Monthly Archives: July 2015

#40

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welcome to #40 of hedgerow. thrilled to announce that from next week onwards we will have a ‘resident artist’ (art / visual pieces) where you will be able to gain a glimpse into the artist behind the art over the course of a month. further we have added two new reviews to the ‘poetry / art book reviews’ (https://hedgerowpoems.wordpress.com/poetry-art-book-reviews/). there will also be a brand new poet / artist in the spotlight next week. so, stay tuned! thanks for being here everyone, it is a beautiful thing!

with love & kindness.

 

 

 

long way home
from night shift
I drag my shadow

.

alone at twilight …
a blue butterfly
here and gone

.

my summer night
rounding
into a crescent moon

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, 2014 Turtle Light Press Biennial Haiku Chapbook Competition)

 

 

 

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Debbie Strange (Canada) is a short form poet and an avid photographer. She enjoys creating haiga and tanshi (small poem) art. You are invited to visit her on Twitter @Debbie_Strange, and an archive of published work may be found at debbiemstrange.blogspot.ca

 

 

 

open window
a loose leaf flutters
under my pen

Dave Read is a Canadian poet whose work has appeared in many journals, including hedgerow. You can find his micropoetry on Twitter, @AsSlimAsImBeing.

 

 

 

observations come in layers…
the unraveling of a river, I pick at
the thread it releases when it’s ready
a tangled string for the careful
embroidery of thoughts
words arrive with the
frolic of a bounding kitten
scurrying I pick it up and hold it close:
wet words with an unsteady beat

Kat Lehmann lives in Connecticut, USA, by the river where she writes. She is a scientist and a poet who enjoys the unity of these perspectives of nature. Her work has been published in both poetry and science journals. Her first book of poetry, Moon Full of Moons, was published in February 2015 by Peaceful Daily. Visit her on twitter (@SongsOfKat).

 

 

 

fireworks
a child notices
the stars

.

hibiscus rain . . .
a hummingbird driven off
by a hummingbird

.

neighborhood walk
past each housetop
the gibbous moon

Julie Warther (@JulieWarther) lives in Dover, Ohio and serves as Midwest Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America. (www.hsa-haiku.org). Her haiku chapbook “What Was Here” is available through Folded Word Press. http://foldedword.bigcartel.com/product/what-was-here

 

 

 

rushwater
over gleaming icicles
afternoon sun

Mike Andrelczyk is currently living in Strasburg, Pa. Also lived in Los Angeles, Ca. and Lewes, De. He likes writing haiku about the ocean, potatoes, moons, plants – mostly little things except the ocean which is huge, and the moon which looks little but isn’t. Poems and fiction have been featured in Modern Haiku, Haiku 2015 (Modern Haiku Press), A New Resonance 8 (Red Moon Press), The Inquisitive Eater, The Bitchin’ Kitsch. Follow on Twitter @MikeAndrelczyk.

 

 

 

no longer a puppy —
the clay between
his paws

.

distant thunder —
a firefly brushes the edge
of my hand

Theresa A. Cancro (Wilmington, Delaware, USA) enjoys observing nature, writing poems and short fiction, especially the challenge of haiku and related short-form poetry. Her work has been published internationally in print and online journals, including Presence, Chrysanthemum, Shamrock, Hailstones, A Hundred Gourds, A Handful of Stones, Cattails, and Plum Tree Tavern, among others.

 

 

 

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Barbara Kaufmann can be found (or lost) in the woods, beaches and gardens in New York, her camera and notebook in hand, hunting for poems. Her website is http://www.wabisabipoet.wordpress.com.

 

 

 

for years
I’ve thought of memory
as a pond
images float to surface
submerge again at random
now how deep the pond

Carole Johnston spends summer days driving around Bluegrass backroads with a notebook, a camera and her dog. Her chapbook, Journeys: Getting Lost, can be ordered from Finishing Line Press.

 

 

 

#39

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9

welcome to another summer issue of hedgerow! simply sit back & enjoy. thank you all for being here.

https://www.facebook.com/hedgerowpoems

with love & kindness.

 

 

 

I remember the air
from the summer we met:
heavy and thick
with a new sweetness
I desired to touch

Kat Lehmann lives in Connecticut, USA, by the river where she writes. She is a scientist and a poet who enjoys the unity of these perspectives of nature. Her work has been published in both poetry and science journals. Her first book of poetry, Moon Full of Moons, was published in February 2015 by Peaceful Daily. Visit her on twitter (@SongsOfKat).

