hedgerow #16

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

thrilled to bring you #16 of hedgerow featuring 13 different poets & artists. thanks everyone, contributors as well as readers, for turning up!

if you have a moment, please pass by our sister site wildflower poetry press (find links below) launching its first title this week. here you will also find a sneak peek of forthcoming titles, including the print version of hedgerow.

https://wildflowerpoetrypress.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wildflowerpoetrypress

thanks again! with love & kindness…

Jennifer Thompson

pink sky
the perfection I failed
to reach…
I am cracked pavement
beside your painted lines

Jennifer Thompson, West Virginia, USA

Sandi Pray

Sandi Pray is a wild child who roams between mountain and marsh in North Carolina and Florida, http://ravencliffs.blogspot.com.

Bob Brooks

UNOBJECTIONABLE

Oh to be
unobjectionable–

the very word
broad, flat,

rough-surfaced,
useful as a doormat.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY PANTS

32 – 32

34 – 32

36 – 32

36 – 30

Bob Brooks’s poems have been published in many journals including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, and Rattle; in four chapbooks, most recently Companion Pieces (Finishing Line Press, 2012); and in the full-length collection Unguarded Crossing (Antrim House Books, 2011), short-listed for the 2012 Maine Literary Award in Poetry, and named first runner-up for the 2012 Eric Hoffer Poetry Book Award. He lives with his wife and dog in Concord, Massachusetts, and Stockton Springs, Maine.

Mike Keville

charity walk
the sound of gravel
in my hips

why! she asks…
how do I explain
to expectant eyes
granddad doesn’t
know everything…

morning mist
a peacock’s aha!
goes unanswered

Mike Keville from London AKA Mikeymike.

Anne Curran

at the art gallery
with an artist friend …
I am seduced
by her explanation
of light and dark

Anne Curran is a Japanese verse forms poet who lives with
her cat Ollie, and writes when time allows in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Michael Mark

Reflection
– for Sara

You are the perfect moon.
I am the still lake

to show how beautiful
you are in all your phases.

Come and go as you please.
Whenever you are thirsty,

drink
until you are full.

Michael Mark lives in California and is a hospice volunteer and long distance walker whose poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. @michaelgrow

Wendy Bourke

Bereft and adrift
– time stopped –
in a sea of grief,
for we could not imagine
how the lot of us
would make a go of it
without that calm,
beautiful man
captaining our little ship:

the passage of time
marked, one by one,
at the moment of resolve
to carry on
as best we could . . .
as he would have wished.

Wendy Bourke lives in Vancouver, BC where – after a life loving words and scribbling poetry lines on pizza boxes and used envelopes – she finally got down to writing and publishing her poetry “in earnest” four years ago.

Julie Bloss Kelsey

first dance
all awkward elbows
and tight knees
he watches her feet
at every turn

checking the pockets
before I launder
her school clothes
I add another rock
to my collection

(written in response to a wonderful poem by Robyn Cairns @robbiepoet)

Julie Bloss Kelsey (@MamaJoules on Twitter) lives in suburban Maryland with her husband, three kids, one dog, one rat, and eight fish.

Carole Johnston

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. Journeys: Getting Lost, Carole’s first chapbook of haiku and tanka, is now available for presale from Finishing Line Press. https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=2211

Lolly Williams

Clear for Takeoff

leaving home …
butterflies take flight
beyond the garden
the air turbulence tilts
all my baggage to one side

crash landing
in a sleepy hollow …
through the years
seeds of slumber have attached
themselves to all my dreams

wandering lost
through every scene
with broken wings
I remind myself
that I will fly again

buttons, papers
odd bits of everything
parts of the sum
I clip new wings
from a magazine

enchanted evening
the scent of white jasmine
in the warm wind
I sense a whole other life
still ahead of me

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.

Mary Kendall

curls of steam
a pot of ginger tea
fragrant this night

Mary Kendall, a poet from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is the author of a chapbook, Erasing the Doubt, and co-author of A Giving Garden. Her poems have appeared both online and in print, and her blog, A Poet in Time can be found at http://www.apoetintime.com.

Olivier Schopfer

Olivier Schopfer lives in Geneva, Switzerland, the city with the huge lake water fountain. He likes capturing the moment in haiku and photography. His work has appeared in The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014 and in numerous online and print journals.

Stacey Murphy

At day’s end
All over the world,
We lather the cloths.
Time to remove the makeup
The armor
The magician’s blindfold
The leather
The ancient battle-mask
The gunk that might as well stay.
Scrub through the fake smile
The nervous twitch
The uncertain glance
The bruise
The pox
The shame
The un-yield
The unintended insult
The fully intended dig
The well-meant concern
The sloppy unwelcome kiss
The piercing glare.
Keep scrubbing. Try to get out
The control
The no way out
The making do
The not good enough
The slap
The no choice
The scars
The silence.
And now, sister of the world,
Sleep.
Tomorrow you start again.

Stacey Murphy is happiest when her thoughts are clear, short and haiku shaped, but living in Ithaca, NY helps too.

hedgerow #15

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

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

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.

hedgerow #14

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #14 of hedgerow, it is so good to be back! the second issue of the year brings you 14 different poets & artists. as always, grateful to contributors & readers alike, please keep sending in your submissions as well as spreading the word, every effort really counts! if you haven’t yet found our facebook page, please follow the link below. exciting news about the print version will be posted here this coming week — https://www.facebook.com/hedgerowpoems

with love & kindness…

Alexis Rotella

Like me
the moon folded
in half.

Alexis Rotella (Arnold, Maryland, USA) served as Haiku Society of America President in 1984, her famous poem Purple appears in Creative Writing: An Intro to Poetry and Fiction St. Martin’s Press, Teaching with Heart (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2014).

Peter Wilkin

Galloping away from a murder of crows

Peter Wilkin is a writer, poet & iphoneographer who lives in West Yorkshire, England.

