White Cherry Blossoms

To E. B.

2011-06-18T11:30:00.001-05:00

Last night, I spoke
your name in a crowded room.
The place fell silent.
Even in my dreams, they've heard
the news of your death.

Crumpled

2010-08-21T21:08:00.001-05:00

I cannot keep you
crumpled like a poem
in my chest pocket
you, who will not fold
even to my hand’s pressure

Bridge

2010-04-18T07:04:00.000-05:00

the bridge over
an empty riverbed…
my mother offers advice

Portage

2010-04-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

old portage path
a chipmunk peeps out
from the fox’s skull

Counting Cars

2010-04-16T21:16:00.000-05:00

counting cars
as the train rolls past
a stranger’s wave

blackbird song

2009-12-01T08:53:00.001-06:00

blackbird song
as far as the road goes
between the hills

Noon Rush

2009-08-29T12:16:00.002-05:00

noon rush...
the spray of river water
on hot concrete

Your Absence

2009-07-17T11:44:00.000-05:00

your absence
I kill the flame
that inspired my poem

Ten Taps

2009-07-09T13:36:00.001-05:00

the ten taps of your fingertips
to a sonnet’s beat
I understand now
the precision that lets you hold
butterflies, and me

Summer Evening

2009-07-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

summer evening
the poet tells me
who I am

Cinquain

2009-06-16T17:42:00.001-05:00

Tonight
I am worn out
with wishing on winter stars
just as cold and faraway as
you are.

* * *

Your love
wraps around me,
soft, solid, and silent--
one more seashell where I can't hear
the sea.

Ending

2009-06-11T15:15:00.000-05:00

ending
I follow my own footsteps
through the empty field

Foolish

2009-04-06T20:03:00.002-05:00

you think with feeling
and not with reason
foolish heart
if you were a man
I would leave you

* * *

piensas con sentimientos
y no con razón
corazón sencillo
si fueras un hombre
me alejaría de ti

Daily Haiku

2009-04-06T20:00:00.002-05:00

I have been selected as one of the six contributors to DailyHaiku's cycle 7, Spring/Summer 2009.

Smell of Rain

2009-03-14T10:15:00.000-05:00

the smell of rain
in these old notebooks
thinking again
how poorly I am suited
to myself

Lightning

2009-03-10T17:30:00.001-05:00

lightning
the blue afterimage
of your white hands

Naked Earth

2009-03-07T09:20:00.001-06:00

naked earth
the trust you had
you betrayed

Too Many Clouds

2009-03-05T19:09:00.001-06:00

too many clouds
for birdsong
how strange
your smile is all it takes
to make me sing

Renga

2009-03-03T17:20:00.001-06:00

I don't feel
guilty, she says--
winces at the thunder

peeling open
the flower petals

hide-and-seek
the children unearth
old bones

the stepping stones
underwater

drowned moon
the taste of his
apology

pressing leaves between
swollen fingers

the empty space
in father's gloves
autumn ends

my heart so full
it hurts

after you
dry blood
at the corner of my mouth

cool rain
kissing the drops from you cheek

salt taste
on this slow breeze
the smell of clams

over the horizon
desert flowers

the moon opens
a lotus blossom
summer stillness

ripples
in the puddle of oil

the tiny pebbles
in my sandal straps
heat wave

black water
in the granite quarry

spotted
the wings of the ladybird
on the tulip petal

the drop of dew
on my fingertip

spinning the globe
he asks me
what I want

the world
as it was yesterday

budding rose
the smell
of tomorrow's rain

capless
the waves far from shore

she borrows
my scarf
new coolness

a red thread
behind the sled runners

an old dress
on a new date--
new novel, too

coral bracelet
beneath his kiss

farewell roses
the color of blood
slow wind

pushing the gas
you behind me

leaving...
the autumn moon
behind a cloud

sunlight
in a pile of leaves

evening
he leans on his rake
a little harder

knuckle marks
in the bread dough

he brings me cookies
in an old tin
sudden shower

he hold her umbrella
at her funeral

white lily
my friend shows us
baby pictures

uprooted daffodils
her guilty smile

My Hands

2009-02-26T15:53:00.001-06:00

my hands
rough on the piano keys--
still, this restlessness

Dream

2009-02-19T13:37:00.001-06:00

having watched you write
poetry on the blackboard
tonight I dream
of drinking water
from your chalky hands

* * *

Sleep deprivation makes me romantic!

