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Emptiness Bound To Bloom
“Emptiness is bound to bloom, like hundreds of grasses blossoming.”
- Eihei Dōgen, “Sky Flowers”
This morning I drew a card that told me
to leave a little space when I eat a meal
and all day I thought about leaving little spaces.
In my stomach. In my heart. In my day.
I left a little space in my to-do list, space for a pause
that let the bamboo print on the shower curtain
remind me how my mother loved the clumps
growing in the yard, how it sheltered
my dreams and stories, and how itchy it was
to touch the papery sheaths of the culms.
Bamboo survived closer to ground zero
at Hiroshima than any other living thing.
Within days of the blast new green sprouted.
I thought of the ground zero of my son’s death.
How I move in a little space around it.
How I try to be bamboo.
-Zann Carter
Zann Carter writes poetry and short fiction in Terre Haute, Indiana, and then works with fiber arts to get out of her head and back into the body. She co-hosted a monthly open reading for 17 years and has created workshops focused on navigating a path through grief with expressive art. Her work has been published in SageWoman, Witches & Pagans, Misfit Magazine, Dream Pop Journal, Atlas and Alice, and the anthology Erase the Patriarchy (University of Hell Press, 2020). Visit: zanncarter.com