Click title to download micro

Cover collage:
‘Eucalyptus Dreams’ by JanK

•

Riddles

What is thunder?
 A splash of paint across a firefly
 summer.

What is an owl?
 A dampened echo in an empty bowl.

What is an acorn?
The secret whisper of last year's warmth.

What is fog?
 The flannel of a eucalyptus tongue.

What is salt?
 The shoals where lonely moonbeams
 shrilly sulk.

What is longing?
 A dream it’s Friday night on Sunday
 morning.

On an iPhone

I used to start each morning with a book,
Curled up in comfort on a bus or train,
The clack of wheels, my seat a cozy nook...
I fear those days will never come again.
I got this smartphone, and its use is plain:
It calls up maps or emails at a wish;
Peaceful commutes' and
quiet lunchtimes' bane,
But it makes one oh-so-productive... -ish.
I welcome it, of course: my electronic leash.

Graduation

bold, sun-dappled spring:
hummingbird
on plum tree blossoms

this is your bright spring
unfurling
sunlight in your hair

Eating Lychee at the New Otani

Like an envelope
of stiff brown paper, the shell
tears open neatly:

gargantuan pearl
veined with translucent sweetness,
nectar in firm flesh;

pit neat and gleaming,
worn smooth like a counter-stone
or a polished jewel.

The garden smells green
beyond the breakfast window:
waterfall and spring.

wind on the lake
the ripples
in her dress

Calm

vanilla-scented
flanneled
all over
pillow-channeled
thoughts tick slower
formulas
fables
twining in grayglow
murmulous
splendid
syrupy flow
softer
than sable
smoother
than satin
everything soothes
and stills
to a pattern

November Haiku

November rain brought
a snail to my window,
shyly peeking in.

Red maple leaves stuck
on the windshield, like paw prints
of curious beasts.

Winter comes knocking
with the sharp drumming of storms;
never welcomed in.

• 

Anna Remennik © 2023