My Train Whistle haiga was published in the April 2016 issue of Failed Haiku: A Journal of English Senryu, edited by Michael Rehling.
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Please view the whole issue of this wonderful journal: http://www.haikuhut.com/FailedHaikuIssue4.pdf
Tag Archives: loneliness
Marching on…
Two tanka and one haiku were published
in A Hundred Gourds 5:2 March 2016
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A Hundred Gourds 5:2 March 2016
http://www.ahundredgourds.com
Mary, Mary…poem by Mary Kendall (SAME NAME Poetry and Prose Series)
A new poem just up at Silver Birch Press. Click at the bottom to get to the original on the SBP site.
Mary, Mary…
by Mary Kendall
Unwanted.
Unloved.
Shunned.
Spoiled.
Rude.
Aggressive.
Obstinate.
Outspoken.
Contrary.
Sour.
Gloomy.
Dismissive.
Shut away.
Alone.
Alone.
Alone.
Your attributes, little Mary.
A long list.
No one liked you.
Except for me.
Not true. There were others.
Your sweet Indian Ayah, who fed you,
washed you, dressed you, taught you,
tolerated your contrary ways, angry words,
miserable frown. She held you close,
rocked you after nightmares and dark dreams,
fanned you in the hot Indian summers.
She sang to you—mellifluous, soothing songs.
Your mother denied your existence, hid you away from view,
just as later, you’d find your cousin Colin, hidden away, too.
Denial.
What damage it did.
What pain it caused.
Like a plant held too long in a small pot,
its roots pot-bound and crippled,
Colin, unwanted and denied like you.
Unwanted.
Unloved.
Denied.
My family separated when I was just five,
I felt…
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Questions
Questions
“Where did the time go?” we asked.
The north wind answered, “It rushed by while you were busy doing other things.”
“And how did we not notice it was passing?” we puzzled.
The south wind replied, “Perhaps the sun blinded you so you could no longer see.”
“Did any of us notice the days grew long and the nights shorter?” we wondered.
The east wind smirked, “You focused so much on clouds that you missed the stars.”
“Why must it come to an end so soon?” we questioned.
The west wind whispered, “You’ve done what you must. Now it’s time to go.”
Photograph (c) 2015 by Harald Illsinger
With kind thanks to photographer Harald Illsinger for allowing me to use this beautiful photograph of the gull in the morning sky. The top photograph was taken by me in London, 2015.
In Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
Chairs in Luxembourg Gardens, Paris by Mary Kendall
In Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
A stairwell of shadows invites us to sit.
Empty chairs bask in the late spring sun,
Waiting for readers who choose to sit,
slipping into the borrowed lives of books.
Waiting for lovers to pull two chairs aside,
stealing time away from the world.
Waiting for an old man with a limping dog,
passing time away from his silent rooms.
Waiting for the widow who longs for the sun,
savoring the warmth like a delicate embrace.
Waiting for the disheveled girl who waits,
sipping a café crème with a guarded look.
Waiting for a businessman to eat his lunch,
savoring silence, no rumble of demands.
Waiting for the grandpère missing his children,
wondering what it is they do continents away.
Waiting for weary tourists who sit and rest,
whispering in languages you don’t speak.
Waiting for a tumble of clouds to sweep the sky
just as this sweet day slips into the waiting night.
Time passes.
People pass.
Memories pass.
Another day will come.
A Poet in Time 