Surprise! You have landed in the part of AHA!POETRY Archives of the stuff out of my archives as editor and publisher.
You are welcome to kick aside the boxes to explore at random what is not yet unpacked and placed on the proper shelves. May serendipity serve you well.
Do remember that this is a library of sorts. Don't steal. But do memorize and be inspired!
BOTH SIDES OPEN
A Kasen Renga in honor of the opening of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 1989.
Werner Reichhold
Jane Reichhold
published in Round Renga Round
wall
bird song on both sides
opens w
mouths all shaped the same
speaking one language j
separated
now closer than ever
tongue in cheek
w
curved light and shadow
a measure of time passing
j
moon a window lamp
watching the secret heart
of my
neighbor w
binoculars unfocussed
he thinks he blinks j
a soldier stares
in the western sun
fire j
responding to the watcher
she exchanges gloom for glow
w
imprisoned
yet the loved one sings
a duet j
they both have blue eyes
barriers swing apart w
twenty years old
in a car full of youth
nicknamed
"trabbi" j
visiting the family
not seen since the war w
November frost
suddenly everyone's hair
snow white
j
warming all of us
sunlight on a rising moon w
winter solstice
more to celebrate
than Christmas
j
Armistice Day
45 years later w
rust grows
weedy vines
on a tank j
seen in a museum
hopefully next year w
sections of the wall
covered with graffiti
for sale
w
voice of the people
in best-seller books j
written in stone
the broken bricks save
protest - -
w
going to jail for life
liberty and happiness j
separation
the hidden desire
freedom w
his wife keeps at home
a wild sparrow caged j
man in space
soon missing
borderlines w
melting into the future
today and land before that
j
one field
the farmer plants
in different dimensions
w
his hand spreads a fan
flung grain moves the light
j
united
people of two countries
under sun and moon
w
not a star in sight
new flag has three colors j
black
red and
gold j
wind-written hieroglyphic
beginning a new contract
w
a handshake
one blood
in both hearts j
with the rhythm step by step
sharing neighbor's wishes
w
snowflakes melting
together planting a hedge
of
white roses j
through the fragrant gate
fluttering wings w
AT DUSK AND BLUE
Tundra Wind and Jane
Reichhold
1/10/90 -- 10/7/90
february
at dusk and blue
a faint smile t
tarnish fits the silver
holding the mirror j
face to face
holding a dialog
with memories t
thin paper without words
light on a photograph speaks
j
evening pause
the sound of the river
and passing
cars t
flowing backwards in time
the robe you wore that night
j
old sheets
turning into ghosts
on Halloween j
the sound of tv static
in the early morning gray t
turning white
the day fills with snow
and oneness
j
drifting clouds
moving shadows t
forming eggs
the roundness of a breast
in a robin
nest j
spider's web
filled with sky t
spinning around
the earth turns out
a beautiful day
j
into the morning
moonlight lingers t
in my head
resting on the pillow
your voice j
sharing a cup of green tea
with your ghost t
a water lily
pulled from the pond center
too soon
j
answering the phone
to get away from us t
starlight drifts
through the window
a cool breeze
t
covering everything
the sleep with dreams j
whisperings
over the rainbow bridge
mist and light
t
joining the nuptial pair
power of Niagara Falls j
long distance call
a faulty connection
lots of
static t
an eyelid closed
translucent wave j
july beach
for about 1/2 an hour
a cloud shades the
glare t
cold and wet campers climb
the cliff so eagerly
descended j
before the sunset
bringing the wind and stars
and
apparitions t
the globe spins on its axis
a sound in the trees j
silver sickle moon
over the horizon
light of a jet
plane t
stretched across darkness
glowing jewels of the city
j
Saturday night
a woman's whiskey-raw voice
pours
from a radio j
washing over the street
September rain t
flight of a bird
unmarked
a feather falls j
the sound of dawn
Sunday morning t
holy of holies
in the scroll a lily
unrolls j
at first morning blue
night fades t
DEEP IN PINK
Terri Lee Grell
Jane Reichhold
Begun: 11/1/89
Guidelines: one line each, 36 lines using colors, senses
ambrosia tongue deep in the pink conch shell tlg
blowing on one end clear tones all around jr
breeze from behind whistling boys bone white tlg
on her shapely hips jealous-green eyes jr
falling to her knees the red silk kimono tlg
fastened in place by blood-gorged lips jr
opened by heat the morning sun enters with him jr
only moments before the chill up her spine tlg
parting cold on pearly teeth her sad smile jr
he swears it was only heavy breathing not yes yes yes tlg
whispers white among the rocks at high tide jr
drifting out to sea his fishing pole her bait tlg
a heart-shaped shell in a sea-green glow jr
tender to the touch her hidden stretch marks tlg
lifelines hum a colorless love song jr
holding my tongue in the abandoned mine shaft tlg
black sweat work of naked men jr
gold-digger at the salt lick a sudden urge tlg
the sound of water tlg
daubed on paper white-out corrects copy jr
dear Jesse stop please read stop my lips stop tlg
expletive deleted part of a woman's body jr
Enough! Show me the exit. Take me back to AHA!POETRY Home page .
