Lungta: Finalists in the Windhorse Poetry Competition

photo by Jeff Fink

From Philadelphia to Alaska, from Texas to Nova Scotia. From the Netherlands and South Africa. From Germany and Spain. Nearly eighty entries in the Sakyong’s inaugural Shambhala Day poetry contest poured in from around the world.

So many and such diverse expressions of the experience of Windhorse! Reading each poem was a joy, making choices an agony. How were we to select just one? But a choice was made, and that poem was read aloud on the Shambhala Day broadcast.

But there’s more – the editors of the Shambhala Times Poetry Space chose nine finalists from which the winning poem emerged. We’re delighted to share these nine expressions of Windhorse below, along with the names of the authors.

We are profoundly grateful for all who shared their work as part of this contest — may it be of benefit.

“With windhorse, we are like warriors racing over the vast plains of Tibet, our victory banners fluttering in the wind.”
~ Ruling Your World

Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown reads the poetry finalist at the International Broadcast of Shambhala Day, photo by Marv Ross

In sunlight, leaves
On plum trees quiver.
They know!

~ Ann Cason
Portland, Oregon

Now
Just the right moment
Whatever the answer
Sunlight tickling your beating heart
Celebrate

~ Katja Hafemeister
Berlin, Germany

Look! white birds she said
Oceans of Love we feed
More Chickadees were bred
And Early Spring, instead!

~ Scott Forbes
Halifax, Nova Scotia

outside scooter
revs
next gear
cheering up
on a grey day

~ Marc Olmstead
Oakland, California

Stop and feel your heart
Means nothing
Until You
Stop and feel
Your heart

~Evan Silverman
Barnet, Vermont

Ride Windhorse
Love
I into We
and
We into I

~ Ron Pickup
Sonora, California

The new construction site called SELF
Notice – major renovations happening there.
de-constructions, not repair.

Sweep often with the inquiry broom,
The dust of habit….settles, all too soon.

~ Roberta Pyx Sutherland
Victoria, British Columbia

Wind blows though me,
At the edge, looking over the ocean.
Emotion shines through me,
At the edge, looking back at resistance
What is windhorse? What is not?

~ Joshua Weinstein
Boulder, Colorado

Stirrups creek as I mount
breathing-in the pine forest
On a seat of bone and flesh,
Hoofs erupt on the exhale

~ Susan Smith-Sargent
Lexington, Kentucky

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Submit Your Poetry
We have a panel of three editors who review all submissions; the submissions are stripped of all identifiers when they’re sent to the editors. To that end, please submit your poems left margin justified in a simple black font so it’s easier to collect them for review.

Please submit no more than three (3) poems in the body of an email to poetry.shambhalatimes@gmail.com. We will remove the poet’s name from the submission before it goes to our editors for a blind review, and will make every effort to let you know whether your poem(s) have been selected for publication within three or four weeks. All rights revert to the author 30 days after publication.