Skylight Moon

2009-02-06T19:15:00.001-06:00

skylight moon
all I know of the world
in my arms

Wake

2009-01-15T16:46:00.000-06:00

his wake...
once again
I'm left behind

Apples

2009-01-10T19:53:00.001-06:00

white morning
the girl at the bus stops
bites an apple

snow day
he bites the apple
I wish I was

Silent Drive

2009-01-06T17:56:00.001-06:00

silent drive
everything I know
he knows

Forcing Words

2008-12-08T20:53:00.000-06:00

forcing words to flow
wringing you dry of love…
Life, teach me patience!
always, I am roughest
with what I need the most

Imagine

2008-09-06T09:43:00.000-05:00

I imagine
what your name would look like
in this poem,
knowing full well
I'd never dare to write it

Waking

2008-07-15T17:12:00.002-05:00

waking to a bed
of nothing but sunlight...
why is it
such happiness always came
in spite of you?

New Organist

2008-06-16T21:27:00.002-05:00

new organist
sounds I've never heard before
coming from the choir loft

the church choir
singing

Reading

2008-06-10T18:13:00.000-05:00

after my reading
wow from the front row
with no exclamation point

Te Amo

2008-05-24T07:28:00.001-05:00

in three days
I learned to say
I love you...
the six months it's taken me
to take it back

Crabapple Blossoms

2008-05-15T17:21:00.005-05:00

last year at this time
I didn't have you, either...

do they bloom in vain,
the crabapple blossoms
that never bring fruit?

Spring Dance

2008-05-11T21:05:00.001-05:00

spring dance
another woman cries
to the same song

Astrology

2008-05-03T12:33:00.002-05:00

emptying my spam box...
somehow
astrology.com
always knows
what I'm thinking

Music

2008-04-28T19:43:00.002-05:00

music by a man
I used to love
distant thunder

Memory

2008-04-22T17:52:00.001-05:00

the memory
gone before I grasp it
april rain

You

2008-04-16T19:00:00.002-05:00

you,
who loved mirrors
and never read my poetry--
could you see your reflection here,
spilled five lines down?

Frozen

2008-04-16T18:58:00.001-05:00

frozen
our last night together
in the back seat of your car--
three weeks later
this rose remains unwilted

Grown Back

2008-04-12T18:26:00.001-05:00

it's grown back now,
the nail I broke
our last night together

the heart you broke
is taking a little longer

Digging Deeper

2008-03-30T20:26:00.001-05:00

digging deeper
into thoughts of you
as I climb the stairs
at each level
a different darkness

Dog-eared Pages

2008-03-27T10:36:00.001-05:00

dog-eared pages
and notes in the margins--
what traces
have other hands left
on your love for me?

This tanka, along with four others, appears in the Spring 2008 issue of MET.

Before...

2008-03-24T16:44:00.004-05:00

before it was sold
I took one last walk through
the cold and empty house
why do these thoughts return
as your hands brush mine?

With You Gone

2008-03-23T18:49:00.001-05:00

with you gone
my tongue overflows with words
I should have said...

our last night together
we spent in silence

Splinter

2008-03-23T17:43:00.000-05:00

the splinter gone
I continue to prod
and twist with the needle
as if I could find in my hand
the place where your kiss resides

Sluggish Breeze

2008-03-22T14:43:00.002-05:00

sluggish breeze
through snow-clotted branches
who could have guessed
my greatest sin would come
from loving too much

Good Friday

2008-03-21T12:26:00.002-05:00

good friday
it's easy enough to fast
with no appetite--
how much harder to quell
this hunger for you

With Time

2008-03-21T10:59:00.000-05:00

with time and use
so many cures
lose their potency--
will time give me immunity
to the sight of you?