ALL IN A DAY
Jane Reichhold
Werner Reichhold
As if called from afar, waves cold colors of night suddenly appear to be streaked with warm breath, shapes emerge from shadow's sleep, performers step toward the footlights speaking the first words of the link
her face, glowing from inside out, was seen through a car's window and the windshield wiper cleaned tears away from it to both sides
of his family originated in the mountains so it was to the up-lifted country he took his later years to be held aloft by slanted land to look down on the tops of trees and to go gently only where two feet are given passage. Yet it was here they must drive to carry him down to a grave.
over-flowered, a rectangle turns into a sweet-smelling island. Children stop here picking crocus for Easter. Half open chalice, in the air between petals, still his name
fluttered nearby on the wings of Muir Hairstreak at home in the Sargent cypress of the Range of Lights, his better name for the Sierra Nevada, resting place among the granite rocks for even a late moon
places its light horizontally; the only vertical are the pine trees and the person in between; his channeling into a thread of continuously floating light wraps them together
but because it started to rain, the magical experience was interrupted; he left the woods and jumping over trenches by taking a short cut back to the village, he passed the home of a friend, knocked on the door and joined a homecoming party when all guests together started to work on one watercolor
not being artists -- with no ability to draw or paint, there was nothing for us to do but to stand outdoors with hands upturned to the designs of the Zodiac
The party of 36 individuals decides each would write one sentence containing the visible space between stars; the final intricate mosaic would testify if the many voices poetiencially enlarge the poetical statement of a single person
orange tea and cherry jam at two in the morning by candlelight and rain music unscrambling dream speakers' messages coded in vegetable scraps rotting in the kitchen compost pot next to the jelly jar
a mouse! a gray ball passing the floor as fast as an unwanted memory can appear and leaving under the stairway like the uplighted word on a computer screen when your finger touched the "mouse"
revelation -- and the mind is flung into the midst of a previous life in Italy, lying ill and alone on a soiled bed, seeing the door open, and as sunlight streams low across the bare earth floor
Enough! Show me the exit. Take me back to AHA!POETRY Home page .
THIRTY-SIX WAYS
A renga between
Jane Reichhold
Werner
Reichhold
Started: April 3, 1993 - Finished: April 7, 1993
The first word of each three-liner is determined by the sixth stanza Wallace Steven's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."
Icicles
touching the swollen gum
where the
tooth was pulled
on Sundays more emptied
Safeway's frozen
good aisle
filled
heaven high with the
chill
mackerel skies
foreign winds blow rounder
bubbles into her
blouse
the curve of her breast
signaling desire he
touches
her wine goblet
more red from such a warmth
tulips wouldn't close
for sleep
long parted
sea fogs for a morning
crossing
ships
the cause for rows of waves
the hollow clang of bell
buoys
window program
shortly after midnight
a spotted
owl lights up
chain saw in moth balls
the logger learns
word-crunching
with a face lift
his wife wonders why
he too has
whiskers
happy to hear the bird song
return of a bearded
tit
barbaric
if one could but wouldn't stop
dog
before a tree
third day of the diet
wanting chocolate so bad
glass tubes
lamps are forced to shine
closer to
a patient
deep in our dark bodies
the radiance of white bone
the health care
problem
Hillary
hilarious
a child dumps sea water
in a sand castle's moat
shadow forms
as day passes steep cliffs
faces of
ancestors
in my mask an octopus
kelp green arm's slow
motion
of Shiva
the patina brings centuries
to a bronze
sculpture
pressed brown leaves a marker
in the fading book a
glow
the clock strikes
wrong!
summer time begins
in the heart of grass I watch
April flowers growing
colors
blackbird
the circle of his eye
widens the
stars
too far, too early
flight within my dream
crossed
hairs in the glass
of the sniper's gun
trembling and the sudden fall
a man along his
pass
it zigzags
life is never again the same
in the
lightning's flash
strawberry cream letters
on a birthday cake
to a surfer
leaving a wave's tunnel
shark
faced
the great jaws green white
sea energy travels wide
and between trees
swinging
maiden hair
prancing ponies catch the sun
whirl around the
carousel
from fogged
the ice restless
under the bridge
the sun comes bringing spring
wrapped in all that
follows.
