Spring 2024 Showcase is now published…

… but it contains a sincere apology to my regular contributors, whom I admire so much for the quantity and quality of their work.

Anyhow, there are some wonderful words and images for you this time. In order to visit, please hover your cursor patiently over the “Experience” tab, and scroll downwards until you reach the bottom. The less adventurous amongst you may click here.

I’ve just realised – this is the FIFTIETH Showcase. Wow! Should I have a fanfare?

Ajmer Gate in Jaipur, by Yoshida Hiroshi, 1931

Adverts below this line, and elsewhere in the zen space, are products of the platform and do not imply any endorsement by the editor.

__________

::

::

::

::

Apologies: Winter 2024 Showcase

I am sorry to greet the New Year with bad news, but I do not have enough fresh material on hand to bring out the Winter 2024 Showcase here at the zen space. This is the first time in more than a decade that this has happened. I am truly sorry.

However, if you keep submitting and, more importantly, tell all your friends who write short-burst, in-the-moment pieces about the zen space, I am sure I will have enough for the Spring 2024 issue.

I told you recently that I was stepping down as editor. Unfortunately (or fortunately, look at it whichever way you want to) no one else has stepped up. So for now I’m continuing. As always, I shall do my best, the current problem notwithstanding.

We have received a couple of important emails from Jim Kacian, who is looking for material for the Red Moon Anthology and for the next edition of Haiku in English. Now, before you all get excited and start reaching for the “Compose” button in your email account, he has asked for my help, along with the help of other editors, to do it. In short, if I can get an opportunity to do so, I will be nominating work by some of you for both of these. The unpleasant part of this task, from my point of view, is having to leave 99% of you out. I know how you will feel – time and time again during my life I have missed out on stuff and been fed the mimeographed line that my efforts and talents were nevertheless appreciated. It always felt thin, and I’m sorry that it will feel thin to you too, when I say it. When it comes to writing, whether it be poetry, fiction, haiku, essays, whatever, I fall back on the advice of my own literary agent; he says the greatest achievement is always the finished work. I can assure you that over the years during which I have been editing the zen space I have truly appreciated every single contribution.

May I wish everyone a happy 2024, and especially may I wish you all a peaceful one, wherever and whoever you may be.

I am going to leave you with a haiga by John Hawkhead, as a New Year treat.

Marie Marshall
editor
the zen space

__________

Adverts below this line, and elsewhere in the zen space, are products of the platform and do not imply any endorsement by the editor.

__________

:::::

:::::::::::::::::::

::::::::::

::::::::::

Hello, I must be going…

You know, it occurred to me the other day that I have been editing the zen space since 2011. I actually founded it. I had never done anything like this in my life before. Well, that’s not entirely true, as I had been an assistant editor on a couple of magazines, but never before run something single-handed.

How was it for you?

It has come into my mind that I ought to plan a couple of things over the coming year. One is to step down as editor. I will need to find someone else to take over, or lay the whole thing down. Those are the choices. The other is to put together an anthology of poems from this site, and get it published. I think if I can do that, then I can leave with my head held high.

So, I haven’t quite gone yet. But it’ll happen. Hence my Groucho Marx quote, “Hello, I must be going.”

Meanwhile thank you for all the new haiku and in-the-moment poetry that is still coming in. May I renew my plea for original artwork, however? It is nice to look for public domain Ukiyo-e prints and suchlike, but it always pleases me when something original comes my way. It seems a long time, for example, since I have heard from our “resident” artist Marie Taylor. Perhaps that’s my fault for not getting in touch with her. I shall remedy that. But who else is out there, I should like to know, who is prepared to let me have something for a Showcase?

As I said, I haven’t gone yet, and a departure must be carefully planned. The joys of having been somewhere always add to the poignancy of the parting. I am almost looking forward to saying Sayonara which, I am told, actually means “Since it must be so…”

Marie Marshall
still editor for now
the zen space

__________

… aaaand as usual, any adverts spoiling the mood are entirely the fault of the platform.

The Winter 2023 Showcase is now published!

A few day’s late, but we got there!

We’re looking forward to your visits and comments. The collection of haiku and other short and in-the-moment poetry is very fine on this occasion. As it always is – our contributors are very talented!

