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Short forms
This page in strictly for storage while I weed out duplicates, bad haiku
and post published and yet to be published haiku over time.
In the meantime, go to shorts
six A where the published or polished ones will gradually appear.
************************
STOP HERE
=============
a haibun
We're holed up in a deserted anchorage area near the mouth of the Chesapeake
Bay. Roaring winds have stirred up high waves, preventing us from venturing out in
our 22 footer to reach the next populated harbor. We're low on food so I set out our
crab trap and hope. By mid-afternoon I have one small crab.
At the end of the day a powerboat rushes into the anchorage. We hail them, then
row over. The two men aboard are bringing the boat down to Florida and hoped to
get to the next harbor, also. They have no food at all so we invite them over to eat. I
boil the crab, pick it clean, dump in our last two cans of vegetables and a can of
tomatoes. Heated up almost-stale bread tops off the meal. We devour it,
a rocking moon
deep in the dark sky
a loon's call
hunter's moon
the bald children laugh
at a clown
waiting room-
coffee gone cold
in his hand
Published in Pulse, 2014
chemo drip
he shares memories
of Vietnam
dawn
so pink in the pines
my window
a dream portal home
for you always you
cloaked by clouds
that morphine moon
his essence
slip-slides each night
back to Vietnam
a falling tide
sucks at the shoreline
they speak
about war days now lost
to the tug of time.
published in cattails spring 2015
nightmares
piggyback my waves
of scattered sleep -
past ghosts back to haunt
chains dragging
imprisoned
in this silent house
stars
once wrote love songs
into every footstep
rooster-
breaking the morning light
cocky with love
he nuzzles me again
in night's fade
footprints fade
into the crow's shadow
so quickly
his face is here
then gone
sandpipers flee
north for the summer
i release
the lines that bind my heart
too closely to you
cattails, fall issue 2014
secrets
locked in Pandora's Box
you say
'things are complicated',
in your vague last email
crabs skitter
across the chilly beach...
that Maine weekend
when we raced for the bed
in haste to renew old lust
the screech
of an unseen bird
heart fluttering
I wake to those things
that will or won't be again
dialing
your old number
mother
how I want to tell you
what happened yesterday
blackbird
already in flight
the worst part
is not being able to say
words he'll now never hear
moving week -
another piece of mother
disappears
into the giveaway pile
in the garage
squall line-
my mast fades
to grey
Prune juice subs Jan 2014 below
one life
cut short today
my cat's grin
the fish head
for school in Bermuda today
my bare hook
speaking of love
with his hand in my purse
silver-tongued fox!
rolling seas
sweep us past Dead Man's Reef
washed-out moon
first kiss
the taste of Kool-aid
on her lips
Archie and Jughead
in the tree with me
summer heat
rooster-
the boot
just misses
chalk art...
nude women trampled
in Boston Commons
Published in Prune Juice
onion half-peeled
he undresses me
to the wind's moan
Mexican sun the increasing heat between u
fogged mirror almost remembering thirty
kernels 2012
breaking wave pale in the moonlight his legs engulf me
Under the Basho Journal 2013
pieces of me everywhere broken mirror
Under the Basho Anthology 2013
light on the water a sailor's tremulous chanty
Under the Basho Anthology 2013
==============================
yard sale
love letters tumble
from his old shirt
sea glass somewhere that last toast
reflections
of other worlds...
old pond
summer rain another mark on the door jamb
we exchange
favorite bubble gum flavors
his brown eyes
Romantic haiku tanka journal 2013
===================================
barely dawn...
the spider, in a web
of dewdrops
dreams spent..
night drifts away
on a crow's song
a buoy's moan
ghosts cling to our boat
this foggy night
off-shore
stars I thought I made up
in childhood
Frogpond Fall 2012
storm front-
lilies sketch themselves
into the wind
------------------------------
From: Lorin Ford <haikugourds@gmail.com>;
To: Pris Campbell <campris@bellsouth.net>;
Subject: A Hundred Gourds 3.1
Sent: Wed, Sep 18, 2013 9:13:32 AM
Dear Pris,
pleased to accept the following haiku for
publication in the December issue of A Hundred Gourds :
a seagull...
lifting the sun
with its wings
thunderstorm
the moth beats shadows
into the ceiling
--------------------------
off-shore
stars I thought I made up
in childhood
Frogpond 2012
a wingtipï
grazes the deepening dusk
untended grave
kernelsï 2012
fogged mirror almost remembering thirty
breaking wave pale in the moonlight his legs engulf me
Under the Basho 2013
sheep in the road...
where were you last night
when I needed you?
creation's song
in the bird's belly...
new dawn
hieroglyphs-
the ancient secrets
of a purple sky
------------------------
Submitted Kacian anthology Jan 2014 $20 dollars prepaid for
book to be illustrated by well known sumi-e artist.
Submissions by invitation only.
dragonfly-
bearing the sun
on its wings
burial mound
a raven eclipes
the sun
this table solid not solid tumbling into other worlds
first glimmer
in the dawn mist
yellow butterfly
squall line -
a butterfly's shadow flits
through my window
sunset...
crows pick at the bones
of shadows
--------------
lost slipper already the wind moans at night
submitted to anya Oct 27 2013 for new tanka haiku anthology
for members
------------
---
Hi Pris,
Congrats! The following poems have been accepted by Under
the Basho for publication:
breaking wave pale in the moonlight his legs engulf me
pieces of me everywhere broken mirror
light on the water a sailor's tremulous chanty
night train
my dead uncle punches
tickets to my dreams
twilight...
the bluebird's last song falls
from the trees
Thanks for joining in!
Don
Editor in Chief
Under the Basho
---------------
1/28 prompt: apology
with a stroke of my hand the vet's last needle
1/30 prompt:absolution
fifty Hail Marys
his mistress waits
in the car
1/31/ prompt: afterlife
yellow butterfly bringing you back at my window again
February 1 prompt : banjo (and haiku month officially begins)
a breeze ripples
the border trees...
banjo bayou
in Virtual Haiku
sand dimpled
with yesterday's smiles
a tern's cry
-------------------
POSSIBLE MARCH 15 2014 SUBMISSIONS
Herons Nest
night fishing
our net snags
the moon
no longer her house her tulips still (or 'in') bloom
sails tremble
in the bay of dreams
my many tall tales
a nightingale heard but unseen your voice lingers
fallen leaves (or shedding pines)
we box shorts and tees
for Goodwill
fireplace lit
night drifts in
with the crows
Frogpond
yesterday's sea in the dark clouds my unmoored heart
lit window
somebody else waits
for dawn
with a stroke of my hand the vet's last needle
sand dimpled
with yesterday's smiles
a tern's cry
unanswered mail
his dog still waits
at the door
maple leaves
soar in the rising wind
fool's gold
contrails
the dolphin's shadow
fades to blue
old men eye
that bounce in her step (or jiggle)
the golden years
-----------------------------------
in the haiku registry per diem. Feb 2014
his ship
steams for Vietnam
another peace march
------------------
2/10 prompt: bean
bean soup
I avoid company
the rest of the day
1/11 prompt : biscuit
burnt ones and flat ones no biscuits like hers
2/12 prompt : break
heartbreak hotel...
