bomb

felt like a bomb ready

to detonate with fall colors

green, red, yellow, wires

inserted in pale chest

silver dollar fuse under

skin turned black and blue

love to mom

her broom
swept the kitchen floor
so often
dirt
did not know
where to hide

Haiku:

red cardinal sings
to dragonfly visiting
feeder as dusk wanes




Senryu:

Houdini the rat
cancerous tumor bulging
eats a lace curtain




Whatchamaku:

fat cat reclines in
square box resting in summer
afternoon sun rays

in my head

lick my fingers

around
lollipop
popcorn and
bullets break
air
where smells of
vomit
in toilet
bowl
of cheerios
with bananas
chewed
by monkey
around missiles
loaded
with germs
snorted
by children
dull eyes, twisted mouths
misshapen arms and legs
wobble
to table
covered in
ants
carrying sticks,
stones,
body bones
crack
lips smack

fond memories


red stained fingers
picking
eating raspberries
8 cents a carton
cold raspberry lemonade
Celie, Pauline, Sophie
in the heat of the day
open blouses
giggle
gurgle
Rome smiles
cool breeze on lake
stringers of fish
umm - crispy fish tails
baskets of fresh vegetables
Sophie, Susie, Pauline
at picnic table
tearing rags
making rugs
german words
huge elm tree
days of reading
dreaming
fond memories

mom

made the best cream peas on toast
fried corn meal mush with fresh maple syrup
tapped from ancient maple trees in yard
where brothers and sisters slept out drunken stupors
at yearly summer gathering of relatives

mom

sewed a purple coverlet and bed ruffle
for my bedroom with white wallpaper
decorated with lavender
lilacs pungent aroma seeped through a window
while I rested and waited for shooting stars

mom

told junior high school principal
that her daughter took a bath at home
did not need a shower at school
where students
stole her clothes and hid them

mom

reported Judo instructor
who spent a great deal of time
on top of
daughters
during evening lessons

mom

did cart wheels in the grass
stood on her head against our house
played baseball at family gatherings
told the best "dirty" jokes
heard at community senior center

mom

is missed

earth child


he lives in dark
dank earth
under a lake
cabin

he listens
to cries
shrill in the
night

he watches
jubilant children
jump and romp
in cool lake

he remembers
the woman
who gave
him a home

she's dead
and buried
beside
him


~first appeared in Mystery Island Publications