In The Pavilion

by Terry Ofner
The Waters
Honorable Mention, October 2016
Judged by Richard Krawiec


The American woman at the railing
commands the view of the garden.
A young man (her son?)
settles, head down, on the bench.

She reads from her phone
the price of koi by the inch,
select and choice—
a lesson in finance.

I study the joinery of the rafters,
post and beam, gaze into the bamboo
framed by the round window
in the stucco wall.

The cedar in the pot
back in the visitors center
has been bent and trimmed
for 225 years.

Two children, belly down
on the planks of the bridge,
poke sticks into the water—
Wake up, you old fish! Wake up!