#46

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #46 of hedgerow, featuring artwork by september’s resident artist Sandi Pray. if you enjoy her work please pass by her blog — http://ravencliffs.blogspot.com. grateful to all the poets contributing to this issue as well as the readers, thanks for being here!

new book reviews added at the link below —
https://hedgerowpoems.wordpress.com/poetry-art-book-reviews/

with love & kindness.

it’s how
I long
to greet you —
wildflowers
becoming the breeze

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.

blue water
sunshine brightens
the coral

Simon Hanson lives in rural South Australia near The Great Southern Ocean. He relishes these open spaces and the moods of the land and sea from which he draws much inspiration. The more he delves into haiku the more he realises that it is akin to a way of living and there is always so much more to learn.

silver spider thread
connecting the volcano
to the crescent moon

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.

briny lagoon—
flamingos fly the sunset
to the east

Marietta McGregor is an Australian botanist and writer who has spent much of her life explaining scientific concepts. She now tries to let things explain themselves through an early love, haiku. She lives in Canberra and hopes to capture a sense of the bush, mountains and ocean in her work.

harvest moon tonight a rice-pounding song

Billy Antonio is from the Philippines. He writes haiku to remind himself of moments he thinks are worth remembering. http://themoss-coveredwell.blogspot.com

the art in this issue was brought to you by Sandi Pray —

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

#39

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

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).

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

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

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

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

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

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.

#36

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

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.

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

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.

hedgerow #34

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

thrilled to bring you #34 of hedgerow, an issue that will hopefully make you smile! some exciting news to share with you this coming week, stay tuned. thanks everyone, for being here…

with love & kindness!

so much happiness but no tail to wag

practicing how not to be too honest

hibiscus tea in a sunflower mug mixing it all up

bad handwriting I must want to keep secrets from myself

Zee Zahava lives in Ithaca, New York (USA) and is the editor of the online haiku journal “brass bell.”

Debbie Strange (Canada) is a published tanka and haiku poet and an avid photographer. She enjoys creating haiga and tanshi (small poem) art. You are invited to see more of her work on Twitter @Debbie_Strange.

riding the
Midnight Butterfly Express
wearing my
glassy glitter wings I
wonder why everyone
reaches out to touch me

drummer in the
Midnight Butterfly Blues Band
heart beats neon
while a blind poet
misses the light show

got a letter
from Midnight Butterfly
tattered and worn
hand painted haiku moon
stained by indigo blood

jetting in my
Midnight Butterfly car
radio maniac
blaring cosmic questions
I meet myself on the road

lost again
at Midnight Butterfly
Coffee Shop
scribbling runes in my notebook
with skyblueluminous ink

Circus of the Soul
starring Midnight Butterfly
run away with me
to the light show of your mind
join the poetry bizarre

in line at Starbucks
Midnight Butterfly taps
me on the shoulder
a poem pops in my mind
steams off in a coffee cloud

some say
Midnight Butterfly is just
a metaphor
muse in an old photograph
your smokey absinth dreams

wish I could paint
chiaroscuro lightning like
Midnight Butterfly
Joan Jet & Black Hearts
silver studs leather jackets

that carousel
my childhood in hyper-drive
a gold ring quest
chasing Midnight Butterfly
on glossy white horses
into the blue distant sea

Carole Johnston lives and writes in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, although she is from “nowhere zen.”

moored in a cove
the stars above
the stars

Meik Blöttenberger was born in Baltimore to German immigrant parents. He is currently living in Hanover, Pennsylvania and in a decade will be retiring to the high desert of Arizona. His other passions are photography and traveling.

birding . . .
he shushes
the cicadas

outdoor diner
joined by a party
of sparrows

brush marks
in wet paint
the cat’s tail

Simon Hanson lives in a small country town in South Australia where he spends quite a lot of time walking the back roads between paddocks. Some of the cows have become acquainted with his Blue Heeler dog who seems to forget on occasions that it is not her job to round them up no matter how much fun it might be.

falling barn—
unhurried
the drooping roof

starlings
in the chicken house
thieving feed

Ed Higgins’ tanka, haiku, and haibun have been published in various print and online journals. He and his wife live on a small farm in Yamhill, OR. where they raise a menagerie of animals including a pair of Bourbon Red turkeys (King Strut and Nefra-Turkey) and an alpaca named Machu-Picchu.