too many lost loves
in those rooms
2/13/2014 prompt: book
the yellowed pages
of grandmother's scrapbook...
my pot of gold
Tawain haibun
you roll me
down to the seashore
plump sails
on the horizon
carry my heart away
worry beads
worm smooth
by my grief-borne hands
I take off
his wedding ring
2/14 prompt: betrayal
Valentine card gardenia isn't his buddy's scent
Feb 14: ring
this old diamond ring
I couldn't resist
this band for myself
when he bought
me none
2/23 an occasional prompt: dawn
pink spreads
on the far horizon
legs pumping
my bike past the sea
in a dream
2/15 prompt: how I write (tanka)
mysteries
of the night
enter my dreams
so many voices
to choose from
----------------
2/15 prompt: bicycle
webbed and dirty this bike dreams of flying past dawn seas
2/17 bagel
gaunt men
gather behind the bagel shop
Will Work For Food
2/20 prompt: bling
third finger left
sunglasses barely dim
the glare
2/21 prompt:brussels sprouts
awkward silences
our talk finally turns
to brussels sprouts
==============
Feb 20, 2014 prompt: waiting place
ships draped
with leis our men steam
into Pearl Harbor
my feet bring me back
on fish moon nights
------------
2/25 prompt:braid
crimson moon
she braids her hair
for the highwayman
----------------------
Ikebana prompt: (tanka group)
stamen
just so next to piston
his hands
rearrange my body
throughout the fragrant night
------------
brewery old men sit with lost dreams
From today's brewery prompt but I'd like suggestions...the
beginning seems too abrupt. Maybe :
closing time old men sit with lost dreams
Or.
closing time
old men gulp down
their dreams
------------------
February 25 prompt: hidden/secret walks
butterflies
through the trees
behind me
so many more paths
than ahead
--------------------
(two pet tanka)
Taiwan tanka group
shaded beneath
the pecan tree
a shoe box funeral
with my folks
for this first loss
tail wagging
on his final ride
while I feel
like a Nazi
for not warning him
2/25 prompt:braid
crimson moon
she braids her hair
for the highwayman
2/27 prompt: button
button jar...
the spider's gossamer
weave
3/1 prompt: cloud
racing clouds
a second anchor
taut at the bow
3/2 prompt: canoe
a gater
watches us paddle by...
this frail craft
tanka poets on site prompt: attention to detail
one breath in
and one back out
my mind returns
from pondering all the ifs
and should have beens
----------------------
Yesterday I was thinking about the bonds and kindness that
exist throughout the boating community and wrote the
following haibun, based on one small experience during our
trip down the coast. A haibun is short prose followed by a
haiku that ties in but doesn't duplicate what's been written
before.
We hole up in an empty anchorage near the mouth of the
Chesapeake. The wind has been howling all day so there was no
hope for making the entrance to the waterway into Norfolk,
where supplies can be had. We're almost out of food so I set
out our crab trap and hope. Trot lines work a lot better but
we have no bait. Finally, one crab rises when I check. Mid-
afternoon, a power boat rushes into the anchorage. We know
it's gotten even rougher since power boats go from dock to
dock, rarely anchoring. We hail them and it turns out they're
completely out of food (hoping for the next harbor, too) so
we invite them over. The younger man is an Eastern Airlines
pilot, helping his older friend get his boat home to Florida.
I cook the crab and pick it clean, then drop it into a big
pot along with our last can of tomatoes and one of mixed
vegetables and water. That, along with the last of our bread
is enough for seconds and full tummies. Afterwards, they
offer us a drink and we sit on their upper deck, talking well
into the night. The next morning, at first light they're
gone.
day moon
the people we never see
again
----------
3/7 prompt: spring cleaning
my old love's shirt --my new rag
3/8 prompt: constellation
close hauled
towards the North Star
this bottomless sea
Last line revised from
this sturdy craft
Earlier
haiku from prompts or other sources
rabbit
hole
alice works two shifts
to pay the shrink
throw-away
pile the worn straps of my wedding night gown
first
glimmer
in the dawn mist
yellow butterfly
sheep
in the road...
where were you last night
when I needed you?
moving
day
rabbit shaped clouds race
over the bobbing lilies
her
swan song...
scuffed ballet shoes
in the attic trunk
stardust
on the black cat�s tail�
whispering pines
creation�s
song
in the bird�s belly�
new dawn
a
purple sky
hieroglyphs a purple sea�
ancient secrets
Jonestown
Messiah-
poisoned kool-aid laced
with salvation
Pris
Campbell
U.S.A.
----------------------
new haiku
old man
where her lover used to be
house of mirrors
NaHaiWriMo
not posted in the challenges
bamboo curls
around my nori and rice
a haiku forms
a chill
weaves through my bones
weather or ghosts?
feb 1
mid-winter...
our lawn pelted
by powderpuff blooms
feb 2
one mouse's life
cut short today
cat snack
Feb 3
voiceless again ...
a song in my heart
waits to be sung
Feb 4
the kitchen
seems ten miles away today
broken wings
Feb 5
our lips
still almost touching
that forgotten photograph
feb 6
my mother's scent
almost washed away
her old jacket
Feb 8
piggybacked safely
down the dark hall for breakfast
the ghost donkey waits...
feb 9
he piggybacks me
past the ghost donkey
not yet dawn published haijinx March 2011
.
the plaintive cry
of a blues guitar...
RIP Gary Moore
Feb 10
Fantastic blues guitarist died Sunday night of a heart attack
fish going to school
in Bermuda today
my bare hook
.
Feb 11-
crying
over her blue pigtails
that naughty inkwell!
.