Death Haiku
Jane Reichhold
Poems collected out of my works on the theme. Why I did this, I have forgotten. But the poems were the result of my going back to Ohio to take care of my parents - John and Erma Styer in their last illness and death.
OHIO
ROADS SO STRAIGHT
HEAVEN GOES DOWN THEM
OVERNIGHT
RENTING A CANOE
AND A MOON
IN ROWS
BEES AND HIS LIPS
AT HARMONICA HOLES
LAST SIP
BITTER TASTE OF EARTH
IN THE WATER
OPEN GRAVE
FROST AIR PENETRATES
DEEP INTO EARTH
BURIAL GROUND
NAKED TREES
VEIL THE SUNRISE
WIND
TANGLING BARE
BLACK TREES
OHIO
SKIES TOO WIDE
FOR ONE WEATHER
WINTER ROAD
A SHARP TURN
TO THE NURSING HOME
EATING OUT
CLINGING TO MY SKIRT
BLANKET FUZZ
KNITTING
TO OHIO
THESE TREES
ABOVE
THE DIALYSIS MACHINE
A WITHERED PLANT
KNITTING
DURING THE DEATH WATCH
A DROPPED STITCH
LAST KISS
HER REASON TO BE
SO COLD
SOBS
THE OXYGEN TANK
HISSES
WINDSHIELD WIPER
NOT BRUSHING AWAY
THE TEARS
FREEZING RAIN
ANOTHER BREAKDOWN
IN THE DIALYSIS MACHINE
SICKROOM FEELING
THE FAKE FORMICA
FLOORING
DEATH WATCH
ONE THREAD
UNRAVELS
NO MORE BREATH
FALLING FROM THE VASE
A PINK ROSE PETAL
FORGETTING WHERE
THE FAMILY STONE
SINKS IN
TOMBSTONE
SOMETHING FOR OTHERS
TO LOOK AT
WIND BROKEN
THE BENT BRANCH
FALLS TO THE ROOTS
LEAVING THE CEMETERY
SUNRISE
ON FROST-CRACKED SOIL
WINTER SUN
THE HOUR'S ANGLE
FROSTED
FALLING FROM THE WREATH
FROST
FLOWERS
FOR DAD
SELLING HIS HOUSE
SETTING A STONE
FLIGHT DELAYED
AIRPORT CAROLS
"ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH.."
RUN WAY
A NAIL BITTEN DOWN
TO THE QUICK
TO LEAVE OHIO
BUCKLING UP
THE SEAT BELT
A PILE OF CARDS
THE INNER GLOW OF LIGHTS
IN A CRYSTAL
ABOVE FLYING SEAS
A SWARM OF BLACK BIRDS
IN SPINDRIFT
RAIN DROPS
A CATHEDRAL ROOF
ON THE CABIN
BLOOD RELATIVES
FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER
RED BEETS
CHRISTMAS
A SLEIGH DRAWS HOMEWARD
ALL MY THOUGHTS
WINTER SOLSTICE
FINDING A NEW POINT
FOR ACCUPRESSURE
AFTER THE SOLSTICE
CLEANING THE HOUSE
TRIMMING WICKS
A NEW YEAR
RISING FROM WILD SEAS
A FEW STARS
Someone was writing an anthology of haiku on the subject of old women. I sent her this list. She couldn't find one she wanted to put in her book, so I am not going to tell you the name of it. Just like an Old Woman.