Rachel Sutcliffe

day of your death
flowers at the bedside
shedding petals

alone now
the chill in our room
at sunset

the first night
without you
star filled sky

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 keeps her from going insane!

Janet Butler

crow wings
across the morning
his hard song
a scratch on tender skies
his shadow grazes your hand

Janet Butler recently dove into the wonderful world of tanka, and has yet to emerge from it.

Carole Johnston

first a wren
then two crows
hawks stand guard
over winding roads
one flies across my path
out of the fog

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. Journeys:Getting Lost, Carole’s first chapbook of haiku and tanka, is now available for presale from Finishing Line Press. The books will be delivered in February. https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=2211

Paula Dawn Lietz

my lips cold
upon your white shoulder
a desolate touch

Paula Dawn Lietz ( Pd Lietz ) is an accomplished multi-genre artist, photographer and poet. http://www.pdlietzphotography.com

Janet Qually

caught up again
in your wave of emotion
two hearts pounding
I still enjoy
the escalation

Janet Qually (USA) has been published in several journals and enjoys writing all forms of poetry. She frequently creates computer graphics to illustrate her work.

Julie Bloss Kelsey

walking the labyrinth
with my never-born child
… the call of wildflowers

my daughter’s hug —
butterfly wings
around my heart

after the play date
glitter in the dust pan

Julie Bloss Kelsey (@MamaJoules on Twitter) just earned her certification as a Maryland Master Naturalist.

Robert Tremmel

INTERRUPTIONS

Legs up and straight
out in front

reading Red Pine’s
commentary on Heart
Sutra, page one-hundred
forty-nine, pondering
anuttara samyak
sambodhi, unexcelled
perfect mantra

siren
at the stop sign
beyond the trees

neither
can be put
into words.

Robert Tremmel lives and writes in Ankeny, Iowa.

Ed Bremson

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

Garima Behal

pistachio shells we split our ways

Garima Behal is a student-poet-writer pursuing her graduation in Commerce, in New Delhi, India. Seeking a great Perhaps, she runs her blog at : http://theseismicscribbler.blogspot.in/

Shloka Shankar

this numbness
begins to thaw
tonight
i undress wounds
of the past

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

Confession of a Photography Addict

Mary invites me over to her place for an interview. She has her strands dyed every color of the rainbow, and looks much younger than she is. On the wall facing the window, she tacks up a giant photo of herself, composed of many smaller pictures. After taking a sip of iced tea, she starts talking in an unusually deep, husky voice, “I’ve spent ten years on a shrink’s couch, but I still hear him through the wall whispering to me. Every day when I get up and look in the bedroom mirror, I see that man staring back at me. I want him carved off my face…”

Father’s Day
blanked out on her calendar
morning chill

Chase Gagnon

through candle smoke
I write my poem
with the quill of a phoenix
while my fingers sink
into the gray ash of this life
for warmth

among
the dark prophecies
of withered
graffiti,
the cracks
in an empty sidewalk
full
of tiny
flowers

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.

hedgerow #13

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome back to hedgerow! the first issue of 2015 brings you 16 different poets & artists. as always, grateful to contributors & readers alike, please keep sending in your work as well as spreading the word, every effort really counts!

with love & kindness…

Pamela A. Babusci

Pamela A. Babusci is an internationally award-winning haiku/tanka & haiga artist. She lives in Rochester, NY, USA.

Stacey Murphy

Shoveling

what if
while shoveling tonight,
I stop
just for a moment
cease the stooping, stabbing, groaning and lifting

turn my face skyward
close my eyes
hear the wind
as my shoulders relax
the handle slack in my unclenched hands

my ghost age 6
rides in on that wind
whispers, giggles
the gust of cold –
breathless
like the moment
at the end of a wicked sled run

flakes collecting
on my eyelids
like they did when
I finished making snow angels
just lying there, collecting them

like wishes
like potential
icy absolution
melting away
all flaws
all complaints
all guilts, real or imagined

we are clean in this frosty night
new in the world
once again.

Stacey Murphy is happiest when her thoughts are clear, short and haiku shaped, but living in Ithaca, NY helps too.

Chase Gagnon

safe inside a box
the christmas bulbs
from our shattered family

reaching for the wind…
in another life
I was a willow

perched on my lap
she tells me the owl
is her spirit animal

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.

Lizz Murphy

in my arms
a wounded eagle or
a half-waking moment

some are quiet about it
a wren barely bending the stem
a blackbird changing shadows

Lizz Murphy has published twelve books. Her seven poetry titles includePortraits: 54 Poems and Six Hundred Dollars (PressPress), Walk the Wildly(Picaro Press), Stop Your Cryin (Island Press) and Two Lips Went Shopping(Spinifex Press print and e-book). Her next title Shebird is forthcoming (PressPress). Lizz has been a featured poet in festivals and programs from the Illawarra to Darwin and Launceston. She is available for workshops and mentoring etc.

David J Kelly

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

Zee Zahava

white butterflies at the window —
snowy morning —
my nearsightedness

another orchid blossom falls my grey hairs also shedding

I didn’t want to care so much but then I did — little ant

bowing to the setting sun my shadow walks into the sea

these long winter evenings
we listen to the moon
we listen to the stars
we listen to the beat
of our own hearts

Zee Zahava lives in Ithaca, N.Y. She writes most of her poems in a small notebook while taking her early morning walks. She is the editor of brass bell, an online haiku journal: http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/

Archana Kapoor Nagpal

walking uphill …
one by one my steps
before my shadow

Archana Kapoor Nagpal is an internationally published author of four books and three anthologies. Presently, she resides in Bangalore, India. You can visit her Amazon Author Profile to know more about her books and literary contributions.

Mike Keville

bad temper
even my shadow and I
are not talking

family tree
the seed that fell
further away

Mike Keville from London AKA Mikeymike.

William C. Patterson

Leaf Smoke, Sun Streak

Not until this moment,
the sky impossibly coral streaked
& filled in by downy cloud,
did I accept the end of another year.

