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| TABLE OF CONTENTS
XVIII:3, October, 2003 |
LYNX A Journal for Linking Poets | ||||
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SYMBIOTIC
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WINDIGO Ed Baranosky Jen Finlayson the winter wind the old stone chess piece Icelandic spar a fox by moonlight the only sound, a vixen winding through the trees red-eye special
wildflowers in the still cold earth siblings wrestle under frozen roots early thaw
he with haunches deep
remembers her beneath him scent of brambles, bees dream-walker snuffles for food stomach growls, more awake
still unconscious
furry appetites' unlimited midnight hunger salmon moon and full belly distant as the night is long ghosts shiver too near the old dances all they want bonfires, apples, corn a forgotten mousetrap snaps closed, triggered by phantom mice a violent gust bits of fallen hair
Begun Tuesday, June 17, 2003 8:45 PM
Completed Thursday, June 26, 2003 1:15 AM.
NINA Suhni Bell first recital her parents removed from the first row of seats a discarded color of america france finds a voice somewhere between rock and soul pain has its own sound a storyteller with more than one darkside & jagged edge when a woman will sing in a world unlikely to want all her words la niña through all kinds of weather remembering her music* *nina simone 1933-2003 april 22 2003
BURIED AT SEA buried at sea life lines unravel in the palms of a killer's hands the rage 'sars' masks with designer prints a prism sneaks into a storm sneaks into a memory of a storm dirty relief for the feet of a butterfly weed prom night another runaway & another date that really sucks just to set the record straight i always was
stolen from the rr tracks yellow irises now cold and staked revisionist dictionary the rapist redefines rape under the guise of haiku a war of pretty words turned petty car bombs in israel palestinian mothers cry too a few of the first purples kissed a few of the dying-out kissed thru the grapevine always more sour grapes what's not next french or freedom fries at mcdonald's in iraq road map for peace lost in a maze of ruins no godliness little cleanliness a spring high in my own nature that time of month blood is thicker than water empty nest syndrome the phoebe catches heck for nothing mud-caked the fragrance of last year's green
third cup of coffee the to-do list added to the waste-of-time list oops missed dubya's speechwriter's dubya speech more terrorist alerts somehow less alarmed with each false alarm when gone will the daylilies have anyone to take care of wrapped in so many restless nights even the wind talks in circles how to ruin a mountain if it has a top * drums not drugs we follow bumper stickers onto sacred ground around the little pond what likes to be around tainted evidence the first stagnant slaps of a west nile summer lined up dick-deep to trash martha and hillary thru the stutters i mean shutters a streak of the morning after a perfect age for the new worries
awake before the humidity before the pain before the primroses a change of pace something else to step in never moonless tho trampled littered flagged and shadowed near the window her aloneness 'both sides' doesn't include me and perhaps a gang of 'the others'** chosen vs unchosen who on earth keeps score
*50 years of ego up everest april 26-june 23 2003
NINETY-NINE BOTTLES 1cc eleven-member renga ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall 2ss the kids in the bus sing another round 3ahb from the hog's back a better view 4akr turkey sandwich locked in the armored truck 5js holiday dinner sparkling cider for the alcoholic uncle 6fa slipped out to the darkness a parlor maid 7jc last night's costume party secrets swept under the rug 8mm here don my name on the internet boo 9zp whooooooooooooo quoth the hoot owl evermore 10rc snake on dying vines unseen, not even by attentive eyes 11abb stockholders' meeting question period canceled 12cc taking a page from 'robert's rules of order' rrrip 13ss a silent name mottled with lichen 14ahb on a stump in sunlight witch's butter quivers 15akr a tree toad's perfect eye make up 16js silk gloves cover the prom king's hand warts 17fa no murder tonight oriental express 18jc fast food a daily diet death sentence 19mm cnn breaking news cnn breaking leaks cnn breaking rumors 20zp zen exercise putting together a pieceless puzzle 21rc concentration while mending grandma's broken chinese vase 22abb mid-life she acts innocent anyway 23cc hormone imbalance the Flying Wallendas without a net 24ss dolphin safe what to say to ET 25ahb a new initiative the rear guard advances 26akr grape vine she didn't expect it to move so fast 27js another day's depression broken by the weeping willow 28fa each corner of a mah-jong table former POWs 29jc in the bedroom mirror a scar he never knew she had 30mm i can take renga out of japan and japan out of renga 31zp cookies broken we swap fortunes 32rc street man brings the bread, the old dog wags its tail 33 abb new bee dance not much different 34cc from my penny loafers two