Michael Rehling – USA (PJ30)

better git it in your soul

people ask me if i believe in reincarnation. I do but only for the living. i cant speak for or to the dead so i will leave that for a later time. a lot later time i sincerely hope. but the living can shape shift many many times in a lifetime you know that in your heart. i wont speak personally about the places i have been reborn into but miles davis did it in his life and his music. he began playing classical music and was considered a born horn player in that world. but then in his teens he moved with all diligent speed toward jazz. yeah the dizzie g phase was a blast but then he just kept moving into bop and invented whole schools of jazz all by himself. then as fast as lightswitch he stopped playing divorced his wife and became a pimp for six years.

leaving the pavement
for the fresh trail
a day shy deer

but when miles came back to the horn again it was as a different person. well you all can guess but many know he changed jazz over and over again with his creative spirit and seemed to find an uneven peace in his life as well after two more marriages. so you see you dont have to be ‘yourself’ all your life. you can be any version of you that appears before you. if your coffee pot is running slow or the coffee does not taste right you toss it out and get a new one. jus like that.

autumn breeze
marking the future flight of butterflies
milkweed seeds

Terri L. French – USA (PJ30)

Thanksgiving dinner
Uncle Bud won’t eat
the left wing


feeling strapped
a $50 evergreen
tied to the car roof


Scat

My husband pokes and prods the pile with a stick. “Eww,” I say, wrinkling my nose, “What kinda poo is that?” “Hmm, I dunno,” replies my ever-inquisitive spouse, “definitely not deer…maybe coyote? Looks like he’s been snacking on pistachios.”

off trail
I squat to pee
on my foot