This part of my blog includes poems and places in which my work has been published. To make this readable, the newest poems are at the TOP of this page. In some cases there will be a link to a blog page if the poem is already on my blog. If not, then I will post the poem in this section. Your comments are always welcome. I love hearing responses from readers. It’s wonderful knowing people read my work and I enjoy learning about what a poem means to them.
(Entries are in reverse chronological order)
Published in Modern Haiku, Winter-Spring, Issue 50:4, 2019
the bite of winter wind
all this murmuring
but no words
Moonbathing, a Journal of Women’s Tanka, Fall/Winter 2019
it took sixty years
to find the voice I’d lost–
that day
blue dragonflies
alighted at water’s edge
Eucalypt Issue 27, 2019
miscarriage—
the very word
betrays
the promise
of hope
.
.
.
persimmon sun
dips low and sets –
moonlight on the bed
where I was born
& where my father died
Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga
Issue 29, November 29
.
.
defined
by their parameters
love triangle
Presence, Issue #65, 2019
cat’s tongue
the shallow rasp
of a scar
tree bark
kissed by wind—
out of the blue
a memory of you
appears
Blithe Spirit 29:4, 2019
old quilt –
tiny fingers trace
the stars
autumn rain
erasing the poem
I just wrote
the familiar scent
of lemon oil rubbed
on old wood –
a new cat finds a place
in your empty chair
on the ground
a nest of hatchlings
fallen from a tree –
how well you always
hid your pain
Modern Haiku, issue 50:3, 2019
pruning roses
unable to forget her
scarred wrists
Ribbons Tanka Café Fall/Winter 2019
my seventy third
lies ahead . . .
five, ten, maybe fifteen left
but who is it
doing the counting?
The Heron’s Nest, Volume XXI, Number 3: September 2019
dementia
the soft clay begins
to harden
Three tanka were published in the last issue of
Gusts, Contemporary Tanka No. 30, Fall/Winter 2019
as Geminids flit by
in the inky darkness
I pull your jacket tight
around myself
. . . all I have left
ripeness
bears its own burden . . .
fragrant peaches
dangle low
bruises a breath away
in old growth grass
a newborn fawn
wobbles on spindly legs –
a sure reminder
how brief a season is
Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga
Issue #28, July 2019
~
powerless
neighbors mingle
after the storm
~
our gods
stand between us
total eclipse
failed haikuA Journal of English Senryu
Volume 4, Issue 43
July 2019
abandoned nest
four blue eggs
but no answers
~
vagrant fog
a distant train
slows the night
Redlights, Volume 15, No. 2, June 2019
.
a day will come
when we are the faces
in old picture albums
and no one left
to give us names
babcia’s borscht recipe
in faded black ink—
can you smell the beets
bubble and hear her
hum along
Ribbons Spring/Summer 2019: Volume 15, No. 2
.
PET scan . . .
all the dogs & cats
I ever knew & loved
romp in the tunnel
where I lie in stillness
Ribbons Spring/Summer 2019: Volume 15, No. 2
Tanka Café: Theme: What Matters [to You]
they say time
moves faster as we age
yet here I am
stealing an hour
to listen to the birds
cattails: The Official Journal of the United Haiku and Tanka Society, April 2019 Issue
.
late winter
the garden’s breath
shifts once more
one crow
and a clutch of chickadees
at the birdfeeder —
that simple need
to fit in someplace
Frogpond 42.2 * 2019
.
graveside—
white blossoms
lighten the darkness
***
Blithe Spirit 29.2, 2019
.
evening meditation
fireflies flit here
& there
& there
.
sacred sites
finding myself praying
in another language
.
.
the soft rustle
of quivering aspen leaves
over and over
I replay the words
I might have said
.
.
a feeling of you
standing behind me …
when I turn around,
only shadow
only silence
.
.
Moonbathing 20 Spring/Summer 2019
.
sea glass
a distant story
told in waves
I long
to read
.
.
The Heron’s Nest, Volume XXI, Number 2: June 2019
.
a single brass button—
I try to remember
his voice
.
Eucalypt Issue 26, 2019
.
without warning
a leaf rises in the wind
then tumbles—
our need for forgiveness
so unexpected, too
.
(Eucalypt, The Distinctive Scribblings Awards)
.
Gusts, Contemporary Tanka No. 29, Spring/Summer 2019
.
faint notes
of a harpsichord
playing Bach –
why is it you always wait
for one wrong note
you pour a second cup
of pale moon tea
in a teashop in Prague
. . . I wonder what story
the leaves might tell
walking alone
past the tide’s own
push and pull –
I turn to see my footprints
wash away
Kokako 30, 2019
.
abbey ruins
voices of evensong
nowhere everywhere
***
old burying ground
so many grave markers
buried too
***
in the coffee shop
a glimpse of someone
who looks just like you—
I quickly check my face
in a mirror
***
dark storm clouds
dissolve in sunlight
and shift again—
your changing moods
just as quick
***
Blithe Spirit 29.1, 2019
ground fog
even birdsong
is invisible
wood’s edge –
that inescapable pull
of darkness
starlight on
winter branches—
those nagging thoughts
that seem to come
from nowhere
Frogpond 42.1 Winter 2019
war memorial
blue dragonflies
loop in tandem
Red Lights, Volume 15, No. 1, January 2019
racing down
the unknown slalom
course of memory
unaware how faulty
our footing might be
a canopy of leaves
obscures the view
. . . why is it I never
see the good
in him?
Haiku Holiday, NCHS, 2019
“40 Years, 40 Haiku”
dandelion—
more and more invisible
as I grow old
our country’s story
ever evolving
. . . fallen blossoms
Modern Haiku, Volume 50.1, Winter-Spring 2019
that look . . .
a skim coat of ice
in the bird bath
Vines #3, hedgerow, February 2019
Unearthing Beauty
A Rengay by Mary Kendall (USA) & Kate MacQueen(USA)
poet’s laurel
slowly growing
word by word
.
violets bloom
in the old oak’s shade
.
small strands of wool
and garden string
tucked in a nest
.
lightly gloved fingers
free the hellebores
from sodden leaves
.
unearthing beauty
where others see darkness
.
fiddleheads
and frog song
up from the gully
Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga,
Issue 27, March 2019
voices in my mind . . .
a flurry of snowflakes
erases the world
***
town by town
field by field
pasture by pasture
my train of thought
outpaces the clouds
A Poet in Time 