Cold Morning Zazen

A poem by Ellen Kombiyil

In the mountain monastery, robes rustle and tuck. Breath patterns the
air. Fog grows from the lake, hangs like rice paper on windows.

After the keisu sounds, struck-bell silence rings long and loud.
Sitting in the after-sound.

a loon calls for her mate—
vibration inside,
then on water

Ellen Kombiyil Ellen writes:
The haibun was inspired by my time at Dai Bosatsu Zendo in the Catskill Mountains of New York state. It is part of a larger body of work exploring that place on the spiritual path where there is an overwhelming desire to be without desire.

Ellen Kombiyil is a New Yorker currently living in India. She has been published in many wonderful literary magazines including, most recently, The Pedestal, Perigee, and Poems Niederngasse. She will also be included in the 2005 edition of The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku. Ellen can be reached via email at: eachilles@gmail.com.

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