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Forest sunlight and path

One Poem + Video by Jeffrey Harrison

 
Kripalu Meditation Garden During Covid

June 2020
 

White pebbles unraked
for who knows how long,
and strewn with sticks
from a recent storm—
I was going to clear them off
until I saw a small sign
asking visitors to leave
the garden as they found it.
Even when it’s a mess?
I pondered that like a Zen
koan and decided yes.
The wind in the trees
seemed to agree:
spots of sunlight
shimmered and danced
across the white stones,
then swarmed together
like sentient beings.

 

 

 

Jeffrey HarrisonJeffrey Harrison’s sixth full-length book of poetry, Between Lakes, was published by Four Way Books in September 2020. His previous book, Into Daylight, won the Dorset Prize and was published by Tupelo Press in 2014. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA, and his poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies, including Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize volumes, and been featured in American Life in Poetry, The Writer’s Almanac, Poetry Daily, and other online and media venues. He lives in Massachusetts and can also be found at jeffreyharrisonpoet.com.

Read “Naïve Roofscape,” a poem by Jeffrey Harrison also appearing in Terrain.org.

Header photo by jplenio, courtesy Pixabay.