* * *

Anniversary… their teeth can now kiss without their mouths

Such language, the battered can rolling north

The horse and the spider, either side of the field

My thumb against the heel of my other hand… slowed pulse

I’m risky, rain on my stubble and breath

One broken blade in a cave… too far from the sun

Lonely again… leaf-blower drone fades, trudging north

His lips (my only man) cracked stubbly dry

I saw and could only see him, once… still mourning

Cherry blossoms, rushed this year– forgot their sunlight

Sink side soap, one bar shrunk down to a dagger

The Buddha, what can it feel… snail down one cheek

Stretch horrible year wide enough… extract happiness

My two fingers hold two cards… the storm breaks

tanka: Sunray to earth then a white wall rebounds brilliance to illume the gull’s underwings