Some of what goes up does not come back the same:
the leaf that fell now rises as smoke,
its rustle now crackles,
its color now roasts,
& its rust smells of cherry, oak, & smoky peat.

soon, I know, the cold rains will come,
the leaves’ revenge, the end of fire,
the long sleep of seed & soil,
until the green fuse lit:
pop of bloom, crack of ice, hum of bird return.

but now, this evening that holds the cold away at a flames length,
a sky beholden not to art,
there is no sense in holding on to the past,
just being here now, just seeing & smelling
the end of another season is enough to settle this month’s doubts.

William C. Patterson lives, teaches, and writes in northeast Kansas. The poems come from his life with his family, his life teaching literature and composition, and the daily commute between these two lives.

Julie Warther & Meik Blottenberger

Julie Warther – Dover, Ohio (words)
Meik Blottenberger – Hanover, Pa (photograph)
Julie and Meik both came from other forms of writing to haiku. Now, they collaborate and support each other in their haiku habits.

Nells Wasilewski

five days of mourning
broken by
a cardinal’s song

Nells Wasilewski lives in the United States where she retired from the mortgage industry in 2011, and began pursing her lifelong dream of writing; she has had her work published in several Journals, magazines and books.

Janet Qually

foster children
start writing winter poems
will hearts be touched?
outside
wanting in

Janet Qually (USA) has been published in several journals and enjoys writing all forms of poetry. She frequently creates computer graphics to illustrate her work.

Alexis Rotella

I tuck in my dolls
tell them
not to be scared
Mom and Dad
at it again.

As close as I can get
to my dead mother
her friend
who misses her
every day.

Sleek black crow
like a drone
it glides over
a farmer’s
fallow field

Alexis Rotella (Arnold, Maryland, USA) served as Haiku Society of America President in 1984, her famous poem Purple appears in Creative Writing: An Intro to Poetry and Fiction St. Martin’s Press, Teaching with Heart (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2014).

Paula Dawn Lietz

Tangled

tangled and sticky thick web drags
like a forgotten anchor pulling

me deep into murky depths
of shallow

forces of the current bend

the willow straining
I panic it will break
will I

break
I hold on
fearful in
my grasp
knowing
if I let go
I
will
d
   r
     o
       w
          n

Paula Dawn Lietz ( Pd Lietz ) is an accomplished multi-genre artist, photographer and poet. http://www.pdlietzphotography.com

Jon Wynne

Tears

Tears are just a way
To wash the dust from your dreams
Dry them carefully. Look!
See how they sparkle in the Sun

Jon Wynne lives in Hampshire and has been writing on & off for many years. People and places are the real poetry. ‘I just try to describe what I see and feel.’

Julie Bloss Kelsey

driving home
under the inquisitive gaze
of a spotted fawn

despite the clouds
I still believe …
rose moon

cirrus at sunset —
a line of fire rainbows
ignite the ocean

Julie Bloss Kelsey (@MamaJoules on Twitter) just earned her certification as a Maryland Master Naturalist.

hedgerow #12

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #12 of hedgerow & the last one for the year. thrilled to bring you a record-breaking 22 poets & artists. grateful for all your support over these past three months, thanks to you hedgerow has grown into a thing of beauty!

feel free to keep sending in your submissions for the new year. the date for #13 will be announced here & on our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/hedgerowpoems). you can also follow hedgerow on twitter (https://twitter.com/hedgerowpoems).

also a special thanks to Veronika Zora Novak for her beautiful tribute dedicated to the memory of Serbian haiku poet Verika Živković, who sadly passed away this week. to echo Veronika’s words ‘as a community we will continue to celebrate your legacy…’

may 2015 be filled with magic, dreams & creativity for all of you!

with love & kindness,
caroline skanne

Veronika Zora Novak

deeper
into the cosmos…
white lotus

dublje
u kosmosu…
beli lotos

dublje
u kosmosu…
bijeli lotos

(Tr. by Milena Burčul Mrkela)

‘With great sorrow to know of her untimely death, a deeply heartfelt tribute to our dearly beloved sister Verica Živković. As an international, multilingual award-winning haiku poet, may Verica’s profoundly beautiful, passionate and insightful poetry withstand the test of time…’ Veronika Zora Novak

David J Kelly

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

Robyn Cairns

outback skies
spread with stars
where the red dirt road
has no end

underneath her skin- moss lined and honey veined

Robyn Cairns is a Melbourne based poet who shares her poetry and photography on twitter @robbiepoet.

Bauke Kamstra

Poetry dispels the illusion of separateness

when we touch
when we are touched

we are no longer alone.

Will these words explain
my life to me

I don’t know

maybe it is not this life
I’m writing about.

Bauke Kamstra is a poet & visual artist residing in Nova Scotia. His poetry has been published in Vine Leaves Literary Journal, Poetry Nook, Shot Glass Journal, and Spark. His new book We All Reach the Earth by Falling is available at Amazon and B&N.

Susan Constable

when ordinary
is more than enough …
skunk cabbage
blooming in the ditch,
a spider spinning her web

it took years
for my sister to ask
my opinion …
even rivers and robins
have something to say

Susan Constable lives on the west coast of Canada, where she’s been writing mainly haiku and tanka for the past nine years. She is currently the tanka editor for the online journal, A Hundred Gourds.

Stella Pierides

winter sun
piling kindling
for the fire

Stella Pierides lives in Neusaess, Germany, and London, UK. Her poetry book, In the Garden of Absence, won a HSA Merit Book Award 2013, for books published in 2012. Stella manages Per Diem: Daily Haiku for The Haiku Foundation. Homepage: http://www.stellapierides.com

Maurice Devitt

Circle of Life

When you hold the photo
up to the light, who do you see?
The boy I was or the man
I have become,
already shrinking back
to that world of ludo
and slip-on shoes,
where names walk in and out,
never staying long enough
to make an impression.

