John Zheng

A Moment of One’s Own

Holding the raised black umbrella, he walks down the slab path to the tea hut. The bamboo door creaks open. He steps in, takes a seat by the window overlooking the koi pond. A waitress in a blue floral qipao appears. She puts a pot of oolong on the table and retreats. He pours the hot tea into a small white cup, lets the steam rise and drift away. Each sip is like the rain.

frogs croaking    radial rings spread across the water

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About the Author

John Zheng’s haibun and tanbun have appeared in various journals, including Arkansas Review, cho, Crab Orchard Review, Poetry East, Southern Quarterly, Drifting Sands, and Ribbons. His latest book is A Way of Looking (Silverfish Review Press 2021), which won the 2019 Gerald Cable Book Award. He lives in the Mississippi Delta.