Feb 12
(I came after inkwells but the holes for them were still in our grammar school desks and we heard many stories of what little boys did with theirs before us:-)
arm in arm
on this bench by the sea
wed three decades today
Feb 13
curly-haired girl
showing off her cards...
you slip me yours
Feb 14
we tell her
it's really chocolate
mudpie
15 Feb
#17
tide rising
along with the moon...
that long pale beach
#18a
the prince seeks her
with kisses and glass shoe...
yesterday's fairytale
yesterday's fairytale
the prince's kisses
and glass shoe
#18b
the King's men
try duct tape and glue
poor Humpty!
rabbit hole
Alice works two shifts
to pay the shrink
his love letters
shrink into embers
starry night
(check on second line)
daring to flirt
with the Big Bad Wolf
shredded red cape
women's lib
Rapunzel shapes her hair
into blue spikes
#23
drifting through
that soft wall of fog
a buoy's moan
#23b
sneaking from class
before the second bell
caught....always caught
24
glimmer of color
in the dawn mist
yellow butterfly
first glimmer
in the dawn mist
yellow butterfly
#25b
in charge of six
five-year-olds at the Bronx zoo
their vanishing backs
26
getting ta DUMP
ta DUMP just right
first parage
27
too nearsighted
to see who's saying Whooooo
the owl doesn't care
#28
he loves me
again today
4-leaf clover
#1 March (hare)
They offer Alice
yet another unbirthday
Mad Hatter and Hare
#1b
He tells stories
of Osiris with his hare's head
my Cairo friend
#2
gluing a hair
across the drawer lip
my hidden treasures
#3 March
explaining a ewe
to the space age kid
time warp
#5
unborn legacy
replaying that decision
again today
#6
his name
glimpsed on an obscure paper
30 years never passed
#6b (alt version of one I did)
engaged so soon
after that blind date
Vietnam looming
#7
journey over...
my tears blend
with the sea
#8
tracks marking
the dunes around us
shoeless wild ponies
#8b
she wears daddy's shoes
each night................practicing
Women's Day
#9
speaking of love
with his hand in my wallet
silver-tongued fox
#9b
after his lies...
staying
not leaving
#9-regret challenge
the tide rushes out
and I'm no longer with it...
these limp limbs
#9-regret
we vow
sex won't change us...
friends no more
#10 young adult movie
Liz in a slip
at the drive-in movie...
us in our triple A's
#10 childhood movie
Zorro's autograph
still in my scrapbook
ten cent admission
#10c movie
tickets for two
at the drive-in movie
five packed in the trunk
#11
her friend 'borrows' him
for a pre-wedding fling
close call
#14
wide open
to rushing water
no time to flee
#14a (not from the prompt)
he floats
eight miles on his roof
one less funeral
15
testing
my heartbreak level
clips of drowned cities
16
fresh water
scarce on our little boat
scrub fast-rinse fast!
16b
we pass a house
with curtains for walls
Puerto Vallarta tourist bus
17
a shamrock
found near his grave today
my Irish ancestor
17b
chugging green punch
til my eyes turn green
ah, the follies of youth!
#18
giggling
over nothing and everything
my cousin and I
#19 Gothic
the low men
chalk strange moons and stars
hope they'll bypass Atlantis
19b
ghosts
all around him...
deathbed vigil
#20
elbows backs
tummies flatten me--breathless now!
Dead concert
#21b
the homeless
begging in Grand Central
food kiosks everywhere
#21
a burning cross
sears the night
my train clatters on
this one's better...
a cross
sears the moonless night
my train clatters on
#22 (childhood)
pine needles
soft beneath my feet
Indian summer
#23
my power cart
clearing every aisle
student driver
#24
family sideboard...
relatives fight for that slice
of memory
#25
sheep over my bed
where were you last night
when I needed you?
#26
we trade
our BIG school pictures
too tongue-tied to speak
#26b
rehearsing
our shoulda-been love story
late...too late
#27
his absence...
checking my email
every hour
*27b
the clock
says eight each time I look
our first date
#29 Road Trip
a HUNDRED cows
on my side at least
going to grandma's
#29b Road Trip
daffodils lean
in the north breeze
ignoring my GPS
he dives
into a surreal sea
early morning dream
#31b skin
her purr soft
against my belly
gentle rainfall
#31 skin
his spirit
wanting skin against skin...
again
April 1 Trick/deception
the frog
waits for his kiss
scam artist
April 1 b Trick/deception
a rose
grows from my fingertips
magician or mutant?
April 2-sweets and sweet things
their sweetness
soaks every honeycomb
french lilacs
blue eyed girl
with such a sweet smile
but oh, that forehead curl...
#2c sweet
riding the swells
south once again
sweet dreams
(okay this is three...I'll cease and desist now:-)
the earth
moves with your grin
planetary titulations
#6 fairy tale (three more in one post and no more, I promise)
glass slippers
displayed in the pawn shop
hard times
Jill knots
Jack's laces
BIG hill...
police don't believe
Mrs Muffit's story
crafty spider!
complaints pile up
at the zoning department
Old Mother Hubbard
?#7 machines
dump-truck
blocking my neighbor's yard
no azaleas today
I touch a star
with my fingertips
midnight climb
#8 herbs
I sing
'parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme'
oldies station
(I won't have access to the computer again until Tuesday but will respond to any comments then--if you're very young, google line two)
#14 rivers and streams
the slap of water
against our bow...
starless night
#14b rivers streams
fishing partner dead
he lays his own rods
to rest
they float
downstream with tossed beer cans
stray cat's last litter
or
tossed cans
and mewing kittens
Pee Dee River traffic
5-boxes
this time
only stardust and robin's eggs (robins' eggs)
Pandora's Box
#16 birds of prey
chest ripped
open with pellets
a hawk's scattering shadow
17 (houses)
first home
shade from the chinaberry
over old cat bones
17
Elvis still sings
in my old bedroom
mother frowns
17-house
deep beneath chinaberries
behind our first home
my cat
#17b
Elvis still sings
in my old bedroom
mother's frown
or...
mother's weeping ghost
18-history
skinheads claim
the camps were a lie
poppies everywhere
19wind
up with pain
into a windless night
my cat's soft breath
21 eyes
his eyes change color
when he looks at me
my ex
21-eyes
all eyes lift
to that first light
just-planted pansies
#22
we make our own harmony
band bus rumbling home
in the night....
#23 play or theatre
hair tumbling...
a glimpse of bare flesh
before curtain-fall
(I saw Hair en-route from Hawaii to Rhode Island in San Francisco in the late 60's. It changed the face of what happened on stage)
#23 b
muskets against cannons
empty tables everywhere
I go
(Les Miserables--one of the most moving songs is 'Empy Tables')
#24 (eggs)
egg
on my face
his lie
#25 black/white
night creeps
under daylight's white sheets
ghost stories
#46 playgrounds
for a second
his face close to mine
Red Rover
#26b
my fist
into their bellies
playground bullies
#27 fire
a fire grows
in the ocean
dawn
#29 trees
fish in his beak
at the tall oak tree
emptied nest
#29 trees
empty nest
in the tall oak tree
an eagle's shadow
#30b
she sells
hot dogs in her thong
sudden craving
A gal used to do this a few blocks away and had the most popular stand in the area until the town fathers shut her down:-)
#30c small things
trying on
her first bra
Barely There
May
#
#1b
bees circle
my bottlebrush tree
maypole dance
(and yes, I have a powderpuff in the front yard and bottlebrush in the back. Planted them both in the eighties. Love them)
?#1 flowers or flowering trees
three parrots
sit in my powderpuff tree
noon heat
#3 teachers/school
he taught me
the physics of lovemaking
falling leaf
#4 weather
rolling seas
sweep us past Dead Man's Reef
washed-out moon
#5 celebrations
gardenias strung
from the shrubs out back
Aloha Day
#5 (unprompted)
pink and green chocolate set
who will tell your stories
when I'm gone?