‘I like short poems because they are easier to smuggle across borders…’ Maurice Devitt, Dublin, Ireland

Shloka Shankar

shoreline…
broken seashells scatter
my dreams

goodbyes…
my tears dry up faster
this time

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)

Susan Diridoni

A Yorkshire Noon

out the window
tall trees still bare
sun shows the green moss
upon the branches usually under
leaf canopy
so like the trees at the Abbey
yes, we’re going inward
our crosses being shared
and transformed
it is our Easter

Susan Diridoni, from the San Francisco Bay Area, is on the trail of the muse, no matter where she roams.

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.

Rachel Sutcliffe

waiting room
I wonder what
forever feels like

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 keeps her from going insane!

James Roderick Burns

Only through rain
and beaten grey skies
can the sun burn gold

James Roderick Burns’ short-form collections ‘The Salesman’s Shoes’ and ‘Greetings from Luna Park’ are published by Modern English Tanka Press. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and daughter, and serves as Deputy Registrar General for Scotland.

Ruth Zuckschwerdt

torrential spring rains
with lightning and thunder
tender new leaves

Ruth Zuckschwerdt, Switzerland, started writing to get her thoughts away from health issues. Publication of Haibun, Haiku and Tanka. Her poetry reflects travels to faraway places. She is now retired and lives in Switzerland.

Zee Zahava

great blue heron
washing dishes
at the kitchen sink —
what are you doing in Grandma’s apron?
what are you doing in my dream?

John W. Sexton

a thousand gardens
hide him … the demolished
porcelain golem

John W. Sexton lives in Ireland and was found inside a Christmas cracker in 1958, swaddled in a rather ridiculous joke about bassoons, or probably baboons, or was it spoons? His fifth poetry collection, The Offspring of the Moon, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2013. In 2007 he was awarded a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry.

Dave Read

she paints
her toenails black
new moon

water drips
through the coffee filter
I dilute
my thoughts before I
share too much with her

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

Mike Keville

You scare me

No sound.
Except the wind—
a lone wolf
calling for a lost mate.

As chills
explore my back;
they race to be the first
to make me shudder.

My chest held
within your vice;
tightened by
imaginary tales.

Please—
just tell me
how much you spent?

Mike Keville from London AKA Mikeymike.

Christopher P. P. White

For Her

In the spoils of sunshine–
When the birds sing you to sleep
At 5 in the morning
And you get into bed
With the woman that you married
For love and not for comfort
Or conformity,
You see the real reason
Why you need to wake up
In a steady handful of hours
After.
Not for money or a wage
But for her–
Simply for her.
The birds are still singing
That same song
And the beauty of life
Is embellished
In their serenade.

Christopher P. P. White is a poet and writer from Derby, England. He hopes that you don’t judge him too harshly regardless of what you’ve heard.

Chen-ou Liu

A Short Story about Love

at her window
two shadows entwine
in one embrace …
like vampires sucking blood
from my memories

Sitting at my desk, swathed in darkness, I use the new telescope to zoom in on them – watch her rise and fall as the man guides her slow circular movements. His hands slide up from her hips to her breasts, continue to her shoulders, altering her rhythm, pulling her down onto him…

I open the drawer, take out a pocket knife, rush down to the basement parking lot, and find his piercing red Jaguar. Crouching, I plunge the tip of the knife into one of his tires with climactic fierceness; then I stab and I stab…the second, third, and fourth.

I rip out
each page of our life
this sultry night
the dream soaks my bed
with her moaning

Chen-ou Liu is currently the editor and translator ofNeverEnding 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)

Caroline Skanne

Caroline Skanne is obsessed with anything wild & free, she is the founder of hedgerow: a journal of small poems. find her @ https://www.facebook.com/caroline.skanne.9 & https://twitter.com/CarolineSkanne

Michael Cantin

In Quandary Dilecto

Anne makes me want to love a woman
I know I shouldn’t.
To learn all the romance languages they never teach.
Those tongues only foreign to the uninitiated
Curses levied with need in lieu of simple bitterness
and goodbyes fraught with acceptance.
The sublime loneliness of the other woman
or the other man.
I know I shouldn’t.
I know this with every fiber of my moral tapestry.
And yet conventions are constructs,
and my wants intersect my needs.
The sting of the stitches sings a siren’s song.

Michael Cantin is an aspiring poet and sloth fanatic residing somewhere in the wilds of Costa Mesa, California.

William C. Patterson

For Love

What the mind idealizes & the body desires,
something unknown accelerates, keeps, & makes last.

Some call it soul,
others heart or spirit,
but by whatever name
(& all words lack something essential)
it preserves, persuades, & protects.

It is there in the patter of a child,
in the needful relief of travel,
& in the shared glance of any given day.

It is the promise that makes forever possible;
It is the excitement of knowing one thing doesn’t disappear.

Proof

”[…] Everything in me
Wanted to bow down, to offer up,
To go barefoot, foetal and penitential,

And pray at the water’s edge.”
[Seamus Heaney, ”Triptych” III: At the Water’s Edge]

It wasn’t the picture I was after,
the picture was proof.
The truth is: proximity was all
I desired.

That somehow closeness could prove
friendship, connection, community
led me to the side of the road,
against the barbed fence,
to the edge of the water.

Sometimes seeing is all prayer is.
Or is it: prayer is what seeing is?

Of the three prayers:
praise, forgive, & need,
I prefer the blue heron,
two legs in the water,
bill stabbing southward,
crown raised or fallen.

The moment wings stretch
into lazy flight is
prayer answered
& prayer denied.

