A gleam

a gleam

when she notices

the "Grandma" mug

now too heavy

for her to hold

—Frameless Sky, Issue 3, fall 2015

Castle

castle

after castle

on the banks

of this river … 

still a world of kings

—GUSTS, Autumn 2015

Castle (on hill) where Richard the Lionheart
was held captive,  Durnstein, Austria

The assortment

the assortment
of birthday cards
he gives me,
one from each side
of his personality

—red lights, 4:2; Take Five, vol. 1 (2008)

Barely past dawn

barely past dawn,
the linoleum floor
shiny, speckless—

this hope that the surgeon

will be as meticulous

—Skylark, 3:2, Winter 2015

The one time

the one time
my father saw his father
…….... from afar 
too hard to decipher
the character lines

—A Hundred Gourds, 4:4, September 2015

When you are gone

when you are gone
I eat on white melamine
same dishes
I’ve complained about before:
generic, expressionless

—Simply Haiku, Autumn 2005, Vol 3, No. 3

My first tanka. I wrote it and several more over a couple of days and then somehow got all but one of them accepted for publication three days later. (I'd probably edit a few of them a little differently now, but…) After that, I was hooked! 

Overcast skies

overcast skies,
blackbirds dotting power lines—
round and round
in my mind I roll
the same old worry beads

—GUSTS, Fall 2015

A jumbled heap

a jumbled heap 

of lantana clippings

left to dry—

line by crooked line

I untangle my words

—cattails, May 2015