To visit the Showcase, hover your pointer over the “Experience” tab and scroll carefully down. If you wish to skip that discipline (tut tut!) you can feel free to click here. No one is looking over your shoulder!

I am always on the lookout for new names, so please pass on the message to any writers of quick-fire poetry and haiku that you happen to know of. the zen space is basically an English language publication, but I will consider work in other languages, if submitted with an English translation. Guidelines can be found on the “Submission” page.

I’m also looking out for original artwork to compliment the poetry. In the past we have featured everything from cartoons to mandalas!

If you are a new reader, please feel free to browse (all!) our other Showcases!

Meanwhile have a sunrise to prepare you for the sunsets in the Showcase…

MM
editor

__________

Please ignore all the adverts that appear on these pages – they’re spam.

__________

A Matter of Life and Death

The Japanese poem associated with leaving life behind is called Jisei. It does not necessarily follow the haiku form, but always seems to capture a moment, and evoke the writer’s preparedness for the passing away of life. Or indeed their reluctance – whatever that transient moment says to them.

What I need from contributors this time is poetry that reflects two things –

Firstly the transience of life, and that acceptance of its passing away expressed by Jisei. Secondly, a full-throated celebration of life, which always seems to continue regardless of individual consciousness.

Can you do that for me?

I especially would like to hear from new “names,” and I am also looking for artwork to feature. Please do get in touch.

MM.

__________

Any advertisement on this page is a feature of the platform and is not to be taken as an endorsement by the editor.

.

.

.

.

The Autumn 2022 Showcase is now published!

Utagawa Hiroshige – Red fish

You know, this is such a simple journal, and yet the technical headaches of putting together a Showcase can quickly develop into a migraine. Our new Autumn Showcase has been published, and I am sure you will uncover glitches that I have missed. Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy it. Hover your pointer over the “Experience” tab and scroll down to find this and previous Showcases. Or, if you are feeling lazy, you can simply go here!

Of course I am still looking for new talent, both in words and illustrations. Be in touch!

Marie Marshall

editor

the zen space

__________

Adverts have nothing to do with me – they’re just an annoying feature of the platform!

The Summer 2022 Showcase is now published!

Better late than never, the Summer 2022 Showcase is now published. You can get to it by hovering your cursor over the “experience” tab and scrolling down, or you can simply go here. You can use the scroll-down feature to see our earlier Showcases too.

I am always on the lookout for new “names.” Do you write haiku or any kind of short-burst in-the-moment poetry? Do you have any examples of your artwork you would like us to feature? Please get in touch – see the “submission” tab for details. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the new Showcase.

Marie Marshall
editor
the zen space

The Autumn Showcase draws near…

Weeping willow and swallows, attrib. Rakusan Tsuchiya

Swallows, swifts, all fork-tailed birds here in Scotland, leave us at this time of year. But they arrive somewhere else. So it goes.

I’m aiming to publish the next Showcase on 1st October. It will arrive, like a migrating swallow, wherever you are…

MM

The Winter 2021 Showcase is now published.

I hate to start this announcement with a moan, but thanks to the “improvements” made by WordPress, actually getting a Showcase online takes twice as long. Also, features such as indenting text, embedding hyperlinks in text, and so on are either no longer options, or the commands for such actions are so well-hidden that it is simply not worth spending time doing it. WordPress, listen! the zen space has had a ten year association with your platform, and this editor is not pleased with all the fancy-dannery that makes publishing more complicated. Get your act together, remove all the unnecessary new features and bring back the useful stuff! Or I’ll look for a better platform.

Having said that, I’m pleased to announce that the Winter 2021 Showcase is now published! If you would like to see it, please hover your cursor over the ‘Experience’ tab and scroll down. Alternatively just click on the following link, which is impossible to embed in text: https://thezenspace.wordpress.com/experience/winter-2021-showcase/

Yeah, I know, I know. 😀

MM
editor

The Autumn 2020 Showcase is now published!

Autumn is upon us, after a sparkling September, here in Scotland, which only shed tears on its dying day. And with October comes the Autumn Showcase. Yes – it’s published! To visit, hover your cursor over the “Experience” tab and scroll down, or click here. Visit. Enjoy!

MM

editor.