 

 

 

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Steve Wilkinson, Co.Durham, England. Editor of the Bamboo Hut and currently exploring the avenue of TanshiArt. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1515183017/

 

 

 

skipping stones
reminiscing—four skips, five
we find a memory
that she forgets
I get to tell her about us

.

moon glow
just enough to see
the page
does it reflect yesterday’s
or tomorrow’s sun?

Patrick Doerksen is a student of social work and lives with his wife in Victoria, Canada, where flowers bloom as early as January and it is very difficult to be unhappy. He writes poetry as a way of experiencing life more fully.

 

 

 

the moon
paints willow leaves
on my walls
with her sumi’e wind brush
dancing through my dreams

Carole Johnston spends summer days driving around Bluegrass backroads with a notebook, a camera and her dog. Her chapbook, Journeys: Getting Lost, can be ordered from Finishing Line Press.

 

 

 

summer dawn
crawling over the hill
dandelions

.

cricket song
I turn to speak in
Dad’s good ear

Dave Read is a Canadian poet whose work has appeared in many journals, including hedgerow. You can find his micropoetry on Twitter, @AsSlimAsImBeing.

 

 

 

Sparrow perches on open window
a foil to the pain of bone
lying on bone
Sunshine ripening tomatoes

Jo Waterworth has lived in Glastonbury UK for thirty years. Sometimes she takes her poetry seriously enough to send it out and get published. Other times she’s busy with art or singing. She is a part-time mature student at Bath Spa University and blogs at https://jowaterworthwriter.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

butterfly wings
sweep the sky —
no dust remains

Kevin Trammel recently published his book Gathered Rain, a season-traversing dance of poetry, prose and artwork, written over years of reflective delight in the fields of Indiana, the forests of the Pacific Northwest, the oak graced foothills of the Sierra. Now living in Georgetown, California, he enjoys riveting conversation with his cats, the passing foxes, the wind in the tulip tree and the pines, and does his best to take down their words as creative prose meditations or as haiku.

 

 

 

blue lagoon
parrot fish graze
on pink coral

.

blue spirals into violet
mother of pearl

Simon Hanson lives in rural South Australia where he loves to walk the back roads at an ambling pace down to the nearby limestone coast. He no longer collects shells, leaving them instead on the beach where they belong, but does sometimes bring home an idea for a haiku or two.

 

 

 

sewing

the pineapple bedspread
the marshmallow dessert
the blue jay’s squawk
the evergreens sway
the cat who sat by the stove
the women tying stitches in knots
the rug embroidered with orange red threads
the women who girdle their thoughts

Irene Koronas is the poetry editor for Wilderness House Literary Review. She has three full length books, Portraits Drawn from Many, Ibbetson Street Press; Pentakomo Cyprus, Cervena Barva Press; and Turtle Grass; Muddy River Books. She has numerous chapbooks and poetry in many anthologies. She reviews poetry books for the small press community.

 

 

 

#38

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5

welcome to the latest issue of hedgerow! thanks everyone for being here, it’s a beautiful thing…

 

with love & kindness.

 

https://www.facebook.com/hedgerowpoems

 

 

 

 

wire in the wind
the micro-adjustments
of finches
balancing, my feet too discern
the whisper of cross-breezes

.

heather blossoms
could my words be
as unpretentious

.

day’s end talk
dishwater sinking into
hydrangea roots

.

Patrick Doerksen is a student of social work and lives with his wife in Victoria, Canada, where flowers bloom as early as January and it is very difficult to be unhappy. He writes poetry as a way of experiencing life more fully.

 

 

 

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Caroline Skanne, Rochester Uk, escapes reality with her rescued staff puppy tigerlily at the nearby frog pond island. more @ https://www.facebook.com/caroline.skanne.9

 

 

 

library returns
the holiday guidebooks
not quite ready

.

night shifter’s house
a cat this side
of the curtain

.

after her funeral
sparrows replace sparrows
on her bird table

David Serjeant lives in Derbyshire, UK. He is the current editor of Blithe Spirit, journal of the British Haiku Society. His interests include photography and pottering about (escaping everything) on his allotment. He publishes poetry and works in progress at http://distantlightning.blogspot.co.uk/ He also writes about his experiences with multiple sclerosis at https://davesmagicalbrain.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

family reunion
catching up
with old stories

Rachel Sutcliffe, from Yorkshire, UK, has suffered from a serious immune disorder for the past 14 years, throughout this time writing has been her therapy, it’s what keeps her from going insane!