There is no sense in waving
as you disappear,
but let this moment
be proof against
the slow current
of doubt.

publication credit —

the poem (without artwork) ‘half moon’ by Caroline Skanne, appeared previously in ‘Bright Stars 5: An Organic Tanka Anthology’ edited by M. Kei, Keibooks

hedgerow #11

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #11 of hedgerow, bringing you 13 different poets & artist. the next issue will be the last one for this year, the theme is ‘reasons to write’, feel free to interpret as you please. very excited about the print version scheduled for early 2015. it will feature work published throughout 2014; last chance this coming friday. more details to follow regarding this venture. as always, grateful to contributors & readers alike, please keep sending in your submissions as well as spreading the word, every effort really counts! with love & kindness…

Zee Zahava

red gloves give me strength walking into the wind

I knew you’d arrive today —
in my dream
the call of a bamboo flute

Diana Matisz

‘Some of my best stories, have been written with my eyes’… Diana Matisz, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA http://lifethrublueeyes.wordpress.com/ & http://about.me/diana_matisz

Kat Lehmann

morning bird
sings its song
It knows no other song
to sing
no other bird
sings it
the world is made
beautiful
in a new way

my birth place
a distant memory —
fireflies

Kat Lehmann lives in the United States by the river where she writes, under a clear view of the Moon. Her first book of poetry – Moon Full of Moons – will be published in January 2015. She writes on twitter as @SongsOfKat

Debbie Strange

Lovelorn Moon

one pair
of tundra swans
silhouetted
a pas des deux
across the moon

a loon’s
plangent tremolo
how eloquently
you plead your case
for going

in the pond
a great white egret
w r i n k l e s
on my face
and the moon’s

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.

Jon Wynne

This Morning’s Walk

This morning’s walk
Was quick – but not too quick
To stop and lend an ear,
Even the greyest skies
Have a tale to tell.

A billion raindrops
Beat time upon the trees and
Danced in circles on the puddled road.
Listen!
The streams on the tarmac
Are singing

Jon Wynne lives in Hampshire and has been writing on & off for many years. People and places are the real poetry. ‘I just try to describe what I see and feel.’

Jane Dougherty

Washed winter white
the trees stand
bare branches in the darkness
full of night sounds
and the silent moonlight.

Jane Dougherty lives in Bordeaux by the river, where she writes poetry and poetic, mythological, lyrical fantasy.

Julie Warther & Meik Blottenberger

Robin Dawn Hudechek

Courtship

The boy sees the girl
from his place on the sidewalk in the rain.
Her curls are sun bright
and warm as a window pane.
He wants to throw a rock or climb a leafy hedge
anything for a smile or a sideways glance–
her lips on his cheek,
or in the small of his back.
Her breath steams the window;
her fingers leave delicate prints.
He thrusts his hands in his pockets.

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./

Clifton Redmond

Coping with Loss at Ten

‘The heavens are opening,’ you said
and I rushed to the window
pressed my face against the cold glass
looking for a glimpse,
but all I saw was disappointment.
There were no angel’s feet dangling,
no gentle strums of harps
sneaking through the muted clouds.
Nothing but rain, empty streets,
puddles, reflecting the locked door
that you had passed through
and forgot to tell me you were going.

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.

Caroline Skanne

Caroline Skanne, rochester, uk, obsessed with anything wild & free, she is the founder of hedgerow: a journal of small poems. https://www.facebook.com/caroline.skanne.9 & https://twitter.com/CarolineSkanne

Carole Johnston

we dream alone
and come together again
you used to
follow packs of dogs in woods
imagine battles with trees
I drew maps of fairyland

in my pocket
small tan river stones
smooth as memory

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. Journeys:Getting Lost, Carole’s first chapbook of haiku and tanka, is now available for presale from Finishing Line Press. The books will be delivered in January. https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=2211

Mathias Jansson

Mathias Jansson is a Swedish art critic and poet. He has contributed with visual poetry to magazines as Lex-ICON, Anatematiskpress, Quarter After #4 and Maintenant 8: A Journal of Contemporary Dada. He has also published a chapbook of visual poetry and contributed with erasure poetry to anthologies from Silver Birch Press. Homepage: http://wordshavenoeyes.blogspot.se/

Maurice Devitt

Spider/Man

How easy it must be
to forget
what never happened
and something found
may not have been lost.

The sky may darken
but the length of a minute
is still the same,
whether we rush in expectation
or sit and watch

as a spider walks on stilts
across a bedroom floor,
not sure
if he is coming or going.

‘I like short poems because they are easier to smuggle across borders…’ Maurice Devitt, Dublin, Ireland

hedgerow #10

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #10 of hedgerow, featuring 16 different poets and artists. thanks to contributors and readers alike, and also for spreading the word. every effort is appreciated! please keep sending in your submissions, with love & kindness…

Roary Williams

all those seeds
we planted at night
stars upon stars

crescent moon
in an icy sky
Buddha’s half smile

Roary Williams, Albuquerque New Mexico, USA, is a simple poet who loves nature and the seasons (@CoyoteSings)

Veronika Zora Novak

Teika

Veronika Zora Novak is simply a daydreamer.

Scott Kovach

I walk in my suit
down snow-fallen sidewalks

If I were a boy again
I would clobber me with a snowball

Scott Kovach provides poetical and facetious commentary from the Middle West on Twitter as @scottkovach.

Jon Wynne

The science
Of why we hear sound in a shell
Does nothing
To explain the voices we hear

Dad and lad holding hands
Big proud strong safe,
Small clutching a comic.
Big grins big boots
Stomping down the windy hill
Together.
Forever.

Old Man’s Beard
Silvering the hedgerows
Snare the sunbeams
In your gentle decay

Jon Wynne lives in Hampshire and has been writing on & off for many years. People and places are the real poetry. ‘I just try to describe what I see and feel.’

Rachel Sutcliffe

all this time
in grandma’s press-
his first red rose

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 keeps her from going insane!

Mary Harwell Sayler

Rehearsals

We practice aging – the bruise
that takes too long to heal,
the once-cracked ankle radiating
pain to indicate rain coming,
a memory lost among many,
many.

