Iain Grinbergs - Letter to Shunryū Suzuki (from Northampton, England)

Poet Iain Grinbergs draws our attention to the sacred details around us in “Letter to Shunryū Suzuki (from Northampton, England)”. The poem, written as a letter to the late Sōtō Zen monk and teacher Shunryū Suzuki (1904-1971), is vibrant with focus and an attention to the letter-writer’s surroundings. “In ‘Letter to Shunryū Suzuki (from Northampton, England)’, ordinary moments … open into something stranger and more luminous,” Iain told The Dewdrop. “Moving between reflection and wry observation, ‘Letter to Shunryū Suzuki (from Northampton, England)’ explores longing, impermanence, and the uneasy comfort of being held–however loosely–by the world.”

Letter to Shunryū Suzuki (from Northampton, England)

Roshi, when I was younger, I may have mistaken the kebab shop’s glow
on Gold Street for enlightenment, salty samsara on a spit,

Tin foil its liturgy, or when a man dropped his sausage roll outside
Greggs and screamed “Bastard!” so loudly it hit me like

A temple bell. I read Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind on the Number 41 bus
To Bedford. Each sentence opened like a gate

Then closed behind me on a day like a gravel road. A baby cried across
Every stop. Boys in matching tracksuits chanted outside KFC,

Their faces torched with their own spotlights. There are so many things
To let go of. I had it all wrong—the postman’s shoes squeaking

Down Wellingborough Road is a kind of ditty. Even the cab breaking
Over potholes, the wind tugging at my scarf like it wants me to buy it

A lollipop. And then there’s my grandpa’s scratch-offs, which he only ever won
Ten pounds from. Roshi, last month I traveled to Cromer alone.

It was off-season—just wind and gulls and the briny hush of the shore,
A woman throwing bread to nothing and no one, more gesture

Than ritual. At the chippy near the pier, I ate battered haddock slowly, each bite
Reminding me that food is nothing but hunger never met.

Iain Grinbergs

Iain Grinbergs (he/they) is an English professor and the author of Vanity Twist, a chapbook (Bottlecap Press). He earned his Ph.D. in English from Florida State University.