Hours Later

2008-03-20T17:46:00.000-05:00

hours later
the marks from my fingernails
still red - red
the slow burn
of a setting sun

Wanting

2008-03-17T17:42:00.000-05:00

wanting not wanting the burning bush's single leaf

Revising

2008-03-16T18:11:00.000-05:00

revising haiku
how often I remind myself--
you are not a kigo

After You

2008-03-15T13:02:00.000-05:00

after you the shower water so cold it hurts

Knowing for Certain

2008-03-14T15:00:00.001-05:00

knowing for certain
that you don't love me
how I long, just once
for the comfort
of doubt

Stigma

2008-03-12T16:53:00.002-05:00

my gay friend
complains of stigma...
how to make him understand
my own love
just as senselessly forbidden

Image: The Choice by Frances MacNair

Language

2008-03-12T16:52:00.000-05:00

je t'aime - he never
loves me in English

the strange integrity of a language
where "for good" means
forever

Law Office

2008-03-11T21:22:00.001-05:00

law office sign:
divorce - no fee
unless you win

After

2008-03-10T17:27:00.002-05:00

after the kiss
his soft I'm sorry...
how I wish, just once,
to be happy
without apology

Yet

2008-03-09T20:43:00.001-05:00

yet, he asks,
or anymore…
the constant question
if I love you
if I ever did

Night Drive

2008-02-27T16:13:00.002-06:00

night-time drive
past the open field--
so much room
for pain...so little
for those enduring

Another Year

2008-02-18T13:26:00.003-06:00

another year
of snow-crystal melting
to salted slush--
knowing your worth,
I lose you again and again

Squinting

2008-01-27T18:58:00.000-06:00

squinting
at the hotel room clock...
exit sign

Silent Snowfall

2008-01-15T17:37:00.000-06:00

silent snowfall
filling in the soles
of my footprints...
if only this path
led me closer to yours

3LIGHTS Nocture

2008-01-03T19:29:00.000-06:00

rustling leaves
the sky and my tea
steep darker

closing shift--
she gives the disinfectant bottle
a solitary squirt

These haiku are featured in the Nocturne exibit at 3Lights Gallery. http://www.threelightsgallery.com/nocturne.html

All Afternoon

2007-12-23T14:17:00.000-06:00

all afternoon
I've given sunlight and water
to this wilted rose--
so how can I mock him
for loving you still?

Circling

2007-12-14T21:10:00.000-06:00

slowly circling
as I speak of this
break in my life
the flock of geese
too weak to fly home

New Year's

2007-12-02T16:29:00.000-06:00

new year's eve--
rubbing velvet
the wrong way

Published in The Heron's Nest December issue.
http://www.theheronsnest.com/haiku/0904o1840/thn_issue.h3.html

Skipping Stones

2007-11-12T19:29:00.001-06:00

skipping stones
as I speak of things
I am afraid of
the way he looks
and looks at me

Smoothing Out

2007-10-28T18:07:00.001-05:00

the bed
where we once slept
no longer holds your shape;
did you think my heart would hold it
longer?

Winter Clouds

2007-10-28T18:05:00.001-05:00

winter clouds
in this only
I find some comfort--
heaven never saw me
lie to you

Tanka Splendor

2007-10-22T18:20:00.000-05:00

patching another
hole in my jacket
some days
even this heartache
feels secondhand
~Megan Arkenberg

This tanka, along this blog's title tanka (you can see it directly to the left of this post: "cherry blossoms/lost in the snow) were among the 31 most voted for tanka in this year's Tanka Splendor Awards.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Even This Maple

2007-10-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

Even this maple
has only room
for two swallows…
when did I become
the other woman?