OLD WOMAN HAIKU
Jane Reichhold
GOING AROUNDWOMAN
THE BENT
AT THE CORNER
AN OLD WOMAN
CARRYING A BALLOON
HUFFS AND PUFFS
AN OLD WOMAN
BUYING A BALLOON
THE LAST ONE
EGGSHELLS ASH BONE
THE WHITE OF THE MOON
A WITCH'S SPELL
PUTTING ON LIPSTICK
BEFORE WRITING THE LETTER
WHITE-GLOVE LADY
PLAYED ON A HARMONIUM
THE OLD GOSPEL SONGS
SQUEEZE OUT TEARS
WINTER BEGINS LEAVING ME ALONE
WITH AUTUMN
WRITING HER MEMOIRS
THE AGED POETRESS READS
HER FIRST HAIKU
MY LIFE-STARS
A SUPERABUNDANCE OF
ONE GOOD EYE
LAST WARMTH OF SUN
BREATHING EXERCISES
FOR MENOPAUSE NERVES
AN OLD FRIEND
CHINKAPIN BURRS OPEN
ON SMOOTH FRUITS
CHOP SUEY
MEMORIES OF YOUR VISIT
IN THE LEFT-OVERS
WINTER NIGHT
ONLY THE CANDLE
READS MY POEMS
WITH COLD FINGERS
WRITING DOWN WORDS
EVERYONE KNOWS
HOMECOMING NIGHT
AUTUMN RAINS DRIVING MY PARENTS
TO THE NURSING HOME
OVERLOOKING THE PLACE
WHERE I HAD MY FIRST KISS
THE OLD FOLKS HOME
IN A MIRROR
HER WRINKLES DO NOT MAR
THE SMOOTH SURFACE
RED KNUCKLES
CLAY AROUND THE CUP
OF ROSE HIP TEA
WINTER TWILIGHT
GATHERS IN HER LAP
WHITE FOLDED HANDS
AT DUSK
A HAND WAVES GOOD-BYE
HE OWL'S WING
WHISPERS
MY ANCESTORS TURNING TO LARVA
UNDER THE MOUNDS
HER LONG THUMBNAIL
FALLOW FIELDS LIE EMPTY
WITH SNOW
SNOWBOUND
DIGGING OUT
HAIKU
IN THE PHOTO ALBUM
MY MOTHER'S FACE
BEFORE I KNEW HER
THIS TIME
GRANDFATHER'S DEATH
FACES ME
A SHOWER OF DIAMONDS
MY BIRTHDAY GIFT
FROM A SNOWY BRANCH
AN OLD WOMAN
THE HARSHNESS OF WINTER
IN HER HANDS
IN HER HANDS
THE OLD WOMAN HOLDS
WINTER PAIN
IN HER HANDS
THE OLD WOMAN'S
WINTER PAIN
IN FINGERS
THE SOUND OF A WRIST
COUNTING MY BLOOD
THE OLD MAN SHAVES
THEN CRAWLS INTO BED
WITH HIS OLD WIFE
TEARS WATERING FLOWERS
I'LL NEVER SEE AGAIN
DEATH MORNING
SNOW FLAKES FALLING
EACH ALONE
MOTHER'S DAY
GIVING THE OLD CAT
A DISH OF CREAM
MOTHER'S DAY
THE DAUGHTER'S CALL
ABOUT HER DIVORCE
EVENING DEEPENS
THE TAN ON HER LEGS
WITH VERICOSE VEINS
LEAVING A BOOK
BLIND HANDS TOUCH
CLOSED EYES
A CAMERA'S FLASH
LONG AFTER THE EYES CLOSE
IN OLD PHOTOGRAPHS
BACK HOME
THE BOOKMARK IN HIS BIBLE
DOES NOT MOVE
LAST DAYS
AS THIN AS HER SKIN
LOOSE ON BONES
WAITING ROOM
A PATCH OF SUNLIGHT
WEARS OUT THE CHAIRS
PACEMAKER
OLD PUSS PURRS
ON HER CHEST
COMING LATE
A BIRTHDAY GIFT
OF SOUR PLUMS
FADING
CONDOLENCE CARDS
THE STING
A SON'S CALL
WHITE WAVES OF LONG DISTANCE
RETURNING TO SHORE
NEW TEETH
A BEACH PICNIC BLESSED
WITH SAND
HIS GRAVE
COVERED WITH
MY SKY
RAIN
COVERING HIS GRAVE
A SOFT CLOUD
THREADING A NEEDLE
ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
THE SPOOL UNWINDS
GRANDMOTHER
SQUEEZING ON HER DRIVER'S LICENSE
A LONG NAME
HOT FLASHES
BLUSHES OF YOUTH
GETTING OLD
FLOWERS
BETWEEN YOU
AND THE BEES
GRANDSON
THE UNMADE BURP
INVENTS A SMILE
SONGS OF SORROW
THE HARP STRING BREAKS
THE FALL OF TEARS
WITHOUT A LAMP
THE MOONLIGHT TURNS
MY HAIR WHITE
FALLING DOWN
THE MUMS NOT PICKED
BECAUSE YOU'VE GONE
TILL DEATH TURNS TO FACE ME
I'LL WRITE BEHIND HIS BACK
LAUGH LINES
BLACK INK
THE MANY POEMS DYE
MY HAIR WHITE
HUCKLEBERRY JAM
ALL THE TIREDNESS
UP IN JARS
ASLEEP
SURROUNDED BY THINGS
THAT DON'T
HAIKU SUBMITTED FOR POSSIBLE USE
OCEAN SANCTUARY BOOK
Jane Reichhold
SMOOTHED BY SEAS
A NEARLY ROUND ROCK
POINTS HOMEWARD
SUNDAY MORNING
ALL THE WAVES IN WHITE
KNEELING ON THE BEACH
A WALL OF WATER
CURVES AND CRASHES
A WHALE
SURF ROLLS
POWER IN THE SAND
LOW-FLYING BIRDS
WHITE SURF
WANTING TO KEEP THE OCEAN FREE
OF OIL WELLS
AS PEOPLE CRY
THE OCEAN ROARS
"NO OIL WELLS!"
