the way circles you, by Lynda Zwinger

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

A chapbook of Zen, water, and the dissolving edges of the self, the way circles you follows the breath of Gichigami—the Big Lake whose tides echo through each poem. Through haiku, dharani, and elemental attention, these poems open a space where thinking softens and presence widens. A contemplative, water-leaning meditation on grief, interbeing, and the small astonishments of paying attention, the way circles you follows lake-breath logic: tide in, tide out, nothing separate. The poems breathe like the lake does—slow, tidal, sometimes disappearing mid-sentence . . .

Drawing from soto zen practice and the foundational teachings of Eihei Dogen, Thich Nhat Hanh, Kazuaki Tanahashi, and Roshi Joan Halifax, these poems actualize ecological attention. the way circles you seeks moments where perception widens and silence becomes a form of listening. The intimate scale of these poems—wind, breath, loss, stillness—evoke the spiritual and environmental encounter to be found in simply sitting.

Lynda Zwinger is a poet whose work moves through the subtle thresholds between the natural world and inner life. Drawing from Zen practice, ecological attention, and the rhythms of tidal landscapes, her writing seeks moments where perception widens and silence becomes a form of listening.