 

 

 

market plaza
the sheen of pigeons
in sunshine

.

my father’s walk
increasingly apparent
in mine

Simon Hanson lives in rural South Australia where he loves to walk the back roads at an ambling pace down to the nearby limestone coast. He no longer collects shells, leaving them instead on the beach where they belong, but does sometimes bring home an idea for a haiku or two.

 

 

 

soaking in shade four hundred years old

.

playing hopscotch
with a cherry pit . . .
the crow’s strut

Julie Warther (@JulieWarther) lives in Dover, Ohio and serves as Midwest Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America. (www.hsa-haiku.org). Her haiku chapbook “What Was Here” is available through Folded Word Press. http://foldedword.bigcartel.com/product/what-was-here

 

 

 

immigration
strips my name, Chen-ou Liu,
of its meaning,
reduces it to a sound
strange to Canadian ears

.

reading Sisyphus …
from college teacher
to ESL student
my tumble down
life’s slippery slope
(note: ESL stands for English as a Second Language)

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, 2014 Turtle Light Press Biennial Haiku Chapbook Competition)

 

 

 

No Harbour

The Scottish throb of a seagull’s cry,
the urgence of the surf,
the brownish warmth of Brückner,
the sunset shock of sky,
the sound of rain on the tiled roof,
the homely scrape of wicker–
these are stalled-out memories that I
cannot wharf
in your harbour.

Kilby Austin lives near Durham, UK, with her husband and little daughter. She has written poetry for as long as she can remember.

 

 

 

summer moon how tenderly waves touch paper boats

Vibeke Laier is an artist and dreamer who lives in Randers, Denmark. She began writing three years ago and likes the process of capturing moments of the day in small sentences and micro poems… it is a way to be open to the magic.

 

 

 

Weeding

I rip weeds from the soil
Like breaking old habits.

Some come up easily,
Satisfying, if temporary-
I know I’ll have to watch
For resurging growth;
Old patterns don’t die quickly.

Some have deep, thick roots
Resisting a pull, they need
Thorough excavation
My aching knuckles caked in mud
Twisting, tugging
The root’s gnarly voice
Laughing at my naivete
That some force
That has preceded
Me by lifetimes
Would pull free, finally,
Just like that
On one simple, sunny day.

But I do my best,
Cut it off as deep as I can reach
Toss it away
And let it be

Let it be good enough for this garden
Let it be good enough for this day of this life

Just let it be better.

Stacey Crawford Murphy savors life in Ithaca, NY.

 

 

 

pushing rocks up small slope
sweat trickles between my breasts

Irene Koronas is the poetry editor for Wilderness House Literary Review. She has three full length books, Portraits Drawn from Many, Ibbetson Street Press; Pentakomo Cyprus, Cervena Barva Press; and Turtle Grass; Muddy River Books. She has numerous chapbooks and poetry in many anthologies. She reviews poetry books for the small press community.

 

 

 

sunstroke
the tan lines beneath
your blue dress

.

still hung over from last night’s sunset

Joy Reed MacVane lives on the New Hampshire seacoast and hides out
summers on an island off the Maine coast.

 

 

 

cajun night
the heat of her
french kiss

.

edging the starlight the mountain’s silhouette

Dave Read is a Canadian poet whose work has appeared in many journals, including hedgerow. You can find his micropoetry on Twitter, @AsSlimAsImBeing.

 

 

 

#37

Posted on by
7

welcome to #37 of hedgerow! if you haven’t already done so, please have a look at the new ‘poetry & art book reviews’ (https://hedgerowpoems.wordpress.com/poetry-art-book-reviews/). new titles will be added shortly! thank you for being here & happy friday!

https://www.facebook.com/hedgerowpoems

with love & kindness…

 

 

 

once again
my yard breathes
violets and clover …
the sea so close
I forget distant galaxies

.

silver ghosts
dandelion seeds
riding the night wind

.

long gone –
my old dog’s bark
waking me at dawn

Joy Reed MacVane lives on the New Hampshire seacoast and hides out in the summer on an island off the Maine coast.