"October Morning" and "Death of a Friend" from 3Lights

2007-10-02T16:19:00.000-05:00

Both these tanka are featured in the Tankafall exhibit at 3Lights Gallery (www.threelightsgallery.com/tankafall):

october morning
at the library checkout
the woman before me
has emptied the shelves
on dying

death of a friend
I watch the persimmons
from my kitchen window
and wonder what they know
of frost

Coat Rack

2007-09-17T17:52:00.001-05:00

the empty pegs
on our coat rack...
half a moon

"Landfall" Anthology Published

2007-09-15T18:02:00.000-05:00

From tankanews.com:

Landfall: Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka, edited by Denis M. Garrison and Michael McClintock, has been published in both hard cover and trade paperback editions by Modern English Tanka Press, Baltimore, Maryland. This is the third in a series of tanka poetry anthologies from these editors. It is about the lands we live in, the highlands and the lowlands, prairies and forests, deserts and wetlands, farmlands and wilderness, the vast continental interiors and the lands bordering the seas, and the waters of the earth. As such, it is inevitably a book about ourselves. Every generation makes anew its own landfall, discovering for itself its special, abiding relationship to the natural world. With these fine tanka, 600 pastoral poems of a new kind for a new day, the greatly prized moment of making landfall becomes, also, an irrevocable moment of personal epiphany. Poets included are from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Thailand, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand...

This book is available from http://stores.lulu.com/modernenglishtanka and from major booksellers; or from the publisher. Complete information and mail order form are available online at www.modernenglishtankapress.com.

Price: $27.95 USD. ISBN 978-0-6151-6264-5. Trade paperback. 240 pages, 6.00" x 9.00", perfect binding, black and white interior ink, full-color exterior ink. The hard cover edition, with no ISBN, is available only at http://stores.lulu.com/modernenglishtanka and priced at only $29.95 USD.

"Street Fair" from Tinywords

2007-09-08T14:46:00.000-05:00

street fair
smell of patchouli
on the pricetag

This haiku was published yesterday on tinywords.com. http://tinywords.com/haiku/2007/09/07/

Roadside

2007-08-31T16:10:00.000-05:00

roadside cross...
the feeling that I've past it
once before

Bookstore

2007-08-21T16:57:00.001-05:00

bookstore awning
even these raindrops
are secondhand

"Petals Fall" from Simply Haiku

2007-08-19T14:47:00.000-05:00

petals fall
from the crabapple tree
without you here
none of us
can hold on for long

This tanka is featured in the "Tanka Gems" section of Simply Haiku's autumn issue:
http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHaiku/SHv5n3/tanka/gems.html

Sponge Painting

2007-08-19T14:40:00.001-05:00

sponge painting...
I dabb life onto
these gray walls
in a color
you would have hated

Bare Walls

2007-08-18T15:10:00.001-05:00

bare walls...
of our parting words
only the echo

Cupboard

2007-08-18T14:59:00.001-05:00

one more place setting
left in the cupboard
half a moon

Rereading

2007-08-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

rereading your letter
in this year's cherries
an extra tartness

August Rain

2007-08-16T17:59:00.000-05:00

august rain
the geranium shatters
its reflection

November

2007-08-16T15:33:00.001-05:00

so surprised to see
two days after the rain--ice
we, who of all people
know a thing or two
about growing colder

Winner of an honorable mention in the Gather.com "Express Yourself" poetry contest.

Deep Fog

2007-08-15T14:59:00.001-05:00

deep fog
somewhere
the cry of a mockingbird

Early Mist

2007-08-15T14:58:00.000-05:00

early mist
again mistaking the frog
for a cricket

Two Mirrors

2007-08-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

two mirrors
on opposite walls...

the difference
between you
and me