[gently I tug . . .]

   

gently I tug
the snake’s translucent skin
free of the grass—
more and more my hands
resemble my mother’s

American Tanka 22: June, 2013

hide and seek

after a painting

of the same name

by Carol Hamlin

the words

of a child’s prayer

to Our Father

dead on my lips

I enter a silent grove

in this hollow

between hills

like breasts,

my search for bloodroot

still blooming

unable

to name what stirs

in dappled light

I cry out only come

come come come

            Lynx XXVIII: 2, June 2013

The photograph was taken on the Appalachian Trail over Hump Mountain, in the Roan Highlands, on the NC/TN state line--among the most beautiful places on the eastern seaboard.