nickels for the pay phone 35ss dime store pearls bounce with each step 36ahb tattoo on her pinkie he wonders where else 37akr where the sun don't shine a cigar 38fa intelligent dish washer diagnoses its problem 39jc Saturday morning chores divided between siblings 40mm clans regions religions a woman gang-raped 41zp in the corner the class bully wearing a dunce cap 42rc on the farm, the children like to pat the black sheep 43abb Snake River wind empties a paper packet of mandala sand 44cc birdwatcher taking a tern for the worse 45ss brief summer night a jet follows the last eclipse of the millennium 46ahb placated he leaves a tip 47fa in Las Vegas Buddha lost then Jesus lost 48jc the one-armed bandit meets the one-eyed jack 49mm disappointment we beer drinkers unable to walk the lines 50zp by the cash machine a man in black 51rc the coffee on the beach has more foam 52abb pinching the places he wants liposuction 53cc through the vacuum cleaner rattle of a diamonds 54ss infra-red self-portrait 55ahb a hacker, his keyboard painted with camouflage patterns 56fa on Vietnam Monument her twin's names 57jc in the foxhole the atheist digs a little deeper 58mm after the fall i get up in the garden ok 59rc a tulip by the window sprinkling water on the grumpy guy 60abb "yes, let's get together sometime..." 61cc crowbar prying redwood from a rotten fence 62ss dust motes sift down softly 63ahb just a blink the blue flame from an ember 64fa Princess Masako finally pregnant 65jc baby oh baby on the radio a different song but the same words 66mm 'instant weather by twc' please wait the heat 67zp when it's finally filled it's lost its chill frosty mug 68rc milk on his grey mustache his childish look 69abb subway map YOU ARE HERE almost rubbed off 70cc pursenapper he tumbles over the turnstile 71ss season ticket - the irony of a beautiful autumn day 72ahb each scene of the play memorized 73fa downloading from INS web-site an application for citizenship 74jc a long list of languages spoken here 75mm american fears wash hands after peeing and checking mail 76zp flawless lawn now the poop is scooped 77rc on visit day they love to sweep the sand that shoes had spread 78abb his disappearance not really a mystery 79cc from under the steamy mirror not the man I thought I was 80ss your favourite Beatle says it all 81ahb the Turing machine to reproduce this is infinitely long 82fa zero plus zero equals zero 83jc casual Friday in the math department a dozen Einstein t-shirts 84mm makes even more sense mother nature 85zp mom concerned raging fires 400 miles south of us 86rc my neighbor's ashes stain the air 87abb moonset - flossing the ones I don't want to lose 88cc my Brady entries absent Alice's fingerprints 89ss out of the loop - tumbledown a wonderland restaurant 90ahb half buried in snow, an old sock 91fa Christmas holiday starts with the silent treatment 92jc not what she said but how she said it 93mm watch out for big ears if you've a subversive gleam in your art 94zp dissent unaloud 95rc a parrot curses our fanatic neighbor's football team 96abb wheelchair waved through security 97cc debilitating sometimes my catholic conscience 98ss war stares from the wardrobe 99ahb three steps at a time up the escalator
ECHOES OF RAIN winter rain... black angel fish warm-slipper day... breakfast for two a white blossom floats a pair of cranes REENGINEER reengineer hat motionless
OTHER RENS Book IX
"dogwood winter" a reminder not to put away all the blankets no conversation from Grumps oops! Gramps so tired but unable to sleep i write yet another verse beneath the music in the movie politics a date with the guy on my right refused I poke the guy on my left not a word of greeting from either side
renobscure new friend from Spokane she’s a poet and she drives a train the beat goes on from a grouse in the woods they wish to believe vibrations of tuning forks unblock chakras buried in WHC waterfall of messages 2 from mm can’t believe my eyes in april her lavender iris in full color undetermined date for a world-wide prayer day
renvisitor from all over the globe poets in Denver for a conference on healing a stranger asks: do you need a hug? across the wet ground during the night a creature with big paws i observe two haiku teams battle on the net discovery! new electronic renga partner a mere ferry ride away just to hear the nuthatch alone April 23-29, 2002
Pressed Blossoms:5 (rhymes with or) reason for divorce she says he doesn’t do chores willingly struggling & giving up trying to remember it’s the easier inside work i run from like a madwoman kinda fun ironing that first little hankie to country or peasant music chores are not a chore in yesterday’s dirt-caked clothes today
renancestor true earthlings my hominid family who too soon lost ground couples side by side in death as in life they plowed the earth and planted crops after deep snows from tennessee to oklahoma i’m back Grandpa said his grandpa lived to one hundred and fourteen i still burn incense for all of his and mine