May 4 (recycling)
a possum clatters
through the recycling bin
barely dawn
May 6 (recycling)
recycling his letters
into 'her' mailbox
afternoon storm
May 7 (spaces)
my mouth still waters
for your fried chicken and okra
mother...
#9 trucks trains boats planes
that hard lean
into surging sea blues
my tiny craft#9 trains planes..
train in the night or night train
my dead uncle punches
tickets to my dream
#9 trains planes...
snowed in at O'Hare
he shows me his etchings
while babies wail
#10 shore
sea terns
skitter along a dawn beach
the breakfast club
May 11 spiders
tub to front door
granddaddy long-legs explores
my husband's palm
#12 stars
hurricane blackout
stars I've not seen since childhood
glimmer overhead (or just 'glimmer')
hurricane blackout
stars I haven't seen
since childhood
or
the whole galaxy opens
into the sky
#
#13
I spy a grin
on the moon
a broomstick?
#
?#13
knocking
on wood...
woodpecker and me
(I don't know if the superstitious 'knock on wood' is used only in the U.S. or elsewhere, too)
#13 superstition
I paint
my black cat white
full moon (tonight) leave out tonight?
#14 migrating birds
spring-blue sky
turning black with birds
vacation over
dead daisies
circle my wedding hat now
attic souvenirs
#15 illusions
sirens sing
from bedroom shadows
a Vineyard lullaby
#15 reality and illusion
salt
over our shoulders
bottomless sea
#16 rainbows
painting
the turtle's shell
a rainbow
#16b rainbows
green-eyed bankers
know it wasn't a myth
rainbow's end
#17 moon phases
the seagull flies
into a day moon
white on white crucifixion
green-eyed bankers
know it wasn't a myth
rainbow's end
#18 volcanoes/mountains
twinkling atop
dead volcanoes
Honolulu
revised
green again
over that dead volcano
hula dancer
#19 dreams
waking
from a dream about coughing
coughing
(well, I may be sick , but I can still write a bad ku about it before signing back off:-)
#20 stars (error, not posted)
guiding my boat
by the North Star
a chill wind
#20 bells/wind chimes
barely heard
over the wedding bell
bird of paradise courtship song
3 minutes ago �
or
barely heard
bird of paradise courtship song
under the wedding bells
#20 bells/wind chimes
mesmerized
by a video of Woodstock
bells on my toes
#21b hero/peace/war
this wheezing
no heroine, I cry
over spilt water
#22 senses
my mouth waters
entering the door
her fried chicken
http://www.poeticinspire.com/singleheartbeat-haigaonline.jpg
#23 pets
I open a can
three pairs of eyes
appear
24c sky
barely any gap
between clouds
between coughs
following the North Star
through rolling seas
a storm jib night
for Geoff..not posted
I see her again
in nurse's cap and cape
tolling bell
May26 spring's end
hot just got hotter
in Southeast Florida
spring's end
#26b spring's end
impatiens dying
all down our street
spring's end
#25 older haiku
at the edge
of a moonbeam
a whippoorwill's cry
...
May 27b green
green fields
surround strawberry fields
beetle heaven
May 27 anything green
my back
stained with grass
his green eyes
?
pieces
of me everywhere
broken mirror
pieces of me everywhere broken mirror
pieces of me
everywhere
a broken mirror
glass slippers
in the pawn shop display
hard times
**************
#28 bridges
air bubble
slowly shrinking
Chappaquiddick
John Farrar, the diver who recovered Kopechne's body and captain of the Edgartown Fire Rescue unit, asserted that Kopechne did not die from the vehicle overturn or from drowning, but rather from suffocation. Farrar asserted that Kopechne would likely have survived had a more timely attempt at rescue been conducted.
May 30 loss/remembrance
still eighteen
in her photo album
'most likely to succeed'
#31 summer vacation
sailing photos
cover my bed
make-believe vacation
tide rising
along with the moon...
her long pale thighs
June 2- Ascension
helium balloons
slip from his grasp
firecrackers in the sky
#4 celebrity
her ugliest photo
dragged through every rag
celebrity blues
paparazzi swarm...
her photo without makeup
in every rag
bells toll
over Yorkshire today
a bird in flight
In honor of Geoff Sanderson's
wife , Jill, who died suddenly of cancer a week ago this past Sunday.
Published in Sketchbook
summer beginning prompt
asleep in the shade
of the black olive tree
my cat
long afternoon
my cat sleeps in the shade
of a black olive tree
prompt: Trojan Horse/Greece
two more respond
to his love notes today
Trojan Horse Romeo
#14b crime
romance mag
stuffed in my training bra
mother need never know
#14 flag
yellow flag aloft...
we bob between turquoise reefs
waiting
#15b moon
eclipse tonight...
I take a bite of moon
pie
#20 beach
the tide
tears down old sandcastles
dreams of her ex
#21 summer solstice
young well-oiled bodies
join oldsters on the beach
last school bell
changed to 'empty classrooms'
#21 summer solstice
fireworks explode
over his ducked head
incoming!
#22 teacher
her smile
reminds me of butterflies
second grade teacher
#22b teacher
teaching me
with his unwanted touch
college chaplain
#23 baseball
she chases
the outfielder to first base
boob bouncing fan
or
boob bouncing fan -
the outfielder chased
to first base
I'm not a baseball fan but did go to a few Red Sox games with my husband while living in Boston. The event above was the highlight of all the games for me:-) I've tried alternative third lines but finally chose the one I have because the incident had a comedic element to it at the time. The player was running for his life as she tried repeatedly to kiss him (he was indeed cute). Two umpires finally dragged her away.
