Presence 84

a bee
desperately laps
sugar water
all the week’s
three o’clocks

~ Eric Oswald

winter dusk –
after the diagnosis
a ladybug
wanders across my desk
as if the world were new

~ Jenny Ward Angyal

alien diplomacy
etiquette dictates
one wait
for their leader to finish
in the litter box

~ LeRoy Gorman

*

a ribbon snake
rippling in the middle
periwinkle

~ Eric Sundquist

mountain road
the back and forth
of the sun visor

~ David Green

the weave of the waste-
paper basket; sheep hurdles
on a Lakeland fell

~ Susan Székely

bare branches
glimpsed in a puddle –
to live with what’s left

~ Alan Yan

oak roots
pushing up the sidewalk
dad’s resistance

~ Diane Tomczak

early morning
a buoy rolls
at the water’s edge

tidig morgon
en boj rullar
i vattenbrynet

~ Christer Hansson (English-Swedish)

*

Exposed

The copper beech is turning. The last umbers are falling to the ground. Gone too soon. All that will remain is the tightly folded branches woven as hedge. The inner life will be visible. Wind, rain and even snow will twist through the depths of wood. Snagging in the bird nests, pulling at their homes.

searing cold
this riddle of grey
a threadbare sky

~ Joanna Ashwell