.
.
.
sleet storm –
a nagging thought
just won’t let go
.
.
.
Published in Blithe Spirit, 31.1 2021
.
.
Bleakness . . . (haiku)
bleakness –
the lingering taste
of a bad dream
Blithe Spirit, 31.1 2021
Rough edges … (tanka)
.
rough edges worn down
on well-trodden paths,
each cobblestone
a reminder of how far
we’ve travelled
.
.
Published in Eucalypt 29, Winter 2020
Whirlwinds (tanka)
Redlights, Volume 17, No. 1, January 2021
Photography by Autumn Mott Rodeheaver
whirlwinds of scarlet
and ochre leaves
flit across the square –
days of self-isolation spent
learning to slow down
a red-bellied woodpecker (tanka)
Redlights, Volume 17, No. 1, January 2021
a red-bellied woodpecker
flaunts his drumming skills—
below his tree I pause
to feel his thunder,
to hear his words
burning anger
Moonbathing, Issue 23, Fall/Winter 2020
hot roasted nuts
heaped into a paper cone –
all that burning anger
you hold onto
so tightly
Photograph by Monika Topolko
As an aside, I am realizing my age is showing. Do young people today even know about folks roasting chestnuts (or other nuts) and buying a brown paper cone full of piping hot nuts to eat on the street? I first came across this in Istanbul when I was young. The scent, heat, taste on a chilly autumn afternoon was one of those moments that has stayed with me all my life. Europeans had this custom, but does anyone still do this? The fragrance was so tempting.
A Poet in Time 