The Whisky Blot
Journal of Literature, Poetry, and Haiku
In the heart of Nara Park there is a five story pagoda. Deer appear, standing sentinel along the lantern lined walk. Up the unseen hill the Temple bell announces the full arrival of morning as the Golden Buddha awakens. Young children can see all of this through eyes unlensed, and fetter free. They watch clouds release a cascade of tiny maple leaves which flow over sitting monks, a stream washing spring into the waiting valley. I sit with my granddaughter in the center of a dry garden. The Jizo will watch us. The three of us throw leaves into the air as the wrens echo our laughter in a five tiered cacophony. Louis Faber’s His work has appeared widely in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including in Arena Magazine (Australia), Whisky Blot, Glimpse, South Carolina Review, Rattle, Pearl, Dreich (Scotland), Alchemy Stone (U.K.), and Flora Fiction, Defenestration, Constellations, Jimson Weed and Atlanta Review, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. On the steps of the Temple the unexpected morning snow which cast a threadbare blanket over the gates and lanterns recedes slowly like a supplicant whose prayers have been offered. The candle flames shiver in the strong February wind while the Buddha sits, implacable. In the park below a dragon kite takes the wind and swoops and darts higher and higher, staring down at the Temple and the children laughing as they chase each other among the trees. It is gold, red and black reflecting the sun, the fires of heaven dance down over the head of the gold robed priests who bow while chanting the prayer cards yet look up and smile at the serpent who dips his tail to the enlightened one and tears off after a cloud. Louis Faber’s His work has appeared widely in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including in Arena Magazine (Australia), Whisky Blot, Glimpse, South Carolina Review, Rattle, Pearl, Dreich (Scotland), Alchemy Stone (U.K.), and Flora Fiction, Defenestration, Constellations, Jimson Weed and Atlanta Review, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. |
Follow Us On Social MediaArchives
December 2023
Categories
All
Help support our literary journal...help us to support our writers.
|