guns. We all choose different milks

*Published in the May 2020 edition of is/let

sip of chamomile how gently stars drop

*

taking a few

extra breaths

fully bloomed jasmine

*Published in The Asahi Shimbun (Asahi Haikuist Network) on 5/29/20

entertainment

the darkest possible

timeline

*Published in the May 2020 edition of is/let

towering pine

show me how

to persevere

*Published in the May 2020 issue of Stardust Haiku

Blind Eye

sunrise through dust

they say a bad wind blows

along the Silk Road

rumors of death

as common as the sand

drawing blood

a plague doctor points

to the grey sky

thundering clouds

rows of hospital beds

replace verdant grass

all night lit and buzzing

the pharma skyscraper

in Wuhan

a new uncertainty blooms

while we turn a blind eye

*Published in the 2020 edition of Under the Basho (Linked Forms section)

*Written by Roman Lyakhovetsky and Tiffany Shaw-Diaz

collapsing into a black hole the fucks i give

*

pull the strings of a cello. the sun. a rifle.

*

in deep thought. saturn’s rings. an internal knife fight.

*

altered states of being the substrata of bees

*

even so

some like

the abuse

*Published in the 2020 issue of Under the Basho (Ku section)

night sets in body aches

*Published via the Poetry Pea podcast (Series 3, Episode 10: Monoku)

orphan. In my palms, a freshly cut violet

*Published in the May 2020 edition of is/let

migraine

it’s all about

warwarwar

*

dawn

the pedophile

straightens his tie

*

Father’s Day

I scrub my hands

until they bleed

*Published in Issue #53 of Failed Haiku

quarantine nose ring

it’s been six weeks

or maybe ninety (i have, admittedly

lost track of time) since i left my home

without fear

of breathing the air

that you have breathed or touching

the places that you have touched

so i have contemplated

perhaps a few times

what it be like to pierce

my septum

with the limited tools

i have in my possession, simply

to shake up

this achingly dull routine

*Published in The Alien Buddha Contracts Covid-19 Act 8

we stumbled over an unmarked grave. Her eyes

*Published in the May 2020 edition of is/let

Dawn, with Bullet Hole

I have never

studied wars,

but I wouldn’t

be surprised

if behind every

major conflict

there’s always that

one asshole

who does that 

one asshole thing

right before

the first shots

rip souls,

like the one time

you asked him

if he really

did that thing

to me,

and by that thing,

I actually mean

his regular insistence

that I share his bed

with him

when I was only

thirteen.

*Published in Rogue Agent issue #62