welcome to #76 of hedgerow. this week features artwork by Brendan Slater. as always grateful to readers & contributors alike. please have a peek at our poetry / art book reviews page ( https://hedgerowpoems.wordpress.com/poetry-art-book-reviews/ ) as it has been updated. further we have some exciting news to announce in the near future, stay tuned…

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with love & kindness,

caroline skanne
founding editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

meadowlark–
she asks if I’m
listening

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express lane
a celebrity’s
post-baby bod

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they must be fighting again
Dad’s playing
with the bristle blocks

Ian Willey is an American social scientist now living in Japan. He hopes to someday see senryu and haiku on the backs of cereal boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this summer, I’ll clothe myself
in colors and fabrics
I want to wear, and not wait
to lose some undue weight
… I ask, how many summers remain?

Nancy Cross Dunham lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband, Michael.  She writes poetry to try to figure out what she’s learning about herself, the world and the other people in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ellipsis

When we met there was a lot of noise. A lot of questions and getting to know each other. Now we know each other well. Predicted movements followed by finished sentences. We hold each other after making love. Hold hands while driving but don’t feel the need to force conversation. We graciously, humbly, excitedly live in the . . .

Gabriel Patterson (@GabePatterson77) lives in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) with his family. He escapes the city’s neon lights by writing poetry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brendan Slater is a father and a writer of small poems. He was born and lives in Stoke-On-Trent, England, but he spent four years living in The Netherlands in a small village called Slagharen. He co-edits the E-zine Moongarlic (www.moongarlic.org) and is one of the partners at Yet To Be Named Free Press (www.yettobenamedfreepress.org).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

three women
singing siren songs
by the beachfire
rowdy with real ale
blood-red port and pale saké

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yellowhammers
in the evergreen, singing
the old song –
a little bit of bread
and no cheese

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the poet says
you are kind
and in my head
Robert Johnson
sings the blues

Joy McCall lives in Norwich, England, growing older but not much wiser. Most of her books are available on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that summer sky
filled with our childhood dreams…
I sleep alone
under the water-stained ceiling
of a rooming house

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this moonlit night
flirts with loneliness
no wine
I shoot the moon down
with an arrow of words

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the shards
of our wedding plate
after the fight
I start to know
the sharper pieces of her

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)