rencontour drawn beyond my thoughts by the shape of everyone’s moon is that mustached profile my estranged? eyes follow the action guiding the pencil’s continuous path winter profile begins to flesh out of itself out of the haze of a dream seedlings in the bay window at dawn silhouette in the glass self-image suffers
renencore some people would rather i didn’t play at all let alone an encore hit ‘em again hit ‘em again harder harder state terrorism on the rise a house for a house in my book dawn dusk dawn dusk dawn dusk dawn... sunning on a chaise lounge in Mercer Island in Mazatlan thoughts return to a poem unwritten April 27-May 3, 2002
DEMOCRACY democracy tossed about in the wind as a real word/real world a tighter grip the roller coaster veers right heartened by the small bit of orange a butterfly already gone color-coded alerts waiting for the pink... no doubt march 8th marchers imprinted in the big boy files mounting evidence against pedophile priests
another goddess worshipper makes me wish i had known marija * barely on purpose uncovered the deep past the danger in planting mine fields and then retracing your own steps the yak-yak revised is saddam dead or alive a new dance of the seven veils even the impostors have doubles far longer than i watch them three deer watch me such a narrow sliver of light at the end of tunnel vision with god on every side so little room for the devil shuffling half the deck i accuse myself of cheating at solitaire spring snow in most of the tv lies to someone else the economic crisis effects prostitution that really sucks into the crevices of mother nature her leafy mold kill and degrade overused so handy the masculine 'soften up' hiv the only positive news this week the heat of early spring a piliated low across the bulldozed path growling over a wishbone two strays nothing i can do about much one of the four tulips in bloom something loud in their silence waiting for the cicadas seen and not heard a female grouse heard but not seen a male rocky mountain oysters just send me the bill 'baghdad falls' go dubya go with your constitution and calculator crimson dust soldiers settle into desert sun dogwood winter restless nature clothes hang inside to dry you're closer to a barefoot walk you little piggies
weeds or wildflowers between a rock & a hard place what's the dif swept away with their homes crayfish first scent of rain on the balcony i fold & unfold her letter the moon so full it belongs outside a haiku shaking the kaleidoscope like dice there you go a new pattern the blues nina simone of the night ** * archeologist marija gimbutas [1921-1994] march 2-april 22 2003
probably 2 'real' renga sorta #5 even more rain sooner rather than later and yet later too Evergreen State's straw-colored lawns black-eyed susans and daisies what they know of each other old beau and I verbally up-to-date a moment of silence for mississippi strom a bit long * traffic rushes past under the window
battling a blaze private crews not all that experienced shaken from the real daylily the real dew sundeck flowerpots need watering my one task for today everything dubya touches turns into dubya Shiite Muslims vent against U.S. some citizens head north the pain not quite here still i tear up a tear feeling weepy no matter how trite the scene in the movie the she said demeaned the he said defended no more recriminations their divorce turns 'friendly' larger than the 'prenuptial' 4 billion a month $250,000 bid on E-Bay charity lunch with Warren Buffett new on 'tostitos' label 0 grams trans fat
are those little pricks of that big prick loaded with lead ** pencils can reach farther than bullets vine at the end of its stake searches the air for a cloud shelves with empty spaces ready to fill we listen for a bird any bird when he first arrives resting on a concrete wall why not the pine? mid-summer shade one cover-up after another dashed Liberian cease-fire announced then the body count upper level disturbance odor of dill rises from the glads fresh flowers replaced with paper-cutter & paints tho overcast a path toward the hangout of diana butterflies shrimp slit open and spread apart on a grill another Seafair another year to watch Blue Angel maneuvers just grins when a frog jumps into the pond green trees and people 'along with pigeons in the grass alas' *** a cool night the kid's hot chocolate and ice cream the slight breeze brings apartment temp down from 86 degrees which comes first a messy house or messy nature
* 5m Senator Thurmond [1902-2003] july 21-24 2003
BREASTS OF SNOW: moyuru kagiri wa as long as they burned
kare hana no withered and bare
shiroki kurage ni mingling with
orokashiki forgetting these foolish
sukui naki without comfort