AT THE BUS STOP

guy next to me
is making earthquake noises,
cracking open the earth,
toppling buildings
with a jerk of his tongue
across the roof of his gums

I hold on thankfully
to poles that do not totter,
stand on a sidewalk
that doesn’t crack,
below a sky that does not fall

so how come he knows
what kind of day I’ve had?

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in New Plains Review, Big Muddy and Sanskrit with work upcoming in South Carolina Review, Gargoyle, Owen Wister Review and Louisiana Literature.

transformers
covered in morning glories
electric blues

rice cakes
that even geese won’t eat
your lies

Scott Wiggerman is the author of three books of poetry, Leaf and Beak: Sonnets, Presence, and Vegetables and Other Relationships; and the editor of several volumes, includingWingbeats: Exercises & Practice in Poetry, Lifting the Sky: Southwestern Haiku & Haiga, and the new Wingbeats II. Recent poems have appeared in Decades Review, Frogpond, Pinyon Review,Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, and the anthologies This Assignment Is So Gay and Forgetting Home: Poems about Alzheimer’s. He is chief editor for Dos Gatos Press, now of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

WHEN LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH

would it help
to get naked
but for a welder’s
helmet

Anna Cates resides in Wilmington, Ohio with her two cats, Freddie and Christine, writes, and teaches English online for several universities.

the road that goes to Philadelphia
a modern haiku

hedgerow #33

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #33 of hedgerow, bringing you eleven different poets & artists. as always, a big thank you to readers & contributors alike!

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

with love & kindness.

an empty page
in the old typewriter —
new moon

gray shadows —
the soft landing
of a puma

midnight walk —
cherry blossoms shuffle
the silence

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 Kumquat Poetry, among others.

When the Dam Won’t Break

Sometimes the dam won’t break
Sometimes the breath holding
  becomes so automatic, lungs
  won’t expand and the oxygen
  in your pores becomes painful

Sometimes the clock won’t tick
Sometimes the unrest stops
  your soul from unfolding
  the heart beats without pumping
  your blood, leaving fingers cold

Sometimes one listen isn’t enough
Sometimes the song mustn’t end
  the music has more love to give
  your ears opening to the sound
  makes you weep silently

Sarah Thursday calls Long Beach, California, her home, where she advocates for local poets and poetry events. She runs a Long Beach-focused poetry website called CadenceCollective.net, co-hosts a monthly reading with one of her poetry heroes, G. Murray Thomas, and just started Sadie Girl Press as a way to help publish local and emerging poets. Her first full-length poetry collection, All the Tiny Anchors, is available now. Find and follow her on SarahThursday.com, Facebook, or Twitter.

The story
settles down
for a ride
in the story.

Kim Peter Kovac lives in Alexandria, VA, USA, where he produces plays for young audiences and writes poetry, prose poetry, creative non-fiction, haiku, haibun, and microfiction.

Try to catch the wind.
Count the ripples in the sea.
Become a child again.

Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary magazines and anthologies such as Camel Saloon, Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline, Missing of the Birds, the Bright Hills Press, Kind of A Hurricane Press and Poppy Road Review. She has been nominated three times for Best of the Net. Poet and Geek recognized her work as their best poem of 2013. Four of her books have been published by fine small literary presses.

another morning another crack in the ceiling

daydreaming about a garden I can daydream in

solitary day alone with the house plants

from my afternoon bed eavesdropping on 3 crows

Zee Zahava lives in Ithaca, New York (USA) and is the editor of the online haiku journal “brass bell.”

UNTITLED

In those dreams

You’re out beyond
The shoreline and you’ve
Been there for some time.
You’ve forgotten,
Standing on an outcrop,
That the tide’s been coming in
All the while.

You’ve been
Absorbed in watching some fish
Moving, just below the surface,
Turning in fluid movements with
Their tails swaying back and forth in
Water gravity with buoyance as
Undertow, undertow as buoyance.

Suddenly
You realize the sea has surrounded,
If not engulfed, you with nothing
Left in sight but the shore off in the
Distance and a few rough rocks
Jutting out of the tidal waters
Like a ragged line of stepping stones:
Running down one side
With an occasional anchor sticking
Out of the water, close to shore, with
Their unique rusted surfaces intact.

