welcome to #77 of hedgerow. this week features artwork by Anna & Chris Maris. as always, grateful to contributors & readers alike, thanks for making this a beautiful place.

 

with love & kindness,

 

caroline skanne
founding editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

graveyard chill her warm tears

.

the passing years
how water ripples
over stones

Rachel Sutcliffe, from Yorkshire, UK, has suffered from a serious immune disorder for the past 15 years, throughout this time writing has been her therapy, it’s what keeps her from going insane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting Up the Trellis

seed catalog
finding a name
for the baby

sweet pea
just starting up the trellis

first mowing
he takes down
the killer mushrooms

morning headline
birdsong overpowered
by hyacinths

dogwood blooms
tidal wave of missing you

tiny cracking sound
in the forsythia
a nest of blue eggs

Phyllis Lee and Julie Warther, both of Ohio, met through a mutual poet friend years ago and have been writing together ever since. In their collaborative poems, it is sometimes difficult to tell who is who.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

barn cat scuffle
beside the open door
a pail of pea pods

Anna Cates is an award-winning short form poet and writer who lives in Ohio with her two cats and teaches English and education online.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

evening music
don’t know why
the old dog grins

.

after the rains
blood red
roses

Perry L. Powell lives in College Park, Georgia, USA, and works as a systems analyst. He writes various forms of poetry out of love and loss in the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna and Chris Maris have been married for 23 years. Chris is a British director of photography who also enjoys stills photography and Anna is an award-winning haiku poet. This is their first haiga collaboration, a result of a ginko in Svarte, on the south coast of Sweden, which they embarked on together earlier this spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hanami
the brief comfort
of being in your arms

.

red ixoras
grandma sipping brandy
drifting in the stars

Christina Sng is a poet, writer, and artist. Visit her online at christinasng.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dark dreams
have haunted the night
sunrise
and a frog croaks
and all is well

.

wild thyme
and oregano
for the spell
I stop praying
enchanted by the scent

.

while I slept
a woman cried
and a bluesman
played guitar
‘all through the night’

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Endless Sky
for Joy McCall

a tiny fish
struggling against the tide
of night
come let me wipe
your tears away

hold on
to something
anything
the birds will sing
again at dawn

endless sky —
tell me
what else
could
true love be

Paul Smith is a poet from Worcester in the UK. Alongside poetry Paul enjoys Japanese style ink painting, building cigar box guitars and playing old time blues.