A Rengay by Bill Waters & Caroline Skanne
hedgerow —
100 starlings
rise up
sunlight in the silver birch
so much laughter
a cooling breeze
through shrubs and trees . . .
my head in the clouds
waning sun . . .
a ladybird enters
the conversation
hidden in the hawthorn
sparrows rustle the shadows
last scrap
of twilight vanishes
with the fox
Published in Hedgerow: A Journal of Small Poems, issue 100, 12/16/16.
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standing
in the cold canal,
cattails
sifting down
into drifts . . .
winter silence
Published in Akitsu Quarterly: Winter 2016 (http://www.wildgraces.com/Akitsu-Quarterly.html), 12/7/16.
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sipping my coffee —
shop awnings
striped and stippled
with sun and shade
up and down the avenue
cloudy blue sky
painted on the brick wall . . .
at each level
of the fire escape
a pot of red geraniums
tucked beneath
an overpass:
tangle of bittersweet
and a cardboard hovel
that someone calls home
almost dawn . . .
night packs its bags
catches a cab
and heads for the station
as day comes in the door
Published in the anthology Neon Graffiti: Tanka Poetry of Urban Life, November 2016.
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