 

 

 

Lotus openingLotus opening

Alexis Rotella is a well known poet of Japanese forms in English who has been writing since the early 80’s. In the spring of this year, Red Moon Press published her latest book of haiku called BETWEEN WAVES. As a digital artist, Alexis is now working on editing the portraits of celebrities such as Obama, Robert Redford, Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger, the Beatles, and many others. A selection of her haiga appeared in April at danmurano.com thanks to poet and critic, Grace Cavalieri.

 

 

 

Illuminated by fireflies
the dark corners
of night

Joyce Joslin Lorenson lives in Rhode Island, U.S.A., grew up on a dairy farm and records the daily happenings in nature around her rural home.

 

 

 

Willow at the edge of the marsh
wiggles her toe-roots in the cold mud
as the sweet racket
of thousands of peeper frogs
washes through her branchy fingers
and the continuous trilling
gently coaxes the bark from the ends
of buds and their beginnings
with a chorus of
“at long last,
we have made it.
You are safe to grow again”.

Stacey Crawford Murphy savors life in Ithaca, NY.

 

 

 

Yellow Finches

They flock as commuters,
in erratic wavelike patterns—
territorial in construction,
the aggression short-lived.
Residents of open country,
tweets and warbles, ti-di-di-di.

Agile feet grip the catkin
for feeding, the conical
beaks turn bright orange
with the spring molt.

Lew Caccia serves as a professor at Walsh University, where he teaches courses in composition, rhetoric, professional writing, and literacy. He earned his Ph.D. at Kent State University. His recent poetry has appeared in The Storyteller, The Shepherd, The Write Place At the Write Time, and The Penwood Review. This summer, he will present at the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference in Boise, Idaho. After the conference, he looks forward to a hike somewhere in the Rockies.

 

 

 

dreams of birding . . .
the variety of ringtones
in a waiting room

.

all the swifts in a robin’s song

.

emptying
the hour glass . . .
ocean breeze

Julie Warther (@JulieWarther) lives in Dover, Ohio and serves as Midwest Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America. (www.hsa-haiku.org). Her haiku chapbook “What Was Here” is available through Folded Word Press. http://foldedword.bigcartel.com/product/what-was-here

 

 

 

first warm day
all that pent-up tension
melting

Matthew Moffett lives in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, with his wife and two kids. He thanks you for reading his poems!

 

 

 

ice cream counter
choosing the same flavour
the wasp and I

.

self check out
I wonder how much
I’m worth

Rachel Sutcliffe, from Yorkshire, UK, has suffered from a serious immune disorder for the past 14 years, throughout this time writing has been her therapy, it’s what keeps her from going insane!

 

 

 

my Beagle sleeps
on her side of the bed …
blossoms falling

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, 2014 Turtle Light Press Biennial Haiku Chapbook Competition)

 

 

 

speaking to her
for the last time
not knowing          it was

Duncan Richardson is a writer of fiction, poetry and haiku. He teaches English as a Second Language part-time in Brisbane, Australia.

 

 

 

lonely night a child touches the moon with her fingertips

Vibeke Laier is a artist and dreamer who lives in Randers, Denmark. She began writing three years ago and likes the process of capturing moments of the day in small sentences and micro poems… it is a way to be open to the magic.

 

 

 

the cat on her lap
kneading its paws
she sucks her thumb

.

as I fold the page
she drifts off
to Narnia

David Serjeant lives in Derbyshire, UK. He is the current editor of Blithe Spirit, journal of the British Haiku Society. His interests include photography and pottering about (escaping everything) on his allotment. He publishes poetry and works in progress athttp://distantlightning.blogspot.co.uk/ He also writes about his experiences with multiple sclerosis at https://davesmagicalbrain.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

#36

Posted on by
8

welcome to the latest issue of hedgerow! thrilled to announce that the ‘art & poetry book reviews’ page (https://hedgerowpoems.wordpress.com/poetry-art-book-reviews/) is up. the first instalment features two books & more to come! also happy to announce that the winner of the book draw is Clifford Blizard who will receive a signed copy of a hundred small poems by caroline skanne shortly! a big thanks to those of you who registered your interest! please find a link below where the book can be purchased. grateful to everyone, for simply turning up & happy friday to you!

with love & kindness,

Caroline Skanne

founder / editor

 

 

 

first summer
fawn belly deep
in brook water

.

as we wave goodbye
a heron overhead
disappears into the distance

Joyce Joslin Lorenson lives in Rhode Island, U.S.A., grew up on a dairy farm and records the daily happenings in nature around her rural home.