Mary Harwell Sayler, an almost native of Florida, writes books in all genres for Christian and educational publishers. In 2012, Hiraeth Press published her first full-length book of poetry, Living in the Nature Poem, with an e-book version released in 2014. Also, in 2014, Kelsay Books published her Bible-based poems, Outside Eden, and book of nature poems for children, Beach Songs & Wood Chimes.

Joann Grisetti

Joann Grisetti lived up in Sasebo Japan and eighteen other places. She lives inFlorida with her husband and two sons. Her poetry, photos and stories have appeared in a number of print and online journals. She is still waiting to grow up. Her latest book ‘Round Trip’ is available at Amazon.

John Byrne

Ireland
where moonbeams
and lover’s kisses
are often stored
In the hedgerows

John [Jack] Byrne lives in Co. Wicklo Ireland, and has been writing poems and taking pictures for quite a number of years having had some published success along the way with the right words and images.

Barbara Kaufmann

The River

the river Silence
beckons,
i dive in
listening
to ancient psalms
sing their poetry
tapping deeper
touching the pain
swimming through
to the still, silent pool,
i reach for a whisper
a single metaphor,
murmured underwater
an echo…. maybe joy
gasping,
and coming up
for air
then seeing
the sun rise
hearing the sky shout,

i breathe,
find a voice,
and sing.

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

Kat Lehmann

holding hands:
the moonlit woman
and the girl
with a sun in her heart —
I show myself the world

Jameson Bayles

a trembling dove-
fresh seeds rest
in my open palms

Jameson Bayles, a Kansas City, Missouri resident, has been published in various literary magazines and journals whose most recent work can be viewed in the poetry anthology entitled “The Artistic Muses”, published by True Colors Press.”

Jennifer Thompson

snow flurries
never knowing
what to hold back
and what
to unleash

Jennifer Thompson, West Virginia, USA

Bauke Kamstra

The river
holds no print

yet remembers
the touch
of your foot

as does the sea

one day
a raindrop
will remember
you.

Every voice
dedicated
to truth
& beauty

transforms the world.

Bauke Kamstra has mostly been a visual artist. He now paints with a different medium: words. Residing in Nova Scotia, he can be found writing poetry among tree, listening to the silence, & finding reasons to laugh. His work has been published in Poetry Nook, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and Shot Glass Journal. His book We All Reach the Earth by Falling http://www.amazon.com/We-All-Reach-EarthFalling/dp/0992509750/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412602040&sr=1-1&keywords=we+all+reach+the+earth+by+falling was released on October 6th, 2014. You will find him on twitter as: @wyrde

Dominic Moriarty

Voyages

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

previously published —

* the poem ‘a trembling dove’ by Jameson Bayles was previously published in “The Cataman Years”, Jameson Bayles, Mistop Publications.

hedgerow #9

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #9 of hedgerow, bringing you work from 16 different poets & artists. on popular demand a print issue has been scheduled for early 2015. selection for this issue will end on 12th december. as always, grateful to contributors, readers & anyone spreading the word! with love & kindness…

Paula Dawn Lietz

Walks Far

Elders are drumming
the history of the present.
Embrace this knowledge
that walks far upon the wind
and resonates deep in your chest.
You know the stories told through
the ages of right and wrong
of mother earth father sky.
Tis not simple nor complex
listen…to the trees, the birds
the rivers too,
before all falls silent, listen.

Paula Dawn Lietz ( Pd Lietz ) is an accomplished multi-genre artist, photographer and poet. http://www.pdlietzphotography.com

Rachel Sutcliffe

first frost
a new greyness
to the sheepdog’s coat

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 keeps her from going insane!

Jane Dougherty

In dark winter’s depths
red throat pulses fierce defiance
singing to the sun.

Jane Dougherty is Irish and lives in Bordeaux where she writes novels, short fiction, and lots of poems, some of which have been published in magazines and journals.

Ken Sawitri (words) & Jimat Achmadi (painting)

Ken Sawitri was born in Blora, Central Java, Indonesia, and completed
her degree in psychology at the University of Indonesia, she was the
Psychology & Education editor of ‘Ayahbunda’ magazine (1995-1998).

Jimat Achmadi was born in Yogyakarta (1959), in collaboration with Ken Sawitri, two of their haiga have been awarded as the Editor’s Choice in “Cattails” May 2014 Edition and September 2014 Edition http://maedisensetheunsense.blogspot.com/.

Zee Zahava

blue morning
a hole in the basket
where a cloud slips through

lonely day
then I found you
and a blue iris

growing out of a crack
in a Bronx sidewalk
the first dandelion
mother says
“it’s like living in the country now”

Zee Zahava lives in Ithaca, N.Y. She writes most of her poems in a small notebook while taking her early morning walks. She is the editor of brass bell, an online haiku journal:http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/

Helen Buckingham

beetroot pee
my sister dials
111

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.

Jo Waterworth

WHAT ARE WE LEARNING TODAY?

It’s a good year for apples
and riots.

We sit in the garden,
discussing the family life of swallows.

Art, good coffee. A dragonfly.
Why can’t everyone have this?

‘They should bring back hanging,’
my neighbour says.

Watch. Listen. Sunshine and birdsong.
Looters. Arsonists.

Whose voices are heard? Whose are not?
The rosehips are hanging orange.

My inspiration, I say, is ancient tribal cultures.

Jo Waterworth lives in Glastonbury and has had a pamphlet of short poetry published by Poetry Space of Bristol.

Caroline Skanne

life
is learning
to let go
of everything
but love

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

Marianne Paul

upon frail wings and faith
the monarch sets out
for places she has never been
locks course
pulled by some internal compass
maybe instinct
heartbeat, wing beat–
places so distant
they might as well
be imaginary

life stages–
the baby in her womb
shifts position

Marianne Paul is a Canadian novelist and poet. You can learn more about her work by visiting http://www.mariannepaul.com or following her on twitter @mariannpaul.

