Selected Tanka: Dark Sea of Night Tanka

she whispered
I am in love
and love what vanished ...
my thoughts of her floating
in the dark sea of night

originally accepted for (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

Selected Tanka: Wall of Loneliness Tanka

banging my head
against the wall of loneliness
the silence
like a murder of crows
descends on this winter night

originally accepted for (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

Selected Haiku: Nothing But Sunshine Haiku

tourists glance
at his beggar's bowl...
nothing but sunshine

originally accepted for (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

Selected Haiku Sequence: A Year Of Solitude

to leave or to stay ...
the light and dark
of a spring wind

childhood summer ...
learning the language
of butterflies

ninth autumn...
facing the Pacific
I undress my thoughts

a winter sunset
over the Rocky Mountains
I am not myself

New Year's Eve
after the fireworks
a moonlit cobweb

Lynx, 28:3, October 2013

Selected Haikbun: One Is Too Many

When the fire dies out, she rises, picks up her torn wedding dress from the floor and puts it on inside out. She turns and meets his indifferent gaze. For a moment, silence darkens the room. Finally, she runs out through the back door.

village well at dawn...
the bride penetrating
a winter sky

Lynx, 27:3, October 2012

Selected Tanka Sequence: The Portrait of an Attic Poet

I yell out
I'll stay drunk on writing
her silent tongue
like a scissor
cutting my words to shreds

rain pelting
the windows of this rooming house
I hear voices
rising towards the ceiling
jostling for survival

my mind complains
it's hard to live by words alone
tongues of fire
lick the flesh
and stay for a while

I conduct
the Fifth Symphony
inside my head
the doctor sees nothing
but a poet's failed dream

a wolf
howling at the cold moon
alone
face to face
with my own demons

after wishing
on a shooting star
all that remains
of my attic room
a shadow on the wall

Lynx, 27:3, October 2012

Selected Tanka: Funny Accent Tanka

everyone I meet
speaks with a funny accent...
in dreams
I return to my hometown
an ocean away

Lynx, 27:1, February, 2012

Selected Tanka: Astrology Tanka

walking out
in the middle of the lecture
on astrology
we see summer stars
in each other's eyes

Lynx, 26:3, October, 2011
Anthologized in Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, 4, 2012

Selected Kyoka: Chattering Rain Kyoka

hit hard by
The Complete Poems
of Chen-ou Liu ...
I wake to rain
chattering in the room

Lynx, 25:2, June 2010

Selected Tanka: Dark Secrets Tanka

as night deepens
dark secrets emerge
and gnaw at my heart
I cut it open
with the scalpel of words

Lynx, 25:1, February 2010

The Weight of the L Word, A Tanka Sequence

winter gust
beating at the petals
of time
that swirl around us...
this starless night we meet

caught in her gaze
I plant in my mind
a hope
that will flourish . . .
this budding of spring words

she winks at me
is love about the body-smell
relationship?
I start to unlearn
the language of sex

she whispered
I am in love and love
what vanished...
my thoughts of her floating
in the dark sea of night

Originally accepted for  (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

Marble Fireplace Tanka

marble fireplace
full of burning logs
painted
on my attic wall...
alone with my Muse

Originally accepted for  (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

Murder of Crows Tanka

banging my head
against the wall of loneliness
the silence
like a murder of crows
descends on this winter night

Originally accepted for  (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

Scent Haiku

the scent of her hair
footsteps echo
down the hospice hall

Originally accepted for  (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

Tourists Haiku

tourists glance
at his beggar's bowl...
nothing but sunshine

Originally accepted for (now defunct) Lynx, 29:3, October 2014

New Year's Resolution: You Must Stay Drunk on Writing, So Reality Cannot Destroy You

A Haiku Sequence

writing haiku...
the cock crows
as if possessed

the vacuum humming
I revise
a spring haiku

color of the sky
like a cat dead for weeks
my summer haiku

a pause
between haiku
half-moon

writing haiku...
autumn sunlight breaks
through a wall of gray

winter solstice
a haiku lost and found
in my dream

the porridge
on my coffee-stained desk
rewriting haiku
(for Jack Kerouac)

Lynx, 29:1, February 2014

Urn Haiku

her short life
packed in an urn
smell of winter

Lynx, 29:1, February 2014

First Sunrise Haiku

first sunrise
the silver strand
in my hair

Lynx, 29:1, February 2014

Hopscotch Traces Haiku

hopscotch traces
on the driveway ...
foreclosed house

Lynx, 29:1, February 2014

The Spring Sun also Rises, A Tanka Sequence

her soft, wet body
leans into mine
her legs, her thighs
move against me...
time and rain fall on

standing hand in hand
before our 3-bedroom house
now, we own
two Acuras
...and a golden retriever

autumn gust
blowing off my heart
her last words
You're like an onion;
the more layers I peel...

the distance
between sun and moon…
the apparition
of my ex-wife's face
in the rush hour crowd

in the mirror
Father's face and mine
overlapping
on New Year's morning
I take an ice-cold shower

Lynx, 28:3, October 2013