Sarah Paris
Landing
Our retreat leader is tall, thin, tattooed, and ordained both as a Tibetan Buddhist monk and an Episcopalian priest. By the grace of a tolerant bishop, he found a home in this rural conference center as its part-time chaplain, or, as he notes with a wry smile, “the resident garden monk.“
cotton ball clouds
the land stretches out
after a deep rain
Garden monks were a fad among the 18th-century European aristocracy. They built hermitages on their properties and paid some poor brother a stipend to live there, so they could show him off to their guests.
sitting in silence
the distant rumble
of an airplane
“Welcome to the dance,” says the garden monk.
About the Author
Sarah Paris is a Swiss-American poet, writer, photographer, editor, and former journalist. In addition to haiku, senryu, and haibun, she has authored two novellas and a collection of short stories. In 2021, she was awarded a first prize in the San Francisco International Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka Contest. She serves as second vice president for the Haiku Society of America.