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Seductive Woman, Seductive Cat
—Photo by Katy Brown, DavisWHAT IF—Claire J. Baker, PinoleWhat if the sky'sprehistoric domecrumbles,the sun explodingrivers of lava overthe four directions...What if a few survivorsfind on a pristine...
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Such Is Life
February Dawn—Photo by Taylor GrahamLONESOME COWBOY—Katy Brown, Davis The hardest thing in the worldis to be left behind.To listen for those slow footsteps,to want with all your heartto hear that...
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No Place For Stopping
TOUCHING MY BONESThere is no place for stoppingFor the moon is sick in its risingSwollen and a sorry yellow, slitIn half and hiding behind treesThat would be well to let it goSo it might do what it...
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Fair and Ugly Disappear
—Photo by D. R. Wagner, Elk GroveON COVERING THE BONES OF CHANG CHIN, THE HIRED MAN—Liu Tsung-yüan, 773-819The cycle of life is a worrisome thing,a single breath that gathers and scatters again.We come...
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Treasures Under the Moon
Massachusetts Swans—Photo by B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MAHOW THE CAT GOT ITS WHISKERS—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama When the world was newand animals formingcat rose and stretchedher long legs....
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Pussyfooting
MOODY AFTERNOON WITH PIANO AND CATI was bored with the light falling on the piano. I wanted the music sheet to simply open—to be lazy—dwindled out and long, and play the stared-at song. And I wanted a...
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Like It's Your Last
Treighton MauldinLIFE NOT YET KNOWNWe’ve not met But I know I love youI can feel your head Nestled against My chestI can smell you I lose myself In itI can see your face Your dark eyes The family nose...
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Love is a Lamb
Tuesday and mom, Freckles—Photo by Taylor GrahamLOVERS AND THE SEA—Taylor Graham, PlacervilleJust the two of them, square dancers without a square, clinging at the cliff-edgeso far above the...
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When Sin's a Pleasure...
Cheese Board—Photo by Katy Brown, DavisEARLY SPRING MORNINGFor Richard—Lynn M. Hansen, ModestoSoft morning light flowsthrough lace curtains onto usentwined spoon fashion,my spine pressedinto your...
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A Cloth of Heaven
ANSWERING THE CHIMESOh come now gentlemen, these chimesYou hear are a trick of language,Yet you will not suffer to know them As more than metaphor and a certainLack of music that comes fromForgetting...
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This Very Moment
Stained Glass Window (Allegory)—Painting by Odilon Redon, 1908BUT WHEN THE PERFECT COMES—D.R. Wagner, Elk GroveBut when the perfect comes we will open our hands.But when the perfect comes all our...
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Waiting For The Moon
Things Are Looking Up—Photo by Robert Lee Haycock, AnthiochA THING TIME DOES—William S. Gainer, Grass ValleyIt’s been a whileI still miss youstill worryyou knowit’s a thing I do.I’m feelinggood about...
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The Wilderness of Love
THE BORROWED LOVEIt was sleep in the arms of . . . (whose unloving arms holding sleep?)You slip inthrough the mirror to the dreamto where the holding armshold you,the never-held in the wilderness...
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Lambs, Grahams, and Waiving Judgement
The Reef—Photo by D.R. Wagner, Elk GroveAMPHORA—Taylor Graham, PlacervilleSailors gave the seaa few gold flecks rippling underwater, small coin, ancient jars scattered on the bottom: long-necked, hips...
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Impermanence
2013: Year of the SnakeNOT FAR—B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MANot farfrom the clearingof the waves burialof the sandstorm,yet closeto my home harborof beach erosionafter a wintry stormWe met new peopleat a...
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Grinding Winds of Change
Tim Kahl, Marathon of Love reading at SPCFriday, Feb. 15—Photo by Katy Brown, Davis HAIKU/CINQUAIN/SENRYU—Dewell H. Byrd, Central Point, ORgrinding winds of changefrozen cemetery stoneseasons marching...
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Light Upon the Waters
Bears Dancing(Detail from an old painting)WHEN THE CRYING CAMEThe wind seemed to be waiting for the dawn.It poured into the room like a confessionThat it carried with it weapons and knewHow to cut...
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Constancy is Essential
Fishing Boats at Sea—Painting by Vincent van GoghALL THE FRUIT IS RIPE—Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin, 1770-1843All the fruit is ripe, plunged in fire, cooked,And they have passed their test on...
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A Fistful of Cameos
—Photo by Ann PrivateerSO FAR—Ann Privateer, DavisUnnamedpeople rise and fallfor those who recall: them, him, herbefore their timestilled from what they knew to no moresojourning in night's...
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Those Rhythmic Waves
BLUE MOIRÉ In folds of silken fabric—tossed over the edge of the bed—her moiré gown in waves of fading shimmer—waves and waves of memory’s...
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