home away from home the breath of a sycamore

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 12/28/22

 stars fall

but you can’t take

the poetry outta me

*Published by Haikuniverse on 12/19/22

 a row

of mulberry trees

of secrets

*Published by The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 12/14/22

 in F minor a darker shade of desire

*

the emptiness

after i

tame the lion

*Published by horror senryu journal on 12/9/22

 boundless

the stars within

a rose

*Published in the December 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal

serpent’s seed all over your tongue

*Published in the Poetry Pea Journal 2.22

new moon

i choose to live

dangerously

*Published by Scarlet Dragonfly Journal on 11/21/22

vermilion sky and also you

*Published by The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 11/16/22

when i close my eyes all the stars

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 11/4/22

dewdrop

all i want

is to be soft

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 11/4/22

 an untamed garden the story before our story

*Published in the November 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal

 beautiful

the weeds

in my garden

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 10/26/22

“i don’t write love poems”

i said

before i

met you

although i’m too shy to admit this

when i ask

how the stars are tonight

what i mean is

i want to be there with you

believe me

i want to tell you everything

but in order to do so

i would need

to strip down to the bone

and do you understand

my dear

how frightening it is

to be so raw

you fall asleep so quickly

and that’s fine with me

to see your golden waves, spilling

over your closed eyes, dreaming

is perhaps

one of the most beautiful things

i have ever seen

and after the pepper spray

the rise and fall

of your belly

was the only thing

that stilled me -

that held my scream

inside

recently

while on a walk i saw

a small white butterfly

it moved more easily than

a quiet summer breeze

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 10/8/22

 not like the other girls in the grinder

*Published by horror senryu journal on 10/6/22

so why choose

before i was the desert

i was the snow

and how satisfying

it is to have been

so many odd little things

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #26

 within

every rustle of wind

every breath of birdsong

behold

each one is

a divine work of art

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #26

 this late summer moon

you will never know

how much i delight

to dream within

your gentle glow

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #26

restoration

it is a rose

a distant galaxy

what beauty there is

in removing oneself

from the clash and clamor

of this heated world

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #26

milk & honey & the sweat of your gun

*Published by horror senryu journal on 9/16/22 

fistful of stones

now tell me

who is god

*Published by horror senryu journal on 9/16/22 

 like a feather

there are things

i want to tell you

such as the way

you move mountains

even the ones

i dared not even climb

but instead i will tell you

the sun seems brighter recently

or that i feel

a sudden lightness within my step

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #26

 here among the stars

even the ants know

that this moment is sacred

and yet no more special

than any other

i say

when the grass floats

in a river of wind

listen as the oak has done

for thousands of years

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #26

 on writing

it is one thing to see your poem

as you write it

but it is another to taste it

feel it

hear it

and breathe it in

as you write it

use all of your senses

and your creativity will bloom

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s New to Haiku column on 8/28/22

now and then

salvation through

a zinnia

*Published in the August 2022 issue of Stardust Haiku 

in your pulse the softness of violet

*Published by Scarlet Dragonfly Journal on 8/20/22

hidden oak

teach me to live

without hubris

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 8/10/22

almost

instinctively you reached

for my body // hip hold

for comfort

you know i would have preferred

a beginning in the ending

i found another

tepid soul to consume my tongue

swan dive into a pool

of molten water

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 8/10/22

 magenta a melodic stream

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 8/5/22

an endless ocean

such are

the dreams of mine

*Published in the August 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal

 everything i no longer crave after the forest

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 7/30/22

shh...

