Summer nights

summer nights

of sleepovers

and secrets ...

only the moon

stayed up as late

—Ribbons, Tanka Cafe (theme: spring/summer), spring/summer 2016

When we were young kids, why was it so exciting to spend the night with friends and cousins? And why was it such a thrill to stay up until at least midnight, whispering, and also, if we managed to pull it off, downing "midnight snacks"? Back when times were much simpler….

Touring homes

touring homes 

under construction— 

the freedom 

to step right inside

our neighbors' closets

—Atlas Poetica, 18, Summer 2014

Summer sun

summer sun

our minds bare and aligned

we discuss

both the pain of change

and the need for it

—Eucalypt, 19 (fall 2015)

I'll miss you

I'll miss you,

her thin hand interlocked 

with mine …

scars from childhood

begin to soften 

—red lights, June 2016

Tanka Prose

Everywhere I look

Signs litter my world. Yet how little sinks in, how little I know. Dozens on the drive to town or, for that matter, anywhere else. Street and road signs, neighborhood notices, highway markers. Instructions, information, warnings. Round, square, rectangular, triangular, hexagonal, diamond- and pennant-shaped, and more. White, green, blue, yellow, orange, red. Blinking lights. Overload.

Private Property–No Trespassing. Speed Limit (and how the limits change along the way). East, West. Right Curve, Left Curve. Pass With Care, Do Not Pass. Don't Litter. Loose Gravel, High Water. Drive Friendly. Adopt A Highway. Church. Cemetery. Dead End. No Shoulder Ahead. . . . Stop, Stop, Stop.

HEARTBREAK

a sign I always see

when passing by

that small empty shack

at the end of the jetty

______________

—Contemporary Haibun Online, July 2016, vol 12, no. 2