 

 

 

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Jane Williams is an Australian poet based in Tasmania. Her most recent book is Days Like These – New and Selected Poems. http://www.janewilliams.wordpress.com

 

 

 

twilight mist
a female pheasant
sprints passed a gateway

.

a heron’s call
on this moonlit night
the river I long for

Thomas Powell is a potter who lives in County Down, Northern Ireland. Journals in which his haiku have appeared include A Hundred Gourds, Blithe Spirit, Chrysanthemum, Presence, Shamrock Haiku and The Heron’s Nest. He is a winner in The Snapshot Press eChapbook Awards and The Snapshot Press Book Awards. Thomas is also a contributor to A New Resonance 9, published by Red Moon Press.

 

 

 

How It Feels to See Her
For Melissa M. Schaefer

Her essence wraps itself
around my broken rib cage,
ties itself around my heart,
swings down vertebrae.

She’s such a soft giggle
to my organs, a tease
for my soul. She feels
like sister, like home.

Raquel Reyes-Lopez lives in Montebello, California USA. She is a Gemini madly in love with life and a moon child. If you squint hard enough you can find her sleeping in the moon’s craters. Follow her at contactraquel.wordpress.com

 

 

 

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Chase Gagnon is a student from Detroit, who loves staying up all night drinking coffee and writing poetry. His poems have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies over the past two years.

 

 

 

roadside rest
daisies among
the cat tails

.

yoga class
unexpected twist—
pretzel pose

Nancy Brady lives in Huron, Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie from which she takes inspiration. She is the author of two books of haiku: Ohayo Haiku andThree Breaths.

 

 

 

watershadows
a secret
under a stone

.

the floating cow
  sniffs at a floating mushroom
  as the clouds float by

.

jellyfish swimming
through a pale blue sky
the sound of rustling paper*

*a found haiku in the “Fu-go” episode of the Radiolab podcast

Mike Andrelczyk is currently living in Strasburg, PA. Also lived in Los Angeles, Ca. and Lewes, De. He likes writing haiku about the ocean, potatoes, moons, plants – mostly little things except the ocean which is huge, and the moon which looks little but isn’t. Follow on Twitter @MikeAndrelczyk.

 

 

 

shelter in the hut—
a swinging cobweb
touches my wet hand

.

bass notes
in the rocky river
birdsong

Myron Lysenko has published six books of poetry, the latest devoted to haiku. He lives in Victoria, Australia and runs a monthly poetry venue in Woodend.

 

 

 

Estuary

The water and the sky are like eternity —
A roll of wrist in water
And in light,
Casting a net of birds in flight
I know to be
The motion of forever.

I catch with all my frailty
At the gesture —

Catch at the curvature
Of strength in its acclivity of wings
Through tremulous resurgences and blurred diminishings —

Until an hour when, through the length of light,
You cast a net of birds in flight
And gather me.

Isabel Chenot lives in the US. She has been previously published in Anima poetry journal and on the Atavic poetry website.

 

 

 

counting the fireflies
circling our bed
summer romance

.

waterfalls
of summer rain
mother’s old red boots

Joy Reed MacVane lives on the New Hampshire seacoast and hides out in the summer on an island off the Maine coast.

 

 

 

Three cabbage whites, two dragonflies,
One thrush
Distinguishing silences.

Moorchicks sprint along the
Lily pads
Playing at flight with stumpy wings.

A baby toad, my thumbnail size,
His thumb
A perfect pinpoint miracle.

With the unhurried grace of a
Gardener,
Hope holds my elbow, smiles.

I dig and hear, near me, her
Silent breath –
She who first buried spring bulbs.

Rosie Johnston’s three poetry pamphlets have been published by Lapwing Publications in Belfast, Northern Ireland where Rosie was born. She lives in London where she also writes fiction and journalism and is poet in residence for the Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust.

 

 

 

After midnight
only the owls
hear Jupiter’s bawdy joke
and Venus’ twinkly laugh

After midnight
the lonely ghost in the hall
beckons: “just one dance”

After midnight
is quieter and paler
than when it was young

Stacey Crawford Murphy savors life in Ithaca, NY.