no, I have never

seen the devil

but I have

seen a grown man

eye a little girl

like meat

*

I wish there was a noun

to describe

the sound of a night train

shushing anxiety

a lullaby

for the weary at heart

*

dear trees

it was in

your embrace

that I finally

learned

I was loved

*

pulling

each string

of my harp

who knew

a prayer doesn’t

need words

*

vanilla and sugar

let’s dream

for a moment

that this world

could be

as sweet as that

*Published in it’s a secret place (the cherita book 38)

*The first cherita was designated as a cherita lighthouse (editor’s choice)

storm -

and yet i am

forgiven

*Published in the July 2020 issue of Stardust Haiku

floating

floating into

the abyss

this year

i might as well be

a lost balloon

*

studies have shown

plants scream when cut

as if revolutionary, this notion

a living being

would not welcome

the sharp end of a blade

*

silence blooms

among the ruins

this

is where i become

the peace

i always craved

*Published in MacQueen’s Quinterly, Issue 4

REDACTED

Headlines are a master of disguise.

 

When speaking about war they say

civilian casualties,

never murders,

 

because the latter would naturally

prompt one to ask:

 

Who

did the murdering?

 

And let’s just say

REDACTED

don’t want you to ask

too many questions when they

push the button,

send the bomb.

 

You’re to supposed to nod in unison with

REDACTED

and walk away,

like they do,

smug in the notion

those “casualties”

could not have been avoided;

 

such a shame.

You do realize, however,

REDACTED

could just as easily

pull the trigger

on you, and again,

your casualty

could not have been avoided;

again, such a shame.

*Published by Central Coast Poetry Shows on 7/26/20

a journey

to the moon and back

late-night jazz

*Published via the Poetry Pea podcast (Series 3, Episode 14: Voyages)

not unlike a meteor cancer wiped her out

*Published in Bones 20

tsunami

you ask

what it’s like

to live

with OCD

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 7/12/20

i close my eyes

and breathe in

slowly

light pours through

each window

*

leaves gently

fall towards the earth

how easy

it is to love

all of nature’s beauty

*

while the world

shatters around me

i will pretend

a rainbow is waiting

to ignite a blackened sky

*

this morning

full of rain and gray

thank you

for giving me

a space to ache

*Published in the summer 2020 edition of The Bamboo Hut

metaphors and such

i am underwater

with a current pulling me into its grip

but

i think we both know

there is no water

and

that this really is

a thinly veiled metaphor

but

i am still underwater

with a current pulling me into its grip

*Published in Black Flowers Literary Journal, Volume Six

taking

a bow

dying rose

*Published in The Asahi Shimbun (Asahi Haikuist Network) on 7/3/20

waiting

for night

a temple

opening

*Published in the July 2020 edition of is/let