Jenny Ward Angyal

The Way of the Mountain

Eight or ten people sit around a table laden with the remnants of a meal—bread and cheese, fruit and wine. Mice furtively gather crumbs from the stained white tablecloth. A gray-bearded elder in flowing robes holds forth on the necessity of having a teacher if one hopes to advance on the spiritual path. I look down at my empty plate.

I wake troubled from the dream. A breeze through my window carries the fragrance of the forest. In my mind’s ear I hear a distant echo of Bashō’s words: To learn about the pine, go to the pine . . .

a shaft of sun
deep in the woods
thrush song

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About the Author

Jenny Ward Angyal is the author of several collections of tanka, tanka sequences, tanka-prose, and haibun. Her books are available on Amazon. She currently serves as Global Moderator of Inkstone Poetry Forum. 

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