Insights into How My Writing Has Evolved — Haiku In the early years of my writing career, I focused solely on writing, reading and rewriting haiku. During a seven year period, I published over 125 haiku in more than 25 magazines including Modern Haiku, Dragonfly, and Cicada. …

Twenty-five Haiku with Commentary — snow falls slowly in the moonlit city streets— winter SILENCE contrails cut across blue winter sky— people hurry home midnight— the whistling of winter wind and a lover’s snore gray pigeons circle massive concrete grain bins… melting ice for a moment sun brightens shadows then dusk early morning— two robins play…

Poem and Commentary — I am a river of rain, a giver of light to the gods, a wheelbarrow of hope forgotten by man. I listen to the sounds the darkness makes when it cries. Why do we seek pain? Do you know? I hide in the closet and wait for the monsters to fall asleep…

Haiku with Commentary — Illinois farmland… pheasant scoots across the snow the pickup heads home The Haiku I have always had an emotional connection with this haiku. I was driving my dad’s blue pickup home one winter evening on a two-lane country blacktop road in central Illinois. The day had been cloudy and overcast. Darkness had…

A Poem With Commentary — I eat peanuts and pray that I will find a way through the weeds and rubble. God nibbles on a tuna sandwich and laughs at my silly jokes. I do not want to fail Him in His time of great need. His memory is full of holes and His heart may give up. I sip water and remember the hour of my birth…

A Story-Poem with Commentary — My mother told me on multiple occasions that I shouldn’t hide in books. She said that books would be the ruin of me. I scoffed at her words and ignored her warnings. Books are my carriage into unknown worlds where I can become someone other than the person who I am, a seamstress for the rich. I have been a lover of kings and a…