Category Archives: Thomas Haynes (2021 – 2022)

Issue 37 – Rengay

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Witching Hour

plastic surgeon––
the neighborhood’s best
carved pumpkin

Dracula’s missing

front tooth

first date
during the horror flic
our embrace

full moon

the werewolf caught

with his fly undone

all trick no treat
the she-devil’s grin

nobody dares

to touch it––

candy corn

Bryan Rickert, USA & Terri French, USA

Ligamental

broken steeple boy . . .
I’ll read the Bible
if it has unicorns

seeking nourishment

a grub from Shrek’s ear

Jupiter jig
his left knee healed
on the way up

reflecting on . . .

personalities

in rainbows

ceramics play
kids fire up the kiln

end of night

candle’s tears

stopped in their tracks

Geoff Pope, USA & Robert Kingston, United Kingdom

Just Desserts

snow capped mountain
my Oreo cookie
McFlurry

our white chocolate soufflé

at Café Jacqueline

devil’s food cake
the conversation
turns sinister

with my cherry blossom

frappuccino

a whipped cream kiss

first time we touch
the scent of cinnamon

dipping my finger

in the chocolate fountain

and into his mouth

Jackie Chou, USA & Kath Abela Wilson, USA

Getting Away

get-away weekend
we each carry
our own baggage

the back stories we polish

for show and tell

airport shuttle
so many stops
that aren’t ours

seeing parts of the city

not in

the tourist brochures

our carefully planned itinerary
lost

finally

having to let go

and move on

Julie Schwerin, USA & Angela Terry, USA

Even in Toronto

small-town girl
dreams of Toronto
even in Toronto

the CN Tower

taller than my soul

afternoon shower
arm in arm on Bay Street
Burberry and St. Laurent

water, water, everywhere . . .

halyards clanging

by Lake Ontario

summer in the city reflected
in the museum’s crystal front

at the Hockey Hall of Fame

my boy keeps asking

to see the Zamboni

Naomi Beth Wakan, Canada & Michael Dylan Welch, USA

Band-Aid

broken finger
little girl misses
her bike

homebuilt trolley races

we take turns at crashing

birthday party
half blown balloon
flies away

wave roll

the kayaker spitting

out sand

ice cream lands
on a bald head

moon launch

the astronaut’s Band-Aid

loses it sticky

Zoe Grant, New Zealand & Ron C. Moss, Australia

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Issue 37 – Sequences

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Sequences

the almost vacation

whispering a come on sleep app

pillow talk exchanging last words

weighted blanket a late winter snow

escape room extending our stay

daydreaming the caress of a narrative

blue hour a tug of sweet light

Lorraine A Padden, USA & Peter Jastermsky, USA

tying Iona

a hand’s width too slow
his empty sandals
waiting for the splash

raindrops
on magnolia
she says he’s gone

tears on the doorstep
another mother
wrings her hands

weeping birch
some truths
are better hidden

knots
in her school shoes
trying to untangle this

storm rages
in my hip flask pocket
Gandhi’s autobiography

Iona––
tying our lives
to a driftwood prayer tree

Tim Roberts, New Zealand


Split Sequences

Fairground Games

July heat

melting

as he takes the reins

at the horse pull

the cotton candy

tilt-a-whirl

centrifugal force

draws her near

on my tongue

eyeing the next car

the roller coaster

starts with a jolt

Bryan Rickert, USA & Kat Lehmann, USA

Where the Flowers go

discipline

licked into shape

the sergeant’s barked command:

as you were

the only way

after

the passing-out parade

passing out

to make men of them

surviving

first contact with the enemy

wedding plans

Keith Evetts, United Kingdom

New World Martini

stirred and shaken

special order . . .

add two or four olives

to Mr. Putin’s drink

preparing my head

guided meditation

upon the sunroof

plinks and plinks

for world news

one more day

the planet revolves

around a tyrant

Richard L. Matta, USA

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