That’s right, an archipelago of random rocks
And then one anchor after another.
What does it mean?

Who is it?

James Mc Elroy, a native of Belfast, currently teaches at the University of California, Davis. His articles and reviews have appeared in The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. Recent poetry publications include pieces in Vox Poetica, The Boston Poetry Magazine, and Literature Today.

purple sky
movements beneath moles holes
what the stray cat knows

after rains—
blue jay jive in the bird bath
cumulus clouds

August eve
long green sunlight
creeps along the grass

Anna Cates resides in Wilmington, Ohio with her two cats, Freddie and Christine, and teaches English and education online for several universities.

Meditation

This is time to pause—
and witness rainbows learn to fly.

Kevin Heaton is originally from Kansas and Oklahoma, and now lives and writes in South Carolina. His work has appeared in a number of publications including: Guernica, Rattle, Slice Magazine, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Adroit Journal, and Verse Daily. He is a Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and three-time Pushcart Prize nominee.

rain-rinsed moonlight —
one by one jasmines unfold
in my garden

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.

first star . . .
a swift’s gentle leaf-drop
into the chimney

out of the blue
one crow after another
hits the updraft

blushing sky . . .
a hummingbird waits
for the morning glory

nothing to say until the oriole sings

hedgerow #32

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #32 of hedgerow, featuring eleven poets & artists. a massive thank you to readers & contributors alike. you all bring joy!

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

with love & kindness…

moss spores . . .
my daughter picks a bouquet
for the fairy queen

my father calls
from across town —
a rainbow

watching boys skip stones . . .
she tosses maple seeds
into the air

sweeping forbidden!
a child with a banner
under cherry blossoms

a frog on the moon –
the stork deletes
the news

my broken biffacals-
I fall in love
at first sight

Lavana Kray is from Iasi – Romania. She is passionate about writing and photography. The nature and the events of her life are topics of inspiration. Her work has been published in: Haiku Canada Review, Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi, World Haiku Association, Daily Haiga, Heron’s Nest, Frogpond, Eucalypt, Acorn, Ardea, Ginyu, Presence, Traversées and others. She was chosen for Haiku Euro Top 100-edition 2014.This is her blog: http://photohaikuforyou.blogspot.ro

yesterday – sunshine, friends, art, lunch, river
today – low cloud obscures all
pathetic fallacy

Jo Waterworth lives in Glastonbury, UK, where she has been writing poetry for many years. She blogs at jowaterworthwriter.Wordpress.com and has had a pamphlet of short poetry published by Poetry Space of Bristol.

Tom Slagle loves wilderness, wild rivers, good coffee, literature, travel, play, and kindness. A native of Colorado, he now lives and loves in the desert southwest, USA.

a long night
finally the colours
seep into the valley

low tide
sunlight ripples
over rippled sand

Simon Hanson lives in rural South Australia relishing the open spaces and distant horizons. He spent a number of years in the philosophy department of Flinders University which he thoroughly enjoyed though he did have a difficult time persuading others that Beauty is an objective feature of the universe and not just in the eye of the beholder.

zoo torpor
a flight of swallows
sweeps over the big cats

park scents
the dog-minder’s leads
criss-crossing

upside down
she waits
for gymnastics

nightjar
shadow of birdsong
evaporated dreams

the prerecorded blue
sounds of the morning
crow

Caroline Skanne, Rochester, UK, is obsessed with anything wild and free. She is the founder of hedgerow: a journal of small poems. Her book ‘a hundred poems by caroline skanne’ is available from amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/hundred-small-poems-caroline-skanne/dp/1506022944

still pond–
holding my smile
in cupped hands

red river–
living in
a changing body

heavy rain–
blue sky
under our umbrellas

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

You swallow my soul
Lost rivers run quietly
Through the mouth of you

This is a wild song
Out of control and crazy
Still, you dance closer

Sarah Frances Moran is editor of Yellow Chair Review. She has work published in Boston Poetry Magazine, Blackheart Magazine, Crab Fat Magazine, The Bitchin Kitsch, Elephant Journal and more. She resides in Waco, Texas with her partner and two chihuahuas.