June 24 pets
the big dog
barks in the sky
nose in my back
june 25
the new Adam
drumming his feelings
under a rising moon
revised
the new Adam
drumming his feelings...
harvest moon
drumming his feelings
under the harves moon
Iron John
#26 amusement parks/boardwalk
still can't toss
his one-eyed teddy
boardwalk '77
a carny flirts
with the wide-eyed girls
cotton candy smile
#27 blindness or any disability
good eye patched
I walk off the side porch
bramble bush welcome
#1 birds
a crow
in the palm of each hand
this brave warrior
#1b birds
a feather
spirals downward
the silent trees
#2 butterflies, moths and bugs
a year today...
a yellow butterfly lingers
at my window
alan suggested revision
a year today...
a yellow butterfly
at my window
wedding day
the cat with a bluebird
in his mouth
#3 blossoms
a Jesus bug
in the puddled shadows
bent lily
* (no prompt)
still sick
crows pick the bones
of my dreams
old man
where her lover used to be
house of mirrors
chilled wind... sub hundred gourds
one last leaf falls
from the moon
still singing
the conch shell
he gave me
day moon... accepted cattails an'ya
blue sky siphoned
from black
dead sheep insomnia
scuffed ballet shoes gourds
found in the attic trunk...
her swan song
tongue tied... gourds
he writes the hard words
in her alphabet soup
sunrise... accepted cattails an'ya
a line of gulls pulling
the tide behind them
night fishing gourds
our net snags
the moon
fireplace lit gourds
night drifts in
with the crows
awkward silences
our talk finally turns
to brussel sprouts
the sun drops skylard sub
on the horizon
I blush
Claire,
Please consider the following tanka for Skylark. As I wrote you, all but two have been posted in the tanka group on Facebook. You said you would still consider them since I'm new at the form.
Thanks,
Pris 2014 June
The first four haven't been online:
butterflies
fade into the sunset...
adjusting
his bed a bit higher
to catch the light
crows fill
the afternoon sky
that storm
in your eyes when I ask
unbidden questions
thirty years past
measured by birds' flights
kissing me
once for the good days
at my goodbye door
arrowheads
from old battles
buried
beneath yet another mall
dead before its time
knees
red from carpet burn
oh where
did those passion filled days
flee to
-----------------
All rejected by Modern Haiku. Available again sent to Gean tree. Gean took swisscheeseonrye etc one rest now available.
in and out
of my reflection ...
a dolphin's song
a wingtip
grazes the deepening dusk...
untended grave
white over white
in the snow-covered nest...
fallen eagle
swiss cheese on rye so many moons
corn tassels
brushing the sky..
mom's old dress
arch of swords -
the vegetarian throws
brown rice
----------end of the submitted section
my many burdens...
the sea carries the
stars tonight
March 3 prompt:pressure (free associating to the prompt)
a dolphin falling to purple first raindrop
March 4 prompt: fire
heat wave fire in the mockingbird's song
March 5 prompt: breakfast
sunrise..
egrets pick through
our uncut grass
virtual haiku
sudden storm...
the pine tree throws
its own shower
downpour tie-dye redesigns me sub
March 8: line
trot line tossing the females back
March 8 :salt
spring break -
college kids washing their cars
in sea water
March 10 (late): erosion
surf-torn beach
gulls huddle among
oiled bodies
March 11: new moon
new moon baby's first cry
March 12: mystery
shuttered house...
still wondering about
could have beens
March 13: transportation sub
junkyard rats nest in the make-out seat
new moon baby's first cry
March 16
our boat surfs
black breaking seas-
note in a bottle
March 19: shoe
mist rolls
down the mountain trail...
a lost tennis shoe
March 18. : crime
my lunch in his mouth gull flapping
class reunion which old man did I love? sub
March 21: teaching/learning
my atoms
mx with his atoms...
memorizing touch
impatiens bend to the sun departing snowbirds
witchcrafted incantations the scale rises anyway needs work
the logarithm of numbers my rising scale
3/23 glass
worn sea glass...
a bottle against the bow
of the Santa Maria
the spider and I
rest - beneath my webbed
windowpane
webbed windowpane the spider and i rest (Sheila's fix of mine)
the moon
fuller at the tide line..
her pregnant belly (swollen belly?)
gardenias in the air somewhere mother's song
March 31 : tension/release
leg spasms in the night dreams of him
April 1: smooth
smooth blues his hand strums my thigh
April 2 prompt: empty/emptiness
his empty chair...
a black-winged moth
at the window
(or reverse lines two and three...OR put line 1 last)
April 4: celestial sub
ancient starlight the gnarled oak filled with other worlds
rice paddies
glow pink in the Mekong Delta...
touching his name
yelp in the night still running from his old master
4/21: clothing sub
the house sparrow
in my father's straw hat...
fallow garden
April 23-2013: time
one last sail the moon and I waning together
April 24: visual arts sub
sunrise...
finger-painting my dreams
into the sky
4/25 garden
barefooted...
longing for his Silver Queen corn
to burst through the sod
April 29: train
freight train conductor pocket watch now with my treasures
April 30 was a haiga
May 1 prompt: asperity
twilight hush -
a neighbor pumps up Jay-Z
on the stereo
5/2 blue sub
teddy bear blue shoes dancing in blue shadows (or blue skies? aisles?)
May 3 curve sub
curve in the road wreaths already fading
may 4: den
sleet forms hieroglyphs on the den window mother's warm lap
May 5 prompt :echo
dried-up lei
the fading sounds of
Aloha oe
May 14 mannerisms
another wrong stranger she smooths her skirt for the tenth time
5/14 odour don's journal?
packed boxes that old man smell lingers
5/16 romance/risk
mattress sagging silent words into a jasmine night
5/17:Quietude
that hush....
the colors of his spirit
fill the room
May 19 prompt: stars/spices don's journal?
light pulsing from dead stars does he still love me
5/31/13 Prompt: flipside/ reversing memory
Christmas present grandfather forgets to hit me
5/30 prompt:art or artifacts
lurking in midnight's MOMA Picasso's ghost
5/25 one-line haiku using an old prompt
blue canvas butterflyafterbutterfly
5/27 prompt:if you name was a haiku what would it be
were i the sea...
mother to fish
and keening ships
5/25 yellow
mellow yellow singing yesterday's songs
5/23 weight
you in me we soar through the stars
5/22 prompt : velour or velocity
day glow vw bus groovy in velour
5/21:uniform don's journal
his uniform blurs
in the Pearl Harbor sunlight
Vietnam again
Feb 27 prompt: garage
winter freeze -
the sugar-cured ham slowly spins
in the barn.
