are rubies

simply fragments

of forgotten dreams

it is possible

that we once lived

as the dust between sand

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 11/21/20

 ancestral wasteland

to name is to     in some sense

own     how strange then

you named me

without knowing     who i am

down to bones     tonight

i will set fire

to the dank leather cuffs     it’s time

you called me by     what

i really am

that molecule of sweat     freed

from the shame     your mother’s mother

forced into you

that hymn     caught in your throat

by the silence     your father’s father

impelled into you

i am an ocean     you’ll never taste

or a wildflower     you’ll never smell

i

am

free

*Published by Fever Dream on 11/18/20

 hoot of an owl

mist pushes through

the electric fence

*Published by horror senryu journal on 11/18/20

 a bit of glass on my tongue crawling through weeds

*

claiming the subjunctive in the path of life’s fist

*Published in Bones 21

 matriarch

this night will

be my salvation

red moon

the blade is

heavy and cold

red hymn

and she waits

for a sacrifice

red flame

my body returned

to the earth

*Published by Dream Journal on 11/11/20

 chainsaw massacre

welcome to

US politics

*

a vulture to carrion late-stage capitalism

*Published in Suspect Device Zine (Turning Japanese #3)

 at dawn my body still a scepter

*Published by horror senryu journal on 11/6/20

luddite playlist

courtesy of YouTube

i have now heard what a dial-up modem sounds like

when slowed down 700%

haunted houses

y’all gotta take note of that shit

these days

the golden rule is followers > following

and i low-key

hate myself for caring

yet that still doesn’t stop me

from checking my phone

8,437 times each minute

damn

i still remember listening

to the radio in ‘97

mixtape at the ready

waiting waiting

to press record at the exact moment

NIN’s Closer began

*Published by The Daily Drunk on 11/4/20

 dancing

around infinity

I grasp

the heart

of the universe

still beating

*

winter’s end

I cannot wait

to tell

the first flower

I see

she was missed

*

without signs

warning

do not touch

my fingerprints

would sully

each Pollock

*

my favorite days

are the ones

where I cannot tell

if I am

still dreaming

between claps of thunder

*

drops of freezing rain

stick to my hair

admittedly

I did not realize

what fun it is

to play ice queen

*Published in i heard it first (the cherita book 41)

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

Tori Amos is my fairy godmother

it started with your hair

that unrepentant mess

of fiery curls, and the way

you gyrated your hips in

that Crucify video, Tori

you haven’t aged a day since

some pick guitars, but you

picked 88 keys to tame

and when no one else

could understand my wild

teenage heart, somehow

i knew you would

*Published in Periwinkle Literary Magazine Issue #2 (Wonderland)

 cyanide twilight

in dreams i am

the hunted

*Published by Haikuniverse (www.haikuniverse.com) on 10/31/20

 before death

did we gnash our teeth

in despair

a bluebird needn’t ask

if the air

will lift her feathers

*Published by Human/Kind Journal on 10/28/20

Note: This is the debut of the poetic form, Socratic verse, which I created. If you are interested in writing your own, here is the blueprint: At the heart of Socratic verse is a desire to explore the unknown, both internally and externally, through lyrical and surreal dialogue. Each part consists of 1 - 5 lines. 

distant bonfire

a bit of hickory climbs

through my window

*Published in the October 2020 issue of Stardust Haiku 

 lockdown...

but you never said

i couldn’t

travel the world

within my mind

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 10/27/20

 it begins

with a howl

blood moon

*Published by horror senryu journal on 10/26/20

 sometimes

the only thing

i know to be true

is that the sun has risen

somewhere

brightly in our sky

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 10/23/20

 a deeper

ache in my bones

full COVID moon

*Published by Haiku in Action on 10/22/20

this piece of amethyst

i hold in my hand

what secrets

have you kept

during your long life

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 10/18/20

 at night, watching the mist rise

as fate would have it

i looked out my window

at just the right time

to watch a thick mist rise up

from a darkened lake

now had this event stopped there

i would have been content

but nature

has never been withholding

of her beauty

the mist continued rising

above the treetops

and then turned left to brush

her white silk against

the roofs of impending homes

but where she went from there

i will never know

because nature

has never been withholding

of her mystery

*Published by Central Coast Poetry Shows on 10/12/20

 moonlight falls

upon a quiet city

sometimes

a bit of magic

is so ordinary

*

another month

of social distancing

i share

my aches and dreams

with the curbside rose

*Published the 2020 edition of Under the Basho (Tanka section)

awaiting

the cooler days of fall

i curl into

a book 

as thick as the moon

*

it’s late at night

and i might be

the only one awake

to watch the softness

of your breath

lay upon our home

*

first the lightning

then the thunder

when a dream

finds parts of my soul

i had yet to discover

*

that feeling 

when you first wake up

here but so far away

i want to hold on

to that moment

just a few seconds longer

*

after rising from sleep

waves of life

crash upon me

perhaps it’s a good thing

i have always loved

an untamed ocean

*Published in the autumn 2020 edition of The Bamboo Hut

I’m happy to announce that my third e-chapbook, tyranny of the familiar (Yavanika Press 2020), can now be purchased here. This collection of haiga was made in collaboration with the poet, Peter Jastermsky, and features 20 pieces of my art.

 when the rest of the world

is asleep

listen carefully

this is when

life speaks to us

through poems

*Published by Cold Moon Journal on 10/1/20

 early fall

i skip the dress

for a tie

*Published by Haiku in Action on 10/1/20 with the following note: “a celebration of gender fluidity”

 focus

your breath

upon my words

you are

safe within

this space

*

each time

I build walls

around myself

the spring air

somehow

knocks them down

*

I wrestle

with a desire

to disappear

not to start over

but

to never be found

*

in my life

a lot of lines

have blurred

like the ones

dividing dreams

and nightmares

*

it is late

and I am

so very cold

but I cannot look

away from

these stars

*Published in from my window (the cherita book 40)

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