Silver Brick Road
for Aly

If optimism is floral, you
are flourishing blooms
exploding pollen that instead
of making eyes water and itch,
eyes are forced to sparkle
and mouths from their corners
turn upward. Flowers with glitter
pollen residue rubbing on your
cheeks and your shirt and
your shoes. He said you really are
as you seem, all forceful
optimism endless like fields
of red poppies across silver brick
roads. You sing a song to calm
the giants from their castle clouds,
they lay at your feet to hear
your lullaby. Love, love, love—
girl, you are as you seem.

hedgerow #30

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to the 30th issue of hedgerow! we celebrate this milestone with the launch of ‘poet / artist spotlight’ featuring work by four artists. do have a peek! (https://hedgerowpoems.wordpress.com/poet-artist-spotlight/). also a huge thank you to all of you who have continued to support hedgerow week after week… reading, sharing & contributing!

with love & kindness.

s u b w a y |everyone|crammed|sofarapart

low in the bat sky a talon moon

deserted trail
a wagtail
makes way

the length
of my headlights
country road

into the puddle
without a splash
moonlight

strawberry blossoms
the growing list of
boys she likes

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

the weight
of my worries
dream catcher

Night train

East of yesterday
I open the sleepy eye
Of my compartment

Silent and nameless
Lines appear outside and shapes
Still covered in mist

Hills and soft valleys
Waves of an endless green band
Drawn across the sky

Melanie Barbato has recently completed her doctoral studies on Indian Philosophy at LMU Munich/ Germany.

I trip upon the times
When your ghost haunts me
Like a wind that doesn’t blow

Allison M. Peck is an awe-struck traveller on the planet earth who currently resides in the “wilds” of Northwest New Jersey, USA. She is a lover of the natural world, a gardener, mother, physical therapist, and creator of messes- in no particular order of relevance.

Static

When
my
grandfather
died,

his
radio

turned
itself
on.

Mike Jewett is editor and publisher of Boston Poetry Magazine. His work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Eunoia Review, Yellow Journal Magazine, Clarion, Latent Image, Three Drops from a Cauldron, Pankhearst, Coup d’Etat, Orion Magazine, and The Bitchin’ Kitsch. He roosts with his punk rock wife and punk rock son.

dark blue tree
at midnight what is
green

dew in the starlight in the dew

hedgerow #29

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #29 of hedgerow, featuring nine poets & artists. as mentioned last week, a new section of the journal called ‘poet / artist spotlight’ is about to be launched, followed by a ‘poetry / art book review’ page. it was scheduled for this week but has been moved forward to coincide with the celebration of the 30th issue of the journal! any updates will be posted at the link below. thanks everyone for your continued support in helping hedgerow grow into a thing of beauty!

with love & kindness…

https://www.facebook.com/hedgerowpoems

https://www.facebook.com/wildflowerpoetrypress

overcast-
she paints the sun
with sidewalk chalk

Gabriel Patterson lives in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) with his family. He escapes the city’s fast pace by writing haiku.

swing… drive…
pick-axe into bare hillside
swing… drive… swing…
to dig a hole to put a tree
drive… swing… drive–

the air is nice
thoughts float light

Mark Kaplon’s short poems have recently appeared in Lilliput Review, the Aurorean, Right Hand Pointing, Frogpond, Ribbons and elsewhere. His chapbook Song of Rainswept Sand is available on Amazon and from Finishing Line Press. He lives in Hawaii, USA.

morning stillness
the warmth of tea
on my tongue

from the budding oak
a bird call
then an answer

the cat on my lap
cleans his shoulder
then my book cover

Ben Moeller-Gaa is the author of two haiku chapbooks, the Pushcart nominated Wasp Shadows (Folded Word Press 2014) and Blowing on a Hot Soup Spoon (poor metaphor design 2014). His work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Learn more about Ben at http://www.benmoellergaa.com.

slow afternoon
refilling the salt shaker
then the pepper one

palomino field
ripples in the wind,
shivers, shudders, foams,
moves like waves.
golden, flaxen, froth
on sea of grass;
ever-moving yet
forever at rest