June 2: reed or read
gator mating season water birds flee quivering reeds
6/3 prompt: footsteps
slide slide slide down the long hall remembering the jitterbug
5/4 prompt:compass
heaving seas...
my compass my guide through
this dark dark night
5/5 prompt: shadows
sunset
shadows fade into
dimpled sand
6/6 prompt: bouquet
she elbows the other women aside falling tumbling bouquet
the new knee
marked with her name...
oh, to waltz again
6/8 prompt: outside my front door
wheelchair ramp
rotting at the end...
morning rain (or evening showers)
into the night a cello my sweet angel wings
6/9 prompt: window reflections
window shopping don's journal?
my reflection tries on dress
after dress
June 10 prompt: what you see inside of a flower
(and this wonderful image by Heather McCloskey Beck goes so perfectly with the prompt I couldn't resist)
day deepens
at the orchid's center... for don's journal? revise
this tiny world
June 12 prompt: fountain
the fountain's curve old dreams mixing with new
6/13 natural arrangements
palm fronds
rearrange themselves at the curb -
bronco wind
6/13: barefooted don's journal
sucking my toes the tide's turn
And
doing the bunny hop that hot asphalt!
6/16 prompt: bridge
cars honking...
we pass through the open bridge
so close to blue
6/17 prompt: things that spin
spinning bottle sub frogpond??
wildflowers tap on the window
of my sweet sixteen
6/13 prompt: others dancing.human or not
stars dance
over the dental chair-
forgotten lullabies
6/20 prompt: balance
en pointe
remembering when my cane
wasn't my balance beam
9/19 prompt: things matching with nature
breaking wave pale in the moonlight his legs engulf me don's journal
6/20 prompt: balance
en pointe
remembering when my cane
wasn't my balance beam
June 21 prompt: fragment
sea glass messages lost long ago sub frogpond
6/22 prompt:crossing a line
rush hour sub frogpond
fleeing the caution light's
shadow
6/23 prompt: dropping things don's journal?
southern moon...
dropping her g's
into his warm hands
hokku
chilled wind...
one last leaf falls
from the moon
6/24 prompt:music dance flowers
setting sun... maybe Don's journal
lilies dance with the wind
behind our old home
6/25 prompt: detailed look into an eye
deep into the Buddha's eye golden butterflies
6/26 promt: sphere
feeder bands -
our sailboat shivers
in the circle of pines
6/27 design on skin or clothes
sixties teeshirt my favorite meals cover ringo's face
April 29 prompt: vines
scuppernongs
lush on the vine...
long road home
scuppernongs
gleam in the moonlight...
my skint knee childhood
(on haiga taken by haigaonline July 2013)
30/30 : windfall
preacher's over...
the strays dine on homemade biscuits
and gravy today
6/6 prompt: number five maybe Don's journal
temper flare
thrice while the meal
sits cooling
6/6 prompt: moth
thunderstorm -. sub frogpond
the moth beats shadows
across the ceiling
7/7 prompt: the number seven
for sale sign sub frogpond
seven one-eyed teddies
stare at the moon
3/8 prompt: favorite number
('a' is 'one' for me here)
a gull gathers
the sea winds under its wings
tidal rush
7/9 prompt: linger
in that heartbeat sub frogpond
before the rain...
regretted choices
hokku
a seagull... sub frogpond
lifting the sun
with its wings
7/11 prompt: message
initials
in a lopsided heart
lover's lane
July 21 prompt : moon
his memory-
halfway to the moon
by now
7/23 prompt: swan
a swan-
yet his head turned
so easily
7/17: favorite color
red sweater...
when your arms once
enfolded me
7/16 prompt:white
snowbound-
a chill in my heart Hawaii
once warmed
7/15 prompt:drink/alcoholic beverage
wreaths by the roadside last DUI
July 14 prompt: famous artist/painting
light on the water a sailor's tremulous chanty
7/12 prompt: tomato
fried green tomatoes-
does their scent still linger
in our kitchen?
7/24 prompt: fashion
mating dance
the peacock's many
rainbows
7/25 prompt:shell
still singing...
the conch shell
he gave me
7/26 prompt: ruby
reefing our sails
against the ruby horizon
first raindrop
7/27 prompt: water flowers
gawky bodies
synched in the town pool...
wanna be swans
day moon...
blue siphoned
from black
or blue day
siphoned
7/29 prompt: drenched
slogging to harbor sails drenched
July 28 prompt: red
bottlebrush-
dawn lingers in its branches
all day
8/1 prompt: rain
the maple
soaks me with raindrops-
fleeing squirrel
hokku
a bird's song
weaves dawn through the pines...
scrubbed stars
sunny day...
my mind wanders back to wind-filled sails
and you
8/5 prompt: dry or drought
flash fire-
the dried field moans
with the wind
\
8/6 prompt: big storm
tree limbs
and shingles litter the street-
our trembling dog
8/7 prompt: clouds
sunny day-
only one duck (or giraffe)
in the sky
7/9 prompt: fog
moan of an unseen buoy my boat nose-deep in fog
August 11 prompt : sight/eyes
debating a peach this hazy horizon
August 12 prompt: hearing/sound/ears
the waves don't roar as loudly these days aging (or trampled) sea grass
Sept 19: something lost
late rain
those missing photos
in my album
Sept 21 prompt: night sounds
twilight...
a boom box out sings
the crickets
9/23 prompt: wildness
wild thang those days of minis and white lipstick
(With a nod to the song referenced in the first two words)
Sept 22 prompt: flood
moonrise over the flooded streets no time for tears
9/24 prompt: wrinkle
older now-
this shoreline left wrinkled
by the ebbing tide
9/25 prompt: string
second string the squeak of his new tennis shoes
9/28 prompt: rabbit
moving day
rabbit shaped clouds race
over the bobbing lilies
9/29 prompt: finger
late rain
R LUVS J in the playground dirt
puddling
9/30 return prompt
a sequence in its own 'divorce' notepad on desktop
and submitted to journal.
Oct 2
swan song...
scuffed ballet shoes
in the attic trunk
my original
9/2 prompt: ballet
scuffed ballet shoes
found in the attic trunk...
her swan song
10/1 prompt: sailboat
close hauled we sail into the dying sun
Next three submitted to Alan's political site. rejected
Canada refuge
no statues for our boys
who defied Vietnam
Jonestown Messiah
poisoned Kool Aid laced
with salvation
rain glistens
on the great pyramids
blood in the streets
throw-away pile the worn straps of my wedding night gown
I just received 'this world', the Haiku Society of America 2013 Members' Anthology. Each member submitting had one haiku selected for this issue:
Mine is
ancient starlight the gnarled oak filled with other worlds
9/28 prompt: slippers
lost slipper already the wind moans at night
submitted to an'ya for the NHTA anthology Oct 27 2013
10/30: pear
pear juice his kisses sweeter than...