Laura Williams

feathering the nest
in just the right color
robin’s egg blue

in need
of all these things …
I consider
the lilies
of the field

Laura Williams has been writing haiku and tanka since 2012. She lives in California, USA.http://www.foralovelything.blogspot.com

gennepher

gennepher, North Wales (UK), writes poetry on Twitter as @gennepher

Devin Harrison

animism
behind it all
the woodlands

Devin Harrison, Vancouver Island, Canada, a writer of regular poetry, recently became addicted to writing Tanka and Haiku/Senyru, which gives him more time for field study and less time for introspection. He recently won the Akita International University President Award.

Loretta Diane Walker

GRATITUDE FOR A POET

For the skin of words
in which you house
fragments of yourself.
For the distance your dreams
traveled to pitch a tent on the page.
For your poems that took off their boots
to walk barefoot through consciousness.
I carve your name in a stone of gratitude.

Loretta Diane Walker, Odessa, Texas, USA is a two time Pushcart nominee. She has published two books of poetry.

North Gregory

North Gregory, Canada, https://www.flickr.com/photos/northgregory/

hedgerow #8

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #8 and two months of hedgerow! let’s celebrate with the news that there is a print issue in the pipeline. also, have a peek at our newly launched sister site wildflower poetry press http://wildflowerpoetrypress.wordpress.com thanks for all your support in making our small poems grow! with love & kindness…

Sandi Pray

Sandi Pray is a wild child who roams between mountain and marsh in North Carolina and Florida, http://ravencliffs.blogspot.com.

Rena Lindgren

at dawn I wash my face in sunlight

Rena Lindgren, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA enjoys singing, reading and writing poetry.

Angelee Deodhar

night train
trailing white exhaust
across the moon

Angelee Deodhar is an eye surgeon by profession. She is also a haiku poet, translator and artist from India. Her haiku/haiga has been published internationally in various books, journals and on the internet.

David Ishaya Osu

full moon
i remember all tales
of mama
heaven was in
our village

David Ishaya Osu is a Nigerian poet and a street photography enthusiast. He believes in hedonism, and says his role is ‘Air’. He is just obsessed with living.

Zee Zahava

Still Arm-In-Arm

linking elbows in a town that is not ours
I ask Is this okay?
you pull my arm closer to your body

Where can I get a really good cookie?
you ask
your lips brushing against my ear

4 strangers (older than we are)
squeeze by on a narrow strip of sidewalk

we are anonymous here

I suggest the bakery we’ve been to before
But if that doesn’t work out
I tell you
I know another place

we like to return to the familiar
but also (or so we tell ourselves)
we are open to the unexpected

we arrive
still arm-in-arm
at the bakery we know

they have exactly the kind of cookie you are craving

But next time we’re here
you say
We could try the other bakery

Robyn Cairns

she lay on the warm pier looking skyward and dreamt

Robyn Cairns is a Melbourne based poet who shares her poetry and photography on twitter @robbiepoet.

Mary Hohlman

Mary Hohlman, USA, is a mother, writer, student, and athlete. She enjoys writing Japanese and short verse poetry. She finds daily inspiration outdoors at her home in Northern California and spending time with her 4 year old daughter. http://www.poetrypretty.wordpress.com http://www.maryhohlman.com/

Sarah Thursday

Fixing a Hole

How do you fill
                       a chasm?
With stone or wood
               or earth?
An artist doesn’t fill
                       a chasm
but instead creates
          an amphitheater
and floods the space
    with song
Steep gouged walls
become a torso
     its beating heart
          begins to sing

Sarah Thursday is a music obsessed, poetry advocate and documents her antics on http://www.SarahThursday.com

Tim Gardiner

the caterpillar
hangs by a single thread
hostage to the wind –
I face the loneliness
of another winter

Tim Gardiner is a professional ecologist who has written scientific papers, natural history books and poetry which has been published in literary journals such as Blithe Spirit and Frogpond.

Tobi Cogswell

Look up—
Not to the oceans of clouds,
or the moss dripping fragrant
with the turn of season.
Not to a place inside
that furrows your brow,
one side of your lip folded
across your teeth. Not to
photos, memories,
dreams of ancients
once smiling, now dead.
Not to the sound of coffee,
or smell of melodies
golden and gorgeous,
and beckoning.
Not to the clock ticking,
or the sound of the
far-off train, so distant
it could be mistaken for thunder.
Not to the dirty pennies
jingling in the jar.
Look at me.
I am…

Tobi Cogswell lives in Torrance, CA. She is the co-editor and co-publisher of San Pedro River Review (www.sprreview.com). Her seventh chapbook, “The Coincidence of Castles”, is forthcoming from Glass Lyre Press. You can reach Tobi at editor@sprreview.com.

Jamie Wimberly

I heard your murmurs,
You, drunken streets of Dublin,
I heard and awoke.

Jamie Wimberly has been writing haiku for many years with some success, including publication and awards. Recently, Jamie has been publishing haiku everyday on Twitter (@haiku_america).

Carole Johnston

where do the homeless
go when it rains?
broken winged butterfly

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. Journeys:Getting Lost, Carole’s first chapbook of haiku and tanka, is now available for presale from Finishing Line Press. The books will be delivered in January. https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=2211

S.M. Abeles

when the wind
blows the whole sky
blue
the cool way
you look at me

S.M. Abeles is just a simple poet.

Helen Buckingham

Royal Swans
circle the moat…
how little they know

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.

Matsukaze

when they called me
“creole n*****!”
ran into grandma’s arms
she brushed tears aside
giving me a sweet dough lemon tart
*
nothing really needs to be said
to my right, the vivid blue of hydrangea this autumn

Matsukaze, has been writing tanka for the last 10 years. He is featured in Atlas Poetica, and the Tanka Kajin Club Magazine. He is the founder of the Chocolate Cosmos Tanka Study Group @CCosmosTankaSC on twitter.

