Tuesday, April 23, 2024

red circles under my eyes

the injury

of a mosquito bite

takes longer to heal

than the first assault

Thursday, June 1, 2023

summer began with

the long drive to get there

grandma's front porch

from rice and old bottle caps

we made our own tambourines

Monday, May 15, 2023

approaching train

a boy with his hands

over his ears 

as if the noise were gunshots

on the Fourth of July

Thursday, April 6, 2023

an old woman seated

on a low railing 

she faces the windows

with rooms as dark

as her black sweater


harvest time

a bale of hay tied

to the horse's back

by a boy who looks younger

than the horse


the future shaped by

the boy's pointed elbows,

the curve of the haystack,

and the bend 

in his grandmother's back


Sunday, March 12, 2023

the steady gaze

of gravediggers

two with clenched hands

as though they were still

holding their shovels


Tribute to Vivian Maier

Monday, August 15, 2022

I am currently reading the biography of "the mystery woman," Vivian Maier. There were certain aspects of her childhood that I could relate to. 

It's been a while since I've written a tribute. Some of the tanka will be posted here and others on a separate tribute page.


in her woolen swing coat

with oversized buttons

from the 50s

the self-portrait of a woman 

who's ready for winter

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

under the olive trees

in Israel

you said you were tired

and asked me 

to wander on without you

Friday, April 1, 2022

out here

in no man's land

the deserted fountain

where I turned my ankle

is that what you wished for

Thursday, March 31, 2022

waves of color
an artist transports me
to the Ligurian Sea
the raised flags of galleons
in the mist of uncertainties

Thursday, March 24, 2022

survivorship
what if the person 
who taught you how to swim 
was the same person who held you 
under water hoping you'd drown