welcome to #4 of hedgerow, featuring work from eleven different poets & artists. this issue is dedicated to the memory of poet Ronald Fischman who sadly passed away only days after his poem ‘magical realism’ was published in the first issue of hedgerow. as always, your comments, likes & shares are welcomed, as are your submissions to forthcoming issues. many thanks to contributors and readers alike. with love & kindness…

 

Helen Buckingham

   heaven
passes
  in the shape of a swan

     white butterflies
   scatter light
over dimming rooftops

Helen Buckingham has been writing ku for the past couple of decades in Bristol, and has recently moved to Wells, the smallest cathedral city in England, deep in the heart of Somerset.

Dominic Moriarty

Dominic Moriarty is a Fine Arts photographer based in Ireland … a love and awareness of nature is a central theme in his work. A broader selection of his art is available to view and purchase as giclée prints @ http://www.dominicmoriartyphotography.com

Tony Haynes

“Feather”

F eather lives on the street
I t fell off the wing of a bird
G ets dusty but still it can float
H ard habit
T o break – have you heard…
H ow feather
O nce flocked with high rollers
M ade merry with
E lbows you rub
L ike a fortunate traffic controller
E nrolled in a mile high club
S urely you’ve seen it, this feather
S oftly adrift in the wind
N eeding to pull it together
E xcept it just can’t once again
S o it floats on with only one purpose
S urvival and yes it survives…
…But in the process of simply surviving
It floats on and touches our lives

Tony Haynes is a Lyricist, Songwriter, Poet, Author & One Who Waxes Philosophically.

Steve Wilkinson

Taking my pen
I scribble out the pain
in heavy strokes
When will this metamorphosis
finally take place?

Feelings
flowing in ink
from the well
of my heart.
The sentence ends
but my love continues.

Homeless and hungry
read the beggars sign.
autumn drizzle
collects
in his plastic cup.

Steve Wilkinson, Co.Durham, England. Editor of the Bamboo Hut and currently exploring the avenue of TanshiArt.

Cornelius Bent

The Lesson

on that day in September
i learned a lesson
as i sat 449 miles away
from the ground we now call Zero

this lesson was taught to me
by the blacks and the whites
the muslims and the the jews
the republicans and the democrats
the atheists and the believers
the immigrants and the natives
the disabled and the able bodied

they helped each other
down endless stairwells
a commune of the assaulted
the walls conspiring
to asphyxiate
each one

they consoled each other
in shattered corporate vestibules
jet-fuel-fire pouring down
like hate from the sky

they held each other
in ash covered streets
skins now one color
equalized by impact
each searing eye
reflecting the same calamity

they ran toward each other
brigades and companies
sirens wailing like the souls
who pushed themselves
into the grip of gravity

the ones who could still move
moved
past the imaginary borders of flags
beyond the superficial doctrines of gods
behind the flawed perceptions of races
despite unproductive political allegiances

wholly
in the actions
of those people
on that day

lies the hope
for the evolution
of our species

there must be no ‘them’
in this family
of human animals

there must only
ever be
an us

Cornelius Bent, from South Bronx New York

Carole Johnston

world falls apart
poems rise up as prayers
on children’s lips
soft grey feathers of doves
aloft on winds of peace

Carole Johnston lives in Lexington, Kentucky USA where she drives around Bluegrass backroads with a notebook and camera in the front seat, capturing the haiku moment.

Jennifer Arbini

Jennifer Arbini is a Californian woman whose greatest passion is to travel and experience the world.

Clifton Redmond

Looking for Hope

My young son says
his dog is running the field
behind our house,
his long greyhound stride,
his reddish coat cutting evening air.
I told him his dog was gone,

told him about death, about heaven.
But he still sees his Rúa running
sloped back into twilight.
Says he understands,
but I see him look for hope,
when no one else is watching.

Clifton Redmond is an Irish poet; a member of the Carlow Writers Co-operative, his poems have been published in various literary magazines and journals.

Ronald Fischman

Pajarito

fluttering, your silky feathers
brown as the richest bark
in any tree you call home

lifted by a breath, a kiss
of sun and climate, tremulant
mist of a thousand violins

your chocolate irises flit, focus
reflect a wildflower, wild meadow
petals shimmer in your lake

they call breathing “feathered”
far too late. What of feathers
breathing summer’s first love?

Ronald Fischman wrote fiction, biography, and poetry in Philadelphia, PA. Sadly he passed away on the night of September 30, 2014. ‘Pajarito’ was the second of his poems selected for publication in hedgerow.

Caroline Skanne

Caroline Skanne, rochester, uk, obsessed with anything wild & free, she is the founder of hedgerow: a journal of small poems.

Sergio A. Ortiz

he turned slowly
down the footpath of dust
the cantor sang
then there was silence
a stripping of life forever

Sergio A. Ortiz is the founding editor of Undertow Tanka Review. He lives in San Juan Puerto Rico. He is a four-time nominee for the 2010-2011 Sundress Best of the Web Anthology, and a two-time 2010 Pushcart nominee.