I just noticed that the previous Showcase was number 42, which, as everyone knows, is “the answer to life, the universe, and everything.” That ought to mean that the current showcase is a bit of an anti-climax. But it isn’t.
I was recently considering stepping down and finding an editor to take over the zen space. The delay to the publication of this Showcase didn’t help. But I think I’ll keep going for a while.* At least until some jealous insurrectionist organises a coup. Maybe it’s time to look around for a guest editor for one Showcase…
*Eek! I’m channelling Boris Johnson!
I am, as always, looking for new names – it is wonderful to have contributors who submit again and again of course. So, who is out there whose work I have not yet been privileged to see? Poets, haijin, artists… come one, come all.
Marie Marshall
editor
the zen space
__________
Elena Malec
:
shadow play
our heroes
but cardboard cutouts
:
pink cotton candy stick
sunset colors
on loose cumulus
:
torrid days
the watermelon water
dripping down my chin
:
silent ritual
a monarch
in a daisy field
:
petals snowfall
fragrant acacia
marking its territory
__________
Patrick Sweeney
:
gazing at sunflowers
the salt
in van Gogh’s coffee
:
clearly she had no interest
in the recent
smelt run
:
answering her Dear John
with more about
myself
:
close up
they’re all
pink elephants
:
even beautiful equations
break down in the big
imperfection
:
he pressed too hard to use a pencil
the man who rescued worms
from puddles
__________
Jerome Berglund
:
:
:
__________
M.R. Defibaugh / Christina Chin
:
green dragon
incense holder
devotee’s soulful chant
blossoms whisper through
a sudden breeze:
:
a puff
of dandelion clock
children make a wish
to no longer be
children
:
silence . . .
except for the wind
lily fields
flower after flower
feels like a dream
:
silvery blue butterfly
wishing life floated by
as slowly
mile upon mile
in the sunny fields
:
the window opens
to a quiet evening sea
stargazing
lilies
in a moon vase
:
__________
Richard Evanoff
:
At the temple
offering my prayers
to no one.
:
Sitting, just sitting—
breathing the wind
in and then out.
:
Who is it
that hears the stones
when they sing?
:
Face against the wall,
my cup
is almost empty.
:
Doing zazen
on the toilet—
no movement.
:
To the marketplace
he returns
with helping hands.
__________
Paula
:
karaoke night
I sing The Street Where You Live
– our eyes never meet
:
this sheet of paper
shot through with your watermark
– I write my name here
:
young woman
with freckles
and
a maize-field
seen at sunset
:
on matters of love
I talk to my coffee cup
– there’s an empty chair
:
your day rises
I hear the things you say
– one falling leaf
:
water
the wheatfield
– touching
:
__________
The next Showcase at the zen space will be Summer 2022 which will be released, subject to karma, on 1st October 2022.
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.
__________
[Any advertisements etc. below this line, or inserted elsewhere in the zen space, are an unfortunate feature of the hosting platform, and are not the responsibility of the editor of the zen space. They should not be considered to have been endorsed by the zen space or by the editor personally.]
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