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

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/

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

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.

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