Wednesday

Poetry Space for Winter 2017

It’s full on winter everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere now, cold and snow and snow and snow. We had a number of interesting new submissions, and we’re very pleased to publish the following two poems, both from poets who are new to Poetry Space.

Huge Reminder- we’re now accepting submissions for the 2017 Shambhala Day Poetry Contest. Click here for more information as well as how to submit: 2017 Shambhala Day Poetry Contest

Now, on to the new work…

Yours in the Great Eastern Sun,

Jeff Fink

PRODIGAL RETURN

It has been said that the stars
see themselves through us,
not literally of course, but full
of meaning, though such words evaporate
sometimes and are lost to me
like dust from a comet’s tail, and more than this
I feel the bliss of laughing leonids at night
like old Zen monks who hide their secrets,
dancing and cavorting on my tongue.
it seems they always know much more
than these, my scattered bones of thought,
how they fall and lay upon the ground
the ground of all being, the very ground:
And I wonder what your bones foretell,
do you see what I see when looking at the stars,
how patient they seem to be, as if waiting
for our return to light?

–Roy K Austin, retired, resides in Dorset England. He has rural pursuits and enjoys walking his Labrador Retriever. He does write poetry and articles but he enjoys studying 20th century sage/philosophers and drawing on Vedanta and mystical insights. He has two books published now out of print, “Mystic Seed-Echoes of the Sages” and “As the Spirit Wills.”

all of it,

every breath,
every step,
every brush stroke,
and every bead of sweat

every folded page corner,
every cackle,
every crossed leg,
and every umbrella jumping open

every pen clicking,
every mother wiping her child’s face,
every hand moving hair,
and every tick of the clock

all of it

–Kaitlyn Forsythe is 21 and a Digital Arts student at Stetson University in DeLand, FL. While not associated with any Shambhala center, she feels a reverence and love for the Buddha and his teachings.