Michael Tolleson

Lament

Michael Tolleson, Seattle, Washington, is an Autistic Savant Artist, who has no formal art training, but instead relies on the use of the huge amount of stored information that his Asperger’s mind has observed and retained. During his career of only 3 years of painting, he has painted more than 600 paintings, and each painting is usually completed in less than one hour of painting time regardless of size. He states that he feels trance-like during the actual act of painting, and is reluctant to take credit for the finished work as he feels the autism is actually the artist. http://www.MichaelTollesonArtist.com

hedgerow #7

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #7 of hedgerow, bringing you 19 different poets & artists! please keep sending in your work and thanks also for spreading the word, every effort is appreciated. grateful to contributors and readers alike. with love & kindness…

Marianne Paul

beneath Toronto
there is an ancient river
the current as slow as the flow
of glass
there is something beautiful
about the hidden
the forgotten
in the form of rivers
beneath our surfaces

Marianne Paul is a Canadian novelist and poet. You can learn more about her work by visiting http://www.mariannepaul.com or following her on twitter @mariannpaul.

Jennifer Arbini

Child of the Earth

I was a child of the Earth:
Dirty hands, dirty feet.
I loved the sound
of cicadas in summer;
Rattle snake grass
Rattling against the hem of my skirt
And billowing dust.

I was a child of the Earth:
Curious eyes, curious heart,
I relished the adventure of exploring the land;
Cool streams
Covered by an evergreen canopy
And dappled light.

I was a child of the Earth.
Devoted mind, devoted spirit,
I played in this backyard everyday;
Long ago memories
Lingering in my daily thoughts
And writing my story.

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

Jo Waterworth

It’s OK

I can remember lying on the earth
gazing at the blazing-with-wonder night sky
knowing I would not fall off.

Shining right back.

Let me hold your hand.

Jo Waterworth lives in Glastonbury and has had a pamphlet of short poetry published by Poetry Space of Bristol.

Neelam Dadhwal

Blue

The sky dripped away or
held back, with no remorse,
I ever watched
the crescent blue,
striking sometimes
my heart
of green valley, of meadows,
of limbs of forms,
and I decided
to look at you,
and hold it for ever,
the blue of you.

The ever blue.

Neelam Dadhwal, Chandigarh, India

Paula Dawn Lietz

Paula Dawn Lietz ( Pd Lietz ) is an accomplished multi-genre artist, photographer and poet. http://www.pdlietzphotography.com

Clifton Redmond

Square Peg

He was different.
He could see sounds,
feel colours.

When people tried
to get close
he threw tantrums,

pressed his hands
against his ears,
his cocoon.

The doctors diagnosed
him with fancy words,
dosed him with drugs;

branded him unstable,
and filed him away
in a locked cabinet.

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.

Anne Curran

just loving
I hold him close
afraid
the storm in me
might push him away

Anne Curran lives in Hamilton, New Zealand close to her
parents where she writes, dreams and works to help elderly
stay in their homes.

Melanie Barbato

Roman Room

Mnemonists
Tie thoughts to tangible things
With the chair, the table
The framed painting on the bedroom wall
They recall
Random words
Or the order
Of shuffled cards
I do this, too, but for reassurance
I touch in my room
The wood and the glass
Substitutes for what
Has been wrested from my hands
When I ask who am I?
They say
You give us shelter –
We remember the names

Melanie Barbato is currently completing her doctoral studies in Indology and Religious Studies at LMU Munich/ Germany.

Carole Johnston

among tombstones
an old man in a chair
red cap and jacket
playing music for the dead
leaves blowing in the wind

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. Journeys:Getting Lost, Carole’s first chapbook of haiku and tanka, is now available for presale from Finishing Line Press. The books will be delivered in January. https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=2211

Maureen Sudlow

It’s just an old cardboard box from my mother’s attic. My sister wants to throw it out with ‘all the other rubbish’, but I am afraid of losing more of my mother than I can bear. When I open it, there is a smell of dust and old peppermints, and I think I feel the pressure of my mother’s warm hand on mine.

memories are
the treasures that I hold
these photographs

Maureen Sudlow is a member of The New Zealand Society of Authors (Northland), and the New Zealand Poetry Society, and writes mainly poetry and text for children’s picture books.

Billy Antonio

summer vacation
my daughter’s crayons
scattered on the floor

late afternoon
an old woman carries
the sun
on a winnowing basket
on her way home

Billy Antonio is a public school teacher in the Philippines where he writes fiction and poetry to remind himself of moments he thinks are worth remembering.

Roary Williams

crystal
on a string
in the window
first thing the sun
has said all day

Roary Williams, Albuquerque New Mexico, USA, is a simple poet who loves nature and the seasons (@CoyoteSings)

Stevie Strang

november sunrise
silently inches its way
across the yard
unfolding the morning
one ray at a time

Stevie Strang is a writer, photographer/Artist and late night poet in Southern California. More of her work can be viewed at http://justperfectstudio.blogspot.com/

S.Eta Grubešić

Grain of sand.
In my shoe I wear the
whole universe.

S.Eta Grubešić, Croatia, ex-journalist, writer short story , poems and photographer. Her works have been published in various books and literary e-portals.

Vibeke Laier

touch of
moonlight in the
evening prayer

gentle waves
a line of stars
painted in the sand

Vibeke Laier lives in Randers, Denmark, she has been writing and studying poetry since 2012, but her interest in the art of haiku stretches back to when she was a schoolgirl.

Tim Gardiner

onshore wind sea horses dance

Tim Gardiner, Manningtree, England is a professional ecologist who has written scientific papers, natural history books and poetry which has been published in literary journals such as Blithe Spirit and Frogpond.

Julie Warther

above the spillway —
root steps
in the riverbank

Julie Warther writes haiku from her home in Dover, Ohio where she lives with her husband and three children.

Laura Williams

all that remains … frost on the blackberry brambles

Laura Williams has been writing haiku and tanka since 2012. She lives in California, USA. http://www.foralovelything.blogspot.com

Caroline Skanne

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