Firstly, my apologies for the lateness of this Showcase. We have never been ten days late before! I won’t bore you with excuses, but it has been a torrid time lately. Enough said.
One external thing has hampered us, however, and I must mention it: the lack of fresh material. I am very grateful to our stalwart contributors, of course, but it would be editorial seppuku simply to fill a Showcase with familiar names. What keeps an enterprise like the zen space alive is the fresh breeze of new poetry…
That is why I am making this appeal both to readers and to writers who have submitted generously in the past: Please help me find new names! Ask your friends if they can write haiku and short-burst, in-the-moment poetry, and would they be prepared to submit something to me. What is your favourite blog platform, and do you know anyone there whose work you admire? Ask them for me!
I’ll go looking too.
I’m in the same straits as regards new artwork. Who is out there who would be prepared to allow us to Showcase half-a-dozen of their paintings, drawing, or photos?
As I write this, I have no idea what I’m going to use to illustrate this Showcase. Maybe the Cottingley Fairies… or Ukiyo-e tears… or Renaissance angels…
MM
editor
the zen space
__________
Joe Sebastian
:
Pandemic –
vasudhaiva kutumbakam,*
galaxies of stars
:
Shadow
on moist folds of a rose
virgin bride
:
perfuming also him
who plucked her –
jasmine blossoms
:
from its huge belly
bull-frog disgorges a storm
the well echoes
:
old pond
the child he still is
stares back at him
:
pine wind
scented whispers
lean in and out
:
along the drying river
his easel
the sky ripples by…
:
:
*Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is a Sanskrit phrase found in Hindu texts such as the Maha Upanishad, which means “world is one family”
__________
Angiola Inglese
:
all phases
of the moon –
tray of cookies
:
rain …..
as if it wasn’t there
full moon
:
circles in the water
the lines of life
on his hand
:
poppies –
the color of the wind
in green wheat
:
swallows in flight –
chicory’s flowers
they color the sky
__________
Philmore Place
:
foster family –
smoothed out
crumpled clothes
:
village store –
teapot with rumpled side
instead of weights
:
in the meadow
where songs and laughter sounded –
cicadas
:
tropical storm –
went out for a swim
beach chairs
:
the station is emptying –
no one raises
a flower on the asphalt
:
evening comes –
world is rolling faster and faster
in the carriage window
__________
Neena Singh
:
summer sky darkens
a flock of birds fly back home
riding on white clouds
:
on a bare oak tree
a white owl hoots for its mate
lighting the darkness
:
evening downpour
picking up fallen blossoms
a child laughs
:
almost night stillness
even katydids quiet—
derelict house
:
summer night
swatting mosquitoes…thwap
a cricket sings
__________
Maya Daneva
:
Soundlessly
watching a smiling Buddha
the eyes of a frog
:
Insomnia
cuckoo’s song after cuckoo’s song
sunrise
:
an angel with closed wings
the narrow passage
to the church crypt
:
making impact on her life…
I pray God to be reborn
as a butterfly
:
calming down…
Buddha comes forward
I step back
:
thick fog
in the zen garden
Buddha should be somewhere
__________
Paul/a
:
thrush on that tree top
the repertoire’s rehearsal
her self-description
:
there’s a heat here
– I look over her head
and a leaf falls
:
life’s too short
to soften the truth
– I crave
your weight
:
love’s your fashion
like rage in a bottle
– heat/light/passion
:
from sleep remembered
my dreams are shallow sun tides
lapping your island
:
Sunlight on you
makes soft a rainbow
on the rough white wall
– if you cut my lip
it’s because
you’re a diamond
__________
There are two new publications by Gabriel Rosenstock to check out, here and here. Exciting!
__________
The next Showcase at the zen space will be Autumn 2021 which will be released, subject to karma, on 1st October 2021.
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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the zen space 
These are brilliant, Congrats to all who submitted.
Thanks, Janni! ❤