IN AND OUT
OF THE RIVER'S MOUTH
A TONGUE OF SEA
WHITE WITH FOAM
THE OCEAN ENTERS
THE RIVER'S MOUTH
ARCHING INTO THE SKY
THE WAVE LEAVES
MORE BLUE
A FULL MOON
RESTING ON HOARY-FROST MEADOWS
TUNDRA SWANS
ANCIENT CYPRESS
LEANING OVER THE LIGHT
AT SUNRISE
RIVER VALLEY
LETTING THE SUNRISE
INTO THE SEA
MORNING
A TOUCH OF SEA WAVES
THE MOON MELTS
PROTESTERS GATHER
ON SKATEBOARDS AND CRUTCHES
"NO OIL RIGS HERE!"
TOURISTS
TAKEN BY THE VIEW
SNAPSHOTS
LOW-TIDE ROCKS
THE SUN IN A RACK OF CLOUDS
FAR OUT AT SEA
LOW-TIDE ROCKS
TOWN FOLKS GOING HOME
WITH FEW GROCERIES
OCEAN FOG
IN THE BROKEN SIGN
"OPEN"
PERIWINKLES
SIGNING SECRET NAMES
IN WET SAND
LOW TIDE
LEFT ON THE BEACH
AUTUMN
RECYCLING OLD GLASS
THE ROCKY BEACH
JEWEL-COVERED
INCOMING TIDE
BENDS ON THE BEACH
FOOTPRINTS
CLOUDS
CURVED IN SEA FOAM
RAINBOWS
WATERCOLOR PAPER
STOPPING A WAVE
WITH A BRUSH
SUNLIGHT
TRYING TO PAINT HIGHLIGHTS
ON TOPS OF WAVES
A TIME OF BEACHES
ABALONE SHELLS AND LOVERS
WITHOUT MEMORIES
MOSSY ROCKS
THE EMPTY SIDE
OF THE OCEAN
AT THE OCEAN
IN YOUR WHITE HAND
TEARS DROWN
HIGH TIDE
THE SECRET SCRIPT
OF DRIFTWOOD SCRAPS
SAYING GOODBYE
A SALT WIND SWALLOWS
THE WORDS
SEA FOG
WALKING THE VALLEY
WITH EMPTY HANDS
CURVE OF THE SEA
CUPPING HER BREASTS
COLD HANDS
SEA DOWNS
FOG LEAVING
THE VIEW
MORNING
WETTED BY THE SPLASH
OF SMALL WAVES
FIRST LIGHT
DAMP WITH THE ROAR
OF AN INCOMING TIDE
ALONG WITH RAIN
GOING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
TO THE SEA
SLEEP
FOLLOWING THE TIDE
TO THE MOON
BEFORE US
THE ROAD FLOWN
BY TWO SEA GULLS
ON THE ISLAND
NO ONE GOES TO
DRIFTWOOD
EDGE OF THE CLIFF
THE OLD COUPLE DISCUSS
GOING HOME
THANKSGIVING DAY
AN OLD COUPLE ON THE PIER
FISHING
HOLY GROUND
CITY FOLKS ON THE BEACH
REMOVE THEIR SHOES
HEAVY SURF
THAT SOUND I HEARD JUST BEFORE
BEING BORN
A SUMMER BREEZE
RISES OVER THE SEA CLIFF
PULLED BY A KITE
WAITING FOR THE WAVE
A KILLDEER PRACTICES HIS CRY
OF SURPRISE
WRINKLING UP
ALONG THE SHORE LINE
AN OLD OCEAN
THE SOUND OF SURF
SOMEONE WALKING
ON TRACKLESS SAND
Poems Copyright © Designated Authors 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995,
Page Copyright © Jane Reichhold 1995.