Over the past few months, a lot of my work has been published, but I’ve been negligent in getting them posted. Breaking from my usual tradition of a separate post for each journal, I’m going to post all of them here in a single posting. Separate poems and journals are both divided by  ***.

 

 

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)

http://eucalypt.info/E-awards.html?fbclid=IwAR2TIZkoI7env3GUJGjZftPzY1FSJbEBKzn5UTsZ7nmXxncO_NpCwyEzE_A

 

 

*** 

.

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

***