My Tanka from Undertow Magazine October 2014

Tanka Published in Undertow Online Magazine October 2014

was it absinthe                 

that green glass bottle

on the top shelf

did it swing my mother 

in the belly of the sea?

clairvoyant friend says

look for her in lunatic 

asylums but I think 

demon suicide took her

family bible stained by blood 

we'll take

the dog and the Malbec

we'll find

the highest hill for moonrise

enthralled in ancient magic

pink pearl

rising translucent 

enormous

butterfly moon

drunk on milkweed

didn't know

I was a hedgewitch

secluded

behind a creaking gate

whispering butterflies

ripe scent

of full dumpsters 

the night

before garbage day

super moon light

summer ending                

I'm still butterfly crazy

kaleidoscope 

all the colors of the sun

in my whirligig eyes

high summer
poems about butterflies
fluttering
across computer screens
we feel them touch our fingers

is this

the summer when

the world

incinerates itself

of just the beginning?

Merlin

stars shimmering on

his purple robe

I loved the runic picture

in that antique book