11/1 prompt: candy
empty bowl from the goblin fest carols already on the radio
Like �
9/6 lisp
tongue tied...
he writes the hard words
in her alphabet soup
9/7 prompt: sugar
sugar water curls
the gnats follow us home
from the park
11/8 prompt: tender
his tender vow
black orchids clasped
in my damp palm
11/9 prompt : snow
shovelingshoveling-
my old red VW hides
in the snow
sunrise...
a line of gulls pulling
the tide behind them
11/12 prompt: pillow
near dawn inside this pillow so many dreams
11/27 prompt: spread
spreading snow... (or snow flurries?)
the last of the dandelions
long gone
11/26 prompt: cake
November chill (??? first line??)
the turkey's long slumber
begins
moondrops through the skylight another star filled night
11/30 prompt: finish
finish written into this beginning an outgoing tide
12/1prompt:arc
blowing in the wind
at Washington Square Park...
twenty again
12/7 prompt : diamond
before Vietnam...
straight from Lucy's sky
to my finger (to my ring finger)
OR??
12/7 prompt : diamond
before Vietnam...
tumbling from Lucy's sky
to my ring finger
12/4 : triangle
this path not the other widening hypotenuse
12/3 prompt: line
squall line-
my mast fades
to grey
1/4 azaleas
wilted azaleas my dog marks his space
Virtual haiku Jan 3 2014
late dream...
riding those black waves
again
1/27 prompt: alchemy
Phoenix rising my boat heads sails red into the sun
________________
my original file AND the backup on Seagate one have disappeared. this was on the second hard drive so I'm missing a month and a half of promts.
1/22 prompt: Aphrodite
the wind through her hair his lost heart
1/21 prompt: abandon
whiter than white our bow lost to the mist
tiptoeing in- (on tiptoe)
she steals her friend's
cancer pain pills
anuary 12 : Apocalypse
moonless night rising mist from bomb burnt cities
1/9 atom
this table solid not solid tumbling into other worlds
1/5 abbey
soft chants chilled in the candlelit corridors
1/4 azaleas
wilted azaleas my dog marks his space
12/3 prompt: line
squall line-
my mast fades
to grey
=============
Prune juice subs Jan 2014
one life
cut short today
my cat's grin
the fish head
for school in Bermuda today
my bare hook
speaking of love
with his hand in my purse
silver-tongued fox!
rolling seas
sweep us past Dead Man's Reef
washed-out moon
first kiss
the taste of Kool-aid
on her lips
Archie and Jughead
in the tree with me
summer heat
rooster-
the boot
just misses
chalk art... published Prune Juice
nude women trampled
in Boston Commons
onion half-peeled
he undresses me
to the wind's moan
Mexican sun the increasing heat between us
-----------------------
Dear Pris,
Many thanks for your submission to the one-line haiku anthology.
I will be in touch as soon as possible, probably after June 2014, once I�ve had a chance to carefully consider all the researched and submitted haiku together.
Very best wishes,
John
John Barlow
Editor, Snapshot Press
e: info@snapshotpress.co.uk
w: www.snapshotpress.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Pris Campbell [mailto:campris@bellsouth.net]
Sent: 31 December 2013 14:57
To: submissions@snapshotpress.co.uk
Subject: One-Line Haiku Anthology
I don't have issue numbers for the first two but there was only one
publication of kernels by an'ya in 2012 before she became part of
another journal and also only the one issue of Under The Basho Journal
in 2013.
fogged mirror almost remembering thirty
kernels 2012
breaking wave pale in the moonlight his legs engulf me
Under the Basho Journal 2013
pieces of me everywhere broken mirror
Under the Basho Anthology 2013
light on the water a sailor's tremulous chanty
Under the Basho Anthology 2013
Pris Campbell
U.S.A.
==============================
Tad Romantic haiku tanka journal
Hi Tad
Please consider the five enclosed haiku and attached haiga for your journal. Again, thank you for inviting me to submit.
Pris Campbell
U.S.A.
yard sale
love letters tumble
from his old shirt
sea glass somewhere that last toast
reflections
of other worlds...
old pond
summer rain another mark on the door jamb
we exchange
favorite bubble gum flavors
his brown eyes
===================================
Frogpond Submissions Nov 3 2012 one accepted
barely dawn...
the spider, in a web
of dewdrops
dreams spent..
night drifts away
on a crow's song
a buoy's moan
ghosts cling to our boat
this foggy night
off-shore accepted
stars I thought I made up
in childhood
storm front-
lilies sketch themselves
into the wind
------------------------------
sheep in the road...
where were you last night
when I needed you?
creation�s song
in the bird's belly...
new dawn
hieroglyphs-
the ancient secrets
of a purple sky
------------------------
Submitted Kacian anthology Jan 2014 $20 dollars prepaid for book to be illustrated by well known sumi-e artist. Submissions by invitation only.
dragonfly-
bearing the sun
on its wings
burial mound
a raven eclipes
the sun
this table solid not solid tumbling into other worlds
first glimmer
in the dawn mist
yellow butterfly
squall line -
a butterfly's shadow flits
through my window
sunset...
crows pick at the bones
of shadows
--------------
lost slipper already the wind moans at night
submitted to anya Oct 27 2013 for new tanka haiku anthology for members
------------
----------------------
Yesterday I was thinking about the bonds and kindness that exist throughout the boating community and wrote the following haibun, based on one small experience during our trip down the coast. A haibun is short prose followed by a haiku that ties in but doesn't duplicate what's been written before.
We hole up in an empty anchorage near the mouth of the Chesapeake. The wind has been howling all day so there was no hope for making the entrance to the waterway into Norfolk, where supplies can be had. We're almost out of food so I set out our crab trap and hope. Trot lines work a lot better but we have no bait. Finally, one crab rises when I check. Mid-afternoon, a power boat rushes into the anchorage. We know it's gotten even rougher since power boats go from dock to dock, rarely anchoring. We hail them and it turns out they're completely out of food (hoping for the next harbor, too) so we invite them over. The younger man is an Eastern Airlines pilot, helping his older friend get his boat home to Florida. I cook the crab and pick it clean, then drop it into a big pot along with our last can of tomatoes and one of mixed vegetables and water. That, along with the last of our bread is enough for seconds and full tummies. Afterwards, they offer us a drink and we sit on their upper deck, talking well into the night. The next morning, at first light they're gone.
day moon
the people we never see
again
-----------------
----------------
Mike,
Please consider the following two haibun for your next issue.
Thank you in advance for your time.
Pris Campbell
2/10/2014
Lake Worth, FL
U.S.A.
Midnight
Another black wave rushes under us, surfing the boat forward in this night passage from Mannesquam to Atlantic City. We've already reefed the main and doused the headsail leaving up only our tiny storm jib. The rush of water, so dark I can'tsee it coming, becomes so strong that I can no longer hold the tiller steady. If I can't, we'll be flung sideways and possibly broach or even roll. My stronger companion takes over while I navigate our position. We're ahead of schedule since we're racing well over hull speed over the bottom. The buoy that takes us safely past the shoals for turn towards Atlantic city bobs in a sea of so-called experimental buoys marked on the chart ahead. We were supposed to arrive at this point two hours after sunrise.
