After Meditating in the Forest
Doi Suthep-Pui National Park
A wind filters through me,
my lungs swell, unswell—.
Buried beneath my body,
another earth un-
spools—silk from a spindle.
Still, the bird song rises—
not like river water
rises in a flood, nor steam
from a teacup; but like a prayer.
Pines yellow,
huddle to warm
themselves in the rain.
The moon is an organ, a spider—
sclerotic,
dang-
ling
from its own web.
Who, with me, will walk
this path untrod?
The Sacred Fig Tree
A Tanka
Velvet bulbs purple,
but what of the Bodhi’s roots
beneath our Buddha’s
feet, leaves unfurling like palms,
catching rain from the Crane’s mouth?
A Haiku
The sandhill crane stalks
schools of floundering silver,
stabs at sterling fish.
I Bloom Like the Ginger Root
Morning, old friend, has fallen into the trees,
collects in the forest’s corner like dust.
Rooting the red earth, ginger blooms,
and so do I—petals yellow,
unfurling for the sun-sprawled sky.
There’s a boiling beneath my thread-thin roots—
the earth’s call to be unburied, rediscovered.
The wind whispers to each of my leaves
in a language I don’t recognize.
I dig my feet deeper into the dirt,
stretch out my greening stems
in search for the words.
[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]Sarah Escue is a creative writing student at the University of South Florida and works as the Assistant Editor at The Adirondack Review. She is also an editorial intern with Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art. Her work has been published in Milk Journal.