emptiness…
i rinse
the bedraggled edges
of my heart

before and after the wasteland white butterflies

ripping off
the last page of the month…
how little
my idea of progress
truly matters

not differentiating between songbirds summer sky

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Mark E Brager

between the black and white keys a chrysalis’ song

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echoing thunder a cricket’s endless song

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blackbird your white breath yearning to be sky

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with each thought the salmon leaping into stars

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drifting through a summer’s dream the koi

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falling leaf news of another war

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Caroline Skanne

at dawn…
deep breathing
river songs

soft notes
of a blackbird’s flute
captivating dawn

seagull shadow
grazing
the meadow

the soft lull…
of a birdsong
just past noon

i sit
in stillness
listening
to dreams
breathe

holly blue
to be one with
the sky!

a gentle day
enough to simply be
in each moment

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Ken Sawitri

shadowless summer
an Afghan boy learns to trail
his cycle

salted peanut
in its tough shell
the crumpled seeds

with Jimat Achmadi

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Theresa A. Cancro

Venus rising —
a droplet falls to
the lotus leaf center

tune stuck in my head
a gecko darts
across the ceiling

pulling on my overcoat
in the dark hallway —
the cat’s shadow

summer shower —
an origami frog folds
into the patter

lightning —
maple leaves strobe
the night sky

a honey bee
swaps the sun
for a daisy

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Obituary, Sri Radhey Shiam

My dear father breathed his last on 18th April 2015 late evening after a brief spell of illness. He was 93.

His way of life was influenced by a Danish Saint Mr. Alfred Samerson (nicked name Sunya Bhai) who lived  in India many years.  After meeting with founder of Indian Haiku late Dr. Satya Bhushan Verma JNU, he started  haiku writing, and within a  few years, his haiku started appearing on international forum. His all literary work  was  the shadow of Sunya Bhai and Satya Bhushan Verma. He was the torch bearer of these two grand souls.

After a hip replacement operation  in 2001 my father was mainly confined to home but was always busy  writing, until even before getting  admitted to hospital on 17th April. For the last fifteen years you have been   the companion of my father inspiring him to write. I am grateful to you as you have provided company to my father from thousand miles away from his home.

He left us with a lot of unpublished work to keep his soul alive in Haiku world.

He was of great help to all of us. I pray God to bless him for all the good he did in this world.

Rama Kant

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A Hundred Gourds 4:3 is now released, and features material from Charles Trumbull, Ray Rasmussen, Michael Dylan Welch, and much more. Go here.

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The next Showcase at the zen space will be Autumn 2015 which will be released, subject to karma, on 1st October 2015.

Please note that the copyright of all written work and images used in this Showcase and elsewhere in the zen space is held by the creating author/artist, even when not explicitly stated, and may not be used elsewhere without permission.

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