the stars

are speaking

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 7/27/22

fire crackles the algebra within a petal

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 7/26/22

 hot again

but i’m not talking

about the weather

*Published by Haikuniverse on 7/23/22

i am everywhere the wave unfurls

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 7/19/22

 the rain on my body remembering yours

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 7/15/22

 on forgiving the wind i am weary

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 7/12/22

 quite silly, indeed

to say that

a rose is

only a rose

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 7/10/22

 more radioactive than a lily after rain

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 7/6/22

after this life a poppy seed

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 7/6/22

swaying in dawn’s blush an ancient dialect

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 7/4/22

not even twilight can contain this silence

*Published in the July 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal

 to be

a woman

to be

the sea

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 6/22/22

 within my grasp the echo of Saturn

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 6/20/22

right now

it’s hard to find beauty

in the wreckage of my life

with a fist raised

i share my anger with the trees

surely they must know

what it’s like to be torn asunder

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 6/9/22

 oh how easily i soak up the folds of a primrose

*

intimacy like the way freesia exhales

*Published in the June 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal

 the air in my lungs a storm

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 5/17/22

Lazarus

i grew up on

the wrong side of radiation

a place where trains derailed

and the sky hailed Satan

you hung the paddle like a cross

and the cross became a bullet

they say chemicals were dumped

into the water the soil the air

but my blood was poisoned long before

i took my first step on this earth

mother once praised you

by saying you punched

her pregnant belly only once

praise God

apparently he was there somewhere

atomically in the crack of the carpet

when you

molested me

when i was 14 i thought it was odd

how i remembered almost nothing prior

to the age of 10

but i remember my sister almost dying

at the age of two

and that cancer was an open secret // grave

in our town

when we left

you took me and my sister back

one last hurrah in the old house

why we were naked i don't know

but i do know

you eventually destroyed those photo negatives

you weren't a pedophile

of course

and The Mound didn't kill

the residents of Miamisburg, Ohio

*Published by Poetry Super Highway (Poet of the Week: May 16 - 22, 2022)

 crow...

one of us

knows freedom

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 5/10/22

 canvas...

i will not be

gentle with you

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 5/4/22

 the speed

of lightning

this life

*Published in the April 2022 issue of Stardust Haiku

 in closing

may you not succumb

to the encroaching darkness

but instead

shine brighter

than you have ever shined

in your entire life

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #25

silent symphony

a field of wildflowers

sways with the breeze

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 4/20/22 

 interlude

can i admit

i miss being touched

held, desired or even

seen

divorce is brutal like that

when i need love most

it is ripped

away

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 4/17/22

 how the bluebells bloom within me

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 4/14/22

read it until you believe it

you

are not a secluded river

or an island surrounded

by treacherous waters

you

are connected to all living beings

and have the power

to heal a critically wounded world

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #25

 only the voice

of a magnolia

i am healed

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 3/6/22

 what is

what will be

a raindrop

*Published by Haiku in Action on 3/31/22

blood of my blood the river before me

*Published in The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue on 3/30/22

 shrapnel...

but all i want

is the soft touch of rain

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 3/27/22

**Translated into French by Serge Tome for Temps Libres during the week of May 15th - 21st

 my heart is

the warm spring air

the feel of a ground

so fertile

roses ache to sprout

between my bare toes

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #25

 consider this

if your mind

has a tendency to break

i believe

it is safe to say

you have a very big heart

in a very broken world

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #25

 at the ready

the night is quiet

and my home is completely dark

but oh

how i wait

for the effervescent hymn of stars

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #25

untitled with love

for every person

who feels they are not beautiful

let me tell you

i could revel in your gaze

and for every person

who feels they are unloveable

let me wrap

my arms around your ache

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #25

 dipping into your midnight gospel

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 2/27/22

 until i can exhale the darkest ravine

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 2/18/22

chained desire (part one)

between

grenades

blooming

*

fine but i could rip the skin off my bones

*

love

but the way

you cut stone

*Published by Heliosparrow on 2/10/22 

chained desire (part two)

but you

only heard

the river

*

after your body folding dusk

*

snow

fallen freshly

thrown

*Published by Heliosparrow on 2/10/22

 chained desire (part three)

if only the desert could wet my lips

*

before i lose myself again in the sea

*

within the storm a ripened forest

*Published by Heliosparrow on 2/10/22

 dropkick

i don’t want things to get too deep

but tell me if

you ever get him hard

*Published in the February 2022 issue of Versification

 oh i have been the untamed river

*Published in the February 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal

 suture

our bodies

woven together

black dripping

with night

i exhumed

each thread

a lifetime

of memories

undone by

my hand

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 1/23/22

 possibly

a sparrow

or a tsunami

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 1/18/22

 all bang no whimper

it was an ordinary crash

each car tangled into

a web of metal and shards

maybe there was a fire

i walked out

and you got on your knees

to give your life to christ

the hotel had a full-length mirror

and for the first time in nearly a decade

i looked upon my own flesh

and said it was good

i’m almost certain there was a fire

in kindergarten i remember the drills

devise a plan

get out

you can’t stay in a burning home

humans are so primal

they see an inferno and their pupils

dilate in desire

but my hands are on fire

flames licking back my skin

to the bone and i'm honestly

too tired to care if

you touch me and the fire obliterates you

*Published in Skyway Journal on 1/7/22

**A 2023 Best of the Net nominee

 morning clouds

i pull the night

back into my bones

*Published in the January 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal