More Cherita

Six cherita by ed markowski

vanity mirror

private schools, credit cards,
a priviledged past

everytime she does
a line
her eyes close
_________

small-town jail

on the wall
of my cell

a calendar
“compliments of
the rotary club

_________

september 11, 2007

he’s still loose
& he’s still president

here in this yard
the apple tree she planted before she left
is heavy with fruit

________

august 8th, yellow moon above the ferris wheel

midgets on stilts
wobble down the midway

in a tent
behind the house of mirrors
the fat lady insults a fat lady

________

walking home from the factory

two empty bottles on
her porch steps

a brand & style
i’ll
never afford

__________

snow choked roads

& another foot
to fall by dusk

on a pure white day
in a black wool cape, my ex shows up
to borrow a space heater

Three cherita by andrew riutta

30-year mortgage:

a leaning woodshed
and bumpy driveway.

Come midnight,
beads of dew shine
like miniature porch lights.

_________

one acre

two dogs
a wife and kid

how comical
to see a grown man
count on his fingers

_________

Corn stubble.

A choral rendition
of Adagio For Strings.

To start all over,
all one needs
is nothing.

Two cherita by Denis M. Garrison

first published in
The Brink at Logan Pond (Modern English Tanka Press,
Baltimore, Maryland. 2005).

the cat’s spot by the hearth, empty

leftover wanted posters curl
and darken in the flames

our old collie sniffs the spot,
turns to look me in the eye,
then gazes out the front window

__________

finally, I can hear the forest silence

pounding pulse in my ears has subsided
and my breath now merely drifts before me

my vision widens from its darkened tunnel
and the trees sharpen in focus and then . . .
the snow-crunching footsteps begin

A cherita by Mrs Jones

his key turns the lock

table for two
soft lights and Bublé

‘due to bad weather
all international flights
have been terminated’