FROM THREE TO NINETY-THREE Leaving Napier Selwyn and his grandson, William, stop beside the road so that the little fellow can touch the snow. "It looks good while you're looking at it, but it feels really cold," grandfather says. On reaching his grandparent's house the child tips out the toy box and spreads his cars over the couch. Carefully he lines them up one by one. A yellow one, whose wheels fall off and can be put back on again, takes most of his attention. snow swept road After dinner William wants a bedtime story. Ah, Peter Rabbit! but it's not the rabbit who features in William's mind. It's Mr. McGregor, the gardener who chases rabbits with a rake, calling out "Stop Thief!" in nightmares He barricades his pillow with mouse, penguin and Missy Bear. Finally images of Mr. McGregor are driven away and his eyes close. We awake to a fine sunny morning. Decide to take a walk along the river bank to the resthome so that William can see his great grandparents. in the gum tree tui serenade Reaching their unit, William asks for toys. Molly rushes around to see what she can find to amuse him. She returns with a photo album. Among all the baby photographs there isn't one of him. Sasha, the dog, tied up beneath a grapefruit tree, looks at us with long eyes. The rooster who crows and visits early in the morning has left his calling card in disgust after no crusts where thrown his way. wet socks
CATHERINE OLIVIA early hours in the high street lunchtime two grandmothers
CLIPPED HEDGES
wind in the trees the road bends out of town between clipped hedges eyeing me last lizard of the summer slowdown in the garden patches as sleeves grow longer speeding up the motorway, flashing tattoos when did 'peace' become a four-letter word again? spree in the same little breath as killer
soft sibilants, but the instruction to leave the party is pressing full moon red wine down the front of her tux something about no moths around the porch light that drew the wrens* war-time yankee over here overpaid and very nice the hissing scratching biting cat calling a spayed a spayed with mist the taken-for-granted hills come into focus stage smoke - the master of the universe is ten feet tall day after thanksgiving going cold turkey if you gotta study old haiku settle there otherwise hang with yourself neither ancient nor modern but just right all pigtails and proboscis picasso portrait of goldilocks the big bad men versus the big bad men
those charming ladies in the embroidery circle all agree chemistry test another multiple-choice 'f' warm snap snapped pines and rolling soil in the bulldozer's mind a panel bore smothers protesting quirks of wit my legal pad covered with doodles and oodles of 'ku-ddles one 'unjustice' system overridden in one little place** judges' delays keep the ex-dictator happy till he drops*** my heart thirty-two feet per second per second unsnowed in at last but i couldn't pull away from tomorrow's snow in jogging becomes a race to be back for the health programme the ghost of the ghost of john lennon: 'you say you want a resolution?' what's with a patriarchal country called a she
britannia metal looking to all the world like a silver dollar **** the view of earth without it columbia stars & stripes duct tape the many nonlaughable things it can't fix a good dose of salts for friend and foe alike whiter behind the white coats my straitjacketed smile see you on mars if there's a mars left standing
*w.r.e.n.s (women's royal emergency naval service) August 24, 2002 - February 21, 2003
AFTER SUNSET biceps gleaming statuesque bread, cheese and fruit nude, she reclines,
Tan Renga subzero somewhere a ghost
January thaw crumpling up
an espresso-sized paper cup on the CD
not speaking running out of white
red oak flooring finally enough bare earth
SONG FOR THE VOICELESS prepared in silence waiting for the mail - goldfinches fly sunbeams dance on my eyelids wedding ceremony - the joy of the bluebird's wild strawberries - standing over earlier twilight - simple dinner of soup - day's decline sad child three gifts - two small cold hands road closed by drifts snowman's deaf ancient hickory this northern sky trusted ripple of a thrush cloudless night -
A LIFE FULL OF SKIES a line of trees joyfully I see them cresting a wave I'm keeping books trees are moving away the sand dollar's songs within songs so are you tuned my back is bent you can't say it writes scraps of cloth the willows gather a night sea noise I leaned my ladder when I was five I give my myself January 19, 1999 - March 21, 1999
RAINY SEASON Empty pueblo street: Puddles form The clouds break: A crowing rooster A passing pickup Standing under the eaves The bells for mass ring A backyard rat darts The eastern mountains The rising sun of the high desert Delivery van Whisking sounds For years a stack Columns of rebar in a foundation Heat rising: Clothes laid out to dry Under the ceiling fan On the mirador, the cactus Inching up the wall Sun at its brightest On a floating island of hyacinths Parade in the plaza Four wasps starting a nest Under the poster Where boats once sailed Pregnant teenager Sinking sun sharply defines The lone light bulb Young couples sit on bare steps Mountains suddenly backlit In the jagged lightning bolt The faces of the The first rain sounds Storm-drenched, But tonight’s mud
Written on August 24, 2003 at 113B Ramon Corona, San Antonio, Tlayacapan, Jalisco, Mexico
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2003. Page Copyright© Jane Reichhold 2003. I would like to know more about Renga. |
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