Freya Pickard is a cancer survivor, trying to re-discover her creativity after bowel cancer, surgery and chemotherapy. She is the author of Dragonscale Leggings and is currently writing poetry in order to try and get her creative flow to return. Freya blogs at either http://purehaiku.wordpress.com or http://dragonscaleclippings.wordpress.com depending on how she is feeling…

unblinking
one fixed star outstares
the stargazer

Lisa Cherrett lives in north Wiltshire, England, and works as an editor in book publishing. She writes haiku and cinquains to force herself to pay proper attention to her surroundings. She blogs at ‘The poised moon’, lisannie44.wordpress.com.

lightning flash
just for a moment
the crow

sure as day
dawn slips into
the rooster’s yard

Simon Hanson lives in a small country town in rural South Australia. Being a bird lover he is alarmed by the cat recently smuggled into the house by the rest of the family who have agreed at his request to plant two trees for every bird it might catch. Much to his surprise he has grown attached to the cat but has decided to up the ransom to three trees.

Burlington, Vermont — June, 2013

out of the rain and into a tea shop
we lunge for the last available table
drop our wet things onto an empty chair
shake ourselves off

the menu is brought by a young man with an old face
he brings a small brass bell, too

we are instructed to ring the bell
after we’ve considered all the tea choices
which are mind-numbingly numerous

we are still dripping rain all over ourselves
not in the best of moods
the day got off to a rocky start
we don’t sleep well in hotels

I’m not wearing the right shoes
your eyes are burning from allergies

but here is the menu
a dense tome devoted to all things Tea
and also, the little bell
it is all so dear and pretentious and exactly what it should be

you order something chilled and milky and sweet
I order lavender tea

we ask the waiter to leave the bell right there
in the middle of the table
in case we just want to ring it again for no reason at all

we stay a long time

you order a second cup of chilled tea
I ask for something different
something that doesn’t taste like drinking a bubble bath

we watch as the candle
(not really a candle —
more like a blob of wax in a small glass dish
with a wick that seems like an afterthought)
burns out

after a while
you look out the window and say
it has stopped raining

later
looking back on everything
I think this was the best hour of our trip to Vermont

Zee Zahava lives in Ithaca, New York (USA) and is the editor of the online haiku journal “brass bell.”

hedgerow #27

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Caroline Skanne

welcome to #27 of hedgerow, featuring ten artists & poets. please look out for the launch of poet / artist spotlight & poetry / art book reviews (see pages). thanks everyone for your lovely support. happy friday!

with love & kindness…

I’ve brought you nothing
but the sunshine in my hair
that’s more than enough

Jo Waterworth lives in Glastonbury, UK and is well known in the local poetry scene. She will be performing poetry at Priddy Folk Festival in July and Bristol Poetry Festival in September, 2015. Her pamphlet My Father Speaks in Poetry Too is published by Poetry Space, and she blogs at https://jowaterworthwriter.wordpress.com/ and https://jowaterworth23.wordpress.com/

spring reverie
pondering the language
of birds

Devin Harrison, a writer of regular poetry, recently became addicted to writing Tanka and Haiku/Senyru and has published in journals in the USA and abroad. He is an inveterate wanderer and has spent years in southeast Asia. He recently won the Akita International University President Award

David J Kelly is an ecologist, based in Dublin, Ireland, where he finds scientific and artistic inspiration in the natural world.

upstream paddle —
keeping pace
with the moon

how many untold histories written within this wind

squinting westward into the long and winding soul

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

free jazz
night winds
play the tree limbs

a jellyfish
moving closer
to the moon

the icy stream
breaks into fragments
of light

Mary Kendall has been enjoying a four month stay in London where this photo was taken (St. James Park). You can find her poetry on her blog, A Poet in Time (http://apoetintime.com).

Four

It defies logic so
Beautifully, this love.

Fall my love and I will
Rake the leaves.

Let it cut deeper
love, until it flows
inside the blood.

There is no
nothing as I
sleep inside
your soul.

Charles Bane, Jr. is the American author of The Chapbook ( Curbside Splendor ) , Love Poems ( Aldrich Press) , and Three Seasons: Writing Donald Hall ( Collection of Houghton Library, Harvard University ). He created and contributes to The Meaning Of Poetry series for The Gutenberg Project, and is a current nominee as Poet Laureate of Florida.
http://charlesbanejr.com

this winter night
nostalgia takes a knife
to my heart …
long and slow
these surgical cuts

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).

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.