Triya Mag: Basant Edition, February/March 2026

Translated into Hindi

palliative care

a branch of loquat flowers

our light in the dark

Honourable Mention, 2025 Tokutomi Haiku Contest

how fragrant

this parched earth

after rain

I can almost

hear the roses

growing

Cherita Lighthouse Award, The Cherita, Book 94

Triya Mag: Sharad Edition, November/December 2025

Translated into Hindi

Honoured to have the following cherita selected as the Triya Feature!

sorting through

the paint tubes

on my desk

I wonder

what colours my pain

will be today

Cherita Lighthouse Award, The Cherita, Book 94

campfire nights

we ride in on the back

of a song

3rd Place, 2025 New Zealand Poetry Society International Contest

The Cherita, Book 95, February 2025

Issue: "snowfall"

old masters' gallery . . .

I pause

to consider

how light and shadow

define every aspect

of my life

 

The Cherita, Book 94, January 2025

Issue: "when it rains"

sorting through

the paint tubes

on my desk

I wonder

what colours my pain

will be today

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

how fragrant

this parched earth

after rain

I can almost

hear the roses

growing

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

world news

a flock

of chickadees

carrying joy

to both the hopeless

and the hopeful

shallow breathing

marks the struggle

between life and death . . .

the last gasp

of autumn colour stolen

by cruel winds

we played

hide-and seek

among rows of corn

silk tassels

woven into rings

around our fingers

two lindens

with their glossy,

heart-shaped leaves

remind me

of the way our bodies

turned silver in the moonlight

humpback whales

slip silently

through the water

why must we puny humans

leave such noise

in our wake

the sculpted blueness

inside

this glacial cave

I run my hand

over its curves

and think of you

a skulk of foxes

must have crept

into my garden last night

this morning, I found

tufts of fire among

the fountain grasses

The Cherita, Book 82, January 2024

Issue: "nomad"

whiskers

on the faces

of pansies

suddenly

I am thinking

of you

on my knees

photographing

the minutiae of nature

I peel a badge

of lichen

from my skin

they told me

to keep my wishes

inside

but I am swayed

by the constancy

of dandelions

The Cherita, Book 81, December 2023

Issue: "lighthouse keeper"

no one promised

this life

would be easy

but without hardship

I would not have found

this pen, this brush

sky spirits

are dancing

tonight

my feet

begin

to tingle

long-awaited

this rain

that slakes the thirst

of a wizened earth,

grown old

before its time

deepening snow

footsteps

make no sound

but I can hear

my breath

singing

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

aspens are turning

into yellow wraiths

in the wind

soon,

they will be nothing

more than bones

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

marsh cattails

exploding

in the sun

I catch a bit of light

and put it

in my pocket

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

silver sage

graced

by moonlight

its scent

somehow

immortal

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

 

Frameless Sky, Issue 18, June 2023

Honoured to be the "Take the Challenge" winner with the following artwork chosen by Emma Arthur Alexander to accompany her featured haiku:

The following haiku/senryu, tanka/kyoka, and cherita were incorporated into the featured artist's photographs, and selected by guest editor Vandana Parashar on the theme of "family":

basement apartment

mom collects what light

she can

I run

my fingers along

your spine . . .

how familiar,

the scent of you

oh, sister

how I miss

the colour

and music

you brought

into our lives

 

The Cherita, Book 56, November 2021

Issue: "dark to light"

let us celebrate

the keepers

of blood memory

their stories

giving birth

to stars

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

 

The Cherita, Book 50, May 2021

Issue: "washed by sunset"

the whimpers

of a starving puppy

draw me near

she offers her paw

and just like that,

I fall in love again

16,000 nights

and still,

these kisses

fall as dew

from the rose petals

of our tongues

the hull of our home

withstands

storm after storm

curtains flying

out every window

like pennants

 

The Cherita, Book 49, April 2021

Issue: "a shadow of myself"

we built

staircases of books

in our bedroom

following each other

from one world

into the next

lost again

deep inside

the forest's magic

a flush

of fairy inkcaps

enchants me

my sisters and I

nestle like spoons

underneath the comforter

father keeps

our kittens warm

inside his pockets

 

The Cherita: The Word Healers Anniversary Anthology, June 2021

we are tethered

to this earth

and to each other

our veins,

blue rhizomes searching

for light in the dark

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

The Cherita, August 2019

 

The Cherita, Book 48, March 2021

Issue: "a time of wonder"

lucent sails

of pelicans

s u s p e n d e d

time stops

for a moment

and kisses the sun

cloud-crowned

mountain goddesses

reveal themselves

gauzy capes of mist

s l i p p i n g

off white shoulders

this meteorite

holds a single grain

of 7 billion-year-old stardust

deep within,

I have always known that

something is out there

 

The Cherita, Book 47, February 2021

Issue: "some kind of magic"

candlelight

winking

in every window

how I miss

those nights we burned

each other down

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

 

The Cherita, Book 43, October 2020

Issue: "an old sadness"

a cloak of clouds

draped across

my shoulders

I wander

these ancient hills

that loved you

my father's shape

a small snowdrift

in this hospital bed

he opens his eyes

and calls me

by my childhood name

sea nymphs

I listen

to soft whisperings

inside

the pink nautilus

of your ear

 

The Cherita, Book 42, September 2020

Issue: "leave me here"

they fashioned

beaks for their masks,

nostrils stuffed

with lavender

to thwart the stench

of plague

no matter

how often I mend

the fabric of my life

loose threads

of regret still dangle

here and there

my senses

more alive

than they were

a butterfly's wing

holds all the colours

I cannot name

 

The Cherita, Book 41, August 2020

Issue: "i heard it first"

the aurora

pulses overhead

like a heartbeat

in these dark times

light knows how

to lift me up

 

The Cherita, Book 39, June 2020

Issue: "a sense of place"


imprints

of our bodies
in wet sand

emptiness filling
with the water from which
we are made


if you should

happen to drift
away

I will still be holding
onto the lifeline
of your hand

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

The Cherita, Book 38, May 2020

Issue: "it's a secret place"


beneath this bower

I will weave you
a garland of words

all the ones
you used to love,
in days beyond recall


sepia photographs

become nothing
but dust in our hands

we sift the remains
of our ancestors
over the garden

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

The Cherita, Book 37, April 2020

Issue: "and still"


the sky aflush

with dawn
and possibility

sometimes
I don't know how
to be me


we dance across

alpine meadows
on sun-washed days

tiny butterflies
like ballerinas escaping
from our mouths

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

The Cherita, Lockdown Cherita Special Feature, April 2020

April 16, 2020


let it rain

yes, I know
you have been waiting

but here we are
inside this night,
alive with coming storms


A Cherita Lighthouse Award
"let it rain" issue, November 2017


April 21, 2020


from open hands

the petals and leaves
on which I wrote your name

fall, one by one
behind me . . .
this is the way home


A Cherita Lighthouse Award
"autumn deepens" issue, February 2018