Suddenly it’s 2021. Last year, myopic despite its name/number, were best left behind us. We hope for a better year to come, but the cynical among us remember that we wished for the same thing at this time last year and, yeah, how did that go?
It almost seems disrespectful to pick out a single event, but in November 2020 we lost David Cobb, who bade us farewell at the age of ninety-four. David was Co-Founder of the British Haiku Society, and had some very positive advice on what makes haiku. If you go to the BHS web site, you will be able to search for his article ‘English haiku: a composite view’. I wouldn’t say it was Gospel – but then I don’t think David would either – but it is full of the kind of information that many of us forget as we write. the zen space carries other forms of terse wordery than haiku, but haiku remains our core and the reason why the ‘zine was founded.
David Cobb was kind enough to submit to our very first Showcase in Autumn 2011. I make no apology for reprising the words he gave us on that occasion in this present Showcase. The Japanese word that we usually translate, with Anglo-Saxon banality, as “goodbye” carries a sense of suspended regret – “since it must be so…”
Sayonara, David Cobb.
As for the rest of this quarter’s Showcase, in my typical fashion, I am leaving it right until the last moment to decide what’s going in, how it will look, how it will be themed. Happy New Year, everyone.
Marie Marshall
editor
the zen space
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Acknowledgment: illustrations (other than haiga) in this Showcase are by Kerfe Roig.
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David Cobb
:
lonesome scarecrow —
as I cross the stubble
he trips me up
:
my share of the snow
it weighs almost nothing
on top of my cap
:
the last leaf of all
it will be picked up
by hand
:
a shared winter
in the dog’s armpits
I warm my hands
:
yes, I say
to the blowsy yellow tulip,
yes, oh yes …
:
my foot in the bath
perhaps a mendicant’s
but not a buddha’s
:
some wasp-like creature
is sitting on my toe —
oh, for camouflage
:
churchyard beech
in the dead of night
I touch its buds
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Manoj Sharma
:
winter chill . . .
a roadside vendor
burns incense sticks
:
peering
through the leafless tree . . .
a twilight moon
:
afternoon nap
awakened…by the sound
of torrential rain
:
laying . . .
over my eyelids
moonbeams
:
gray hair —
shades of
waning moon
:
isolation . . .
my I ! transforming
into me
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Michael Baeyens
:
one by one
the trees’ faces
in the fog
:
october song
wet light plays
distant meadows
:
Somehow
overnight
young grass
:
light bulb hum
the silence
thickens
:
rusted lock
the way time
seals secrets
:
old garden tools
the sureness
in their weight
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Valentina Mitova
:
In the sea of words…
find and carve yours into stone!
In the crowds of men…
find and mould yourself…
In the vast desert of unhappiness..
Find the tiniest grain of happy and
grow it… into a forest of happiness…
Only then you have lived your life
to the fullest…with a meaning!
:
she woke up to the sound of snowflakes
they tapped their ballet shoes in the window
she was the only one hearing them
– she was a cat after all
:
mice are eating Shakespeare
are they in love
or… they will play in the theater…
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Debbie Strange
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Margherita Petriccione
:
between yin and yang …
strengthening of the wind
its descent
:
in yin and yang
that contrasting point
Indian summer
:
between yin and yang
the flow of the wind –
insomnia
:
the candle melts
in a wine reflection –
midnight prayer
:
Silence
of a slow separation –
“Eternal inflation”
:
meditation –
a cabbage soup
eaten in silence
:
empty sky …
in a wrinkled smile
all dawn
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John Hawkhead
:
new book
I break the back
of my mindset
:
winter lockdown
the mirror and I
in a staring contest
:
cerulean blue
her eyes drift
into infinity
:
bald spot
a blessing
of fine rain
:
mist drift dawn
a magpie makes off
with the silence
:
longer nights
the children track shooting stars
out of our lives
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Tail end
When contacting any of the following publications, please mention that you heard about them here at the zen space. Thank you.
Issue 4:8 of The Cherita – entitled ‘Nights’ – is now published. More information here: https://www.thecherita.com/nights/https://www.thecherita.com/nights/
Snapshot Press has recently published some fine new haiku books – check them out! http://www.snapshotpress.co.uk/haiku_books.htm
The Magma Poetry Competition 2020/2021 is now open, but hurry because the deadline is 15th January! https://magmapoetry.com/competition/
Muse Pie Press is pleased to announce the 2020 Pushcart Prize nominations. Congratulations to Suzanne Herschell, David Spicer, Tamara Madison, Ken Holland, and the writers of ‘Pandemic: a community poem. http://www.musepiepress.com/
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The next Showcase at the zen space will be Spring 2021 which will be released, subject to karma, on 1st April 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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