delighted to bring you 13 different poets & artists in the 15th issue of hedgerow. as always, grateful to contributors & readers alike, please keep sending in your work as well as spreading the word, thank you all!

with love & kindness…

 

 

Lolly Williams

first light …
even the morning moon
covered in hoarfrost

.

a rabbit’s path
cuts through the tall grass
dewdrops
briefly lighting up
before the sun goes down

Lolly Williams, from California, is a little magpie who collects scraps of words, phrases, images and other shiny things for her short form poetry and mixed media art. Her work can be found in various print and online publications.

 

 

Pat Geyer

Pat Geyer lives in East Brunswick, NJ, USA. An amateur photographer and poet, her home is surrounded by many parks and lakes and she walks every day to find her inspiration in Nature. She has been published in several books and journals.

 

 

Ed Bremson

sitting in the garden –
hummingbirds hovering
all around

.

afternoon moon –
in a blue sky, starlings
coming out one by one

.

weightless –
images of flowers
in the mind’s eye

.

inadequate –
the words to describe
a butterfly

.

alone in the garden –
watching hours passing
on the sundial

Ed Bremson lives in Raleigh, NC, USA where he writes poetry, watches movies, erases novels, and makes haiku song videos.

 

 

Pravat Kumar Padhy

flower garden—
Buddha and I
smile together

Pravat Kumar Padhy, a poet and scientist from India, has published Japanese short form of poems in English in many international journals, e-zines and anthologies including Simply Haiku, Under the Basho, Bottle Rockets, The Mainichi Daily News, Frogpond, Atlas Poetica, A Hundred Gourds, The Heron’s Nest, Shamrock, tinywords, Modern Haiku, Skylark, Atlas Poetica, Presence, Haigaonline, Living Haiku Anthology, Bright Stars and others.

 

 

Robin Dawn Hudechek

I see the moonlight in your garden,
I see its cold planes on your face.

I see the moonlight in your garden
as it bends over your grave.
I see your name on the headstone
and the year of your birth, fading.

I see the moonlight in your garden
as you brush off a dusty strawberry,
and offer it to my grandmother
who sits on her headstone
shaking her head,
hair spilling girlishly over her shoulders.
She’s too tired for this journey.

I see the moonlight in your garden
as your elbow guides her through a thicket of grass
and your hand lifts hers, wedding bands touching,
and the moon illuminating your bodies
lithe and young as dancers,
slips behind a waiting cloud.

Robin Dawn Hudechek lives in Laguna Beach, CA with her husband, Manny and two beautiful cats, Ashley and Misty. More of her poetry can be found at http://robindawnh.wordpress.com./

 

 

Jim Bauerlein

Fox Visits

Not the first visit.
Wee Sailor dog, three months gone,
Fox howls at dawn outside my window.
Throaty, harsh,
Dietrich.
Flashlight catches eyes, red dots.
Paces, raises her head, screams.
I tell her Sailor is gone,
she slips back into the high ferns.

Jim Bauerlein, USA

 

 

David J Kelly

David J Kelly lives and works in Dublin, Ireland, where he finds scientific and artistic inspiration in the natural world.

 

 

Clifton Redmond

At Five

You must have been expecting
at this stage in your development
to be the first four year old on the moon
or at least the first in your family
to have circumnavigated the globe

in a rocket car made entirely
from a discarded cardboard box
or built your own personal moat and castle
to keep all of those “baddies” at bay.
Walled with grey plastic bricks,

manned with spit-paper cannons
and circled by crocodiles
swimming in orange juice.
Having somehow managed to gain the powers
of every comic book super-hero;

their x-ray eyes and super strength.
And of course you were expecting
to be at least ten feet tall by the time
you inhaled and exhaled over
the five pillars of burning wax.

It must be at least a mild disappointment
on the eve of the biggest landmark
of your short existence
lying on the living room floor
joining the dots of an activity book

giving birth to new pictures
from the masses of black blobs.
And here I am at thirty-two
almost thirty-three to be perfectly clear
still trying to join the dotted numbers.

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.

 

 

Shloka Shankar

homecoming…
so much of me that
doesn’t belong

Shloka Shankar is a freelance writer who resides in India. She is the editor of the literary & arts journal, Sonic Boom. (http://sonicboomjournal.wix.com/sonicboom)

 

 

Chen-ou Liu

Silence of Abandonment

running to her
on the path of my dream —
her black cat
wanders back and forth
along the white fence

The last time we communicated with each other was her parting words printed in a bold, black type on the A4 paper under her wedding ring: feed the cat.

Chen-ou Liu is currently the editor and translator of NeverEnding Story, http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/, and the author of five books, including Following the Moon to the Maple Land (First Prize, 2011 Haiku Pix Chapbook Contest) and A Life in Transition and Translation ( Honorable Mention, 2014Turtle Light Press Biennial Haiku Chapbook Competition).

 

 

Kathy Uyen Nguyen

last year’s leftovers a crumpled paper crane at the center of my being

Kathy Uyen Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American poet, artist, and yogi and has worked professionally in the healthcare world. Her work has appeared in various print and online publications such as The Sketchbook Project, Catzilla! Tanka, Kyoka, and Gogyoshi About Cats, Lishanu, Qaartsiluni, and Lynx. Her recent and archived poetry can be found at http://alotus-poetry.livejournal.com and http://twitter.com/alotus_poetry.

 

 

Debbie Strange

Debbie Strange is a published tanka and haiku poet, as well as an avid photographer. Her current passion is for creating haiga and tanshi (small poem) art.

 

 

Natalia L. Rudychev

i do not want
to be
a marching soldier
i want
to be
a bird
above
his
flag

Natalia L. Rudychev is a philosopher, dancer, poet. She lives in New York, New York.