I grab the handheld compass and take a reading on the last buoy we passed, then a second reading on the glow that can only be Atlantic City. Where they intersect on the chart tells me, hopefully, where we are. A line drawn from that fix
to our buoy should help identify it. Back out on deck I point the compass along that heading to one light.
My companion asks if I'm sure.
I hesitate. I calculated this course hurriedly on what amounts to a carnival ride. I'm almost sure--not totally, but we need confidence.
"Yes," I say.
First light shows it's the right buoy . We round this most welcome sight, sail into the harbor, drop anchor, and fall into a deep sleep.
seagulls
ride the updrafts
uncoiled lines
Crab Trap
We hole up in an empty anchorage near the mouth of the Chesapeake. The wind has been howling all day so there was no hope for making the entrance to the waterway into Norfolk, where supplies can be had. We're almost out of food so I set out our crab trap and hope. Trot lines work a lot better but we have no bait. Finally, one crab rises when I check. Mid-afternoon, a power boat rushes into the anchorage. We know it's gotten even rougher since power boats go from dock to
dock, rarely anchoring. We hail them and it turns out they're completely out of food (hoping for the next harbor, too) so we invite them over. The younger man is an Eastern Airlines pilot, helping his older friend get his boat home to Florida. I cook the crab and pick it clean, then drop it into a big pot along with our last can of tomatoes and one of mixed vegetables and water. That, along with the last of our bread is enough for seconds and full tummies. Afterwards, they offer us a drink and we sit on their upper deck, talking well into the night. The next morning, at first light they're gone.
day moon
the people we never see
again
------------
4/8 prompt: adventure
tearful
goodbye hugs and kisses
our small boat
bears my heart south to places
it's not yet been
11/10 prompt: murals or graffiti
dolphins leap
and play in the green sea
slick with salt
I dive to places mermaids
once knew
4/9 prompt: Neptune, God of sea and fresh water
dolphins leap
and play in the green sea
slick with salt
I dive to places mermaids
once knew
3/12 prompt:something old and beautiful that lasts
he sits she stands
in her wedding gown
that photo
aged over a hundred years
on my dresser
Prompt: fierce love
the current
sweeps downstream
in haste
we rush to release our hearts
to this waterfall of love
-----------
Prompt: double
long stemmed daisies-
the Vineyard band hopes
I'm Joni Mitchell
----------
4/27: doors of light
one breathe
a long pause til the next
the room fills
with light leading him away
through other doors
4/28 prompt: done/undone sub cattails
crows flutter
above the garbage heap
that burnt meal
i so wanted to impress
you with
5/1 nahaiwrimo prompt: Enter
all eyes turn
to the doorway...
that red dress
3/30 prompt: carpets, handmade or natural sub cattails
knees
red from carpet burn
oh where
did those passion filled days
flee to
5/2 prompt: emerald
emerald water
we ease past coral heads
Into Turtle Cay
or
falling tide (or low tide)
we ease past coral heads
and greenbacked turtles (or into Turtle Cay)
on fish moon nights
my feet carry me back
to Pearl Harbor
the scent of gardenias lingers
where we wed
worry beads smoothed
by my grief-born hands
I take off
his wedding ring and breathe
in bird song
moonlight covers sub cattails
the turtle's thick shell
wanting
but unable to make the stars
my canopy
a peacock
strut-courts his mate
that wiggle
in her walk sets the room
ablaze
a north wind
soars into white sails
throughout
the Vineyard plump with hearts
seeking nirvana (flight?)
backyard bottlebrush
gone lifeless so suddenly
twenty-five years
of smiles and tears shared
with those blossoms
crows
flutter and settle
by that place
of our long-ago crash and her flight
through the windshield
or
of our long-ago crash and her broken
winged flight into open air
sails in balance
against heavy winds
we drop
our bickering and inhale
sunlight
one breath
a long pause til the next
the room fills
with light leading him
through other doors
5/10: childhood playmates
unseen birds
sing in the old oak
mother serves
a plate of imaginary cookies
to the space i call Baylus
a bird squawks
and flutters above burnt embers
pigtailed
she trembles in her secret place
from his gnarled hands
lava mountains
stand guard over the shoreline
ti-rustling Oahu
weaves my heart deep
into its womb
an eagle
wings towards new horizons-
how green the grass
he leaves
under his passing shadow
a boat lists
in the tidal flats
the adventures
my body for now no longer
allows
Prompt: curve in the road
sun high
off the western horizon
suitcase packed
i head for that paradise
of ukes and leis
Prompt: sage and the giant tree
Wilma roars
over the Florida shoreline
oh giant ficus
i wish my meditations could have
stayed your fate
5/21 prompt: arrival
crepe paper lei sub cattails
hoisted from tug to ship
back at last
yet so many left lifeless
behind
a snakes sub cattails
sucks the eggs dry
the child
that should have been
could never be mine
5/14 prompt: hidden places
a bird squawks
and flutters above burnt embers
pigtailed
she trembles in her secret place
from his gnarled hands
5/21 prompt: arrival
sub cattails
crepe paper lei
hoisted from tug to ship
back at last
yet so many left lifeless
behind
-----------------\\
notepads
and school books scattered-
rape of innocence
flintnapped arrowhead--
bit by bit he chisels away
at me
fingertips
on black granite...
another homeless vet
chilled wind...
one last leaf falls
from the moon
still singing
the conch shell
he gave me
day moon...
blue sky siphoned
from black
Published in cattails Fall 2014
scuffed ballet shoes
found in the attic trunk...
her swan song
tongue tied...
he writes the hard words
in her alphabet soup
sunrise... accepted cattails
a line of gulls pulling
the tide behind them
night fishing
our net snags
the moon
fireplace lit
night drifts in
with the crows
awkward silences
our talk finally turns
to brussel sprouts
butterflies
fade into the sunset...
adjusting
his bed a bit higher
to catch the light
--------------------
morning dew
glistening out back
thought lost
my fathers yellowed letters
light spaces shut down
Pris Campbell
USA
gardenias
open to the red dawn
carry me back
to white beside white,
Vietnam hovering
Pris Campbell accepted Moonbathing Spring/summer 2015
USA
tangled
in the spider's web
my home
closes its walls
around me
Pris Campbell
USA
thorned roses
braided through her hair
the bloom
in her cheeks deepens
with my lover's glance
Pris Campbell
USA
seaweed
marks the tide line
i clear
my heart's debris in the wake
of your desertion
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