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TABLE OF CONTENTS

XXI:2 June, 2006

LYNX  
A Journal for Linking Poets   
 
   
 

SYMBIOTIC POETRY



E[N]TYMOLOGIES by Sprite (Claire Châtelet & Linda Papanicolaou 

ELECTION DAY by
Carlos Colón & Alexis K. Rotella

COMING HOME by
Laryalee Fraser & Linda Papanicolaou 

HELLO? by
Denis M. Garrison, Carol Raisfeld & John Daleiden

BLUE SMOKE by
Larry Kimmel & Sheila Windsor 

OFF AND ON by 
Zane Parks & Gino Peregrini

A FALLING STAR by
Alison Williams
Andrew Shimield
Frank Williams
Dick Pettit &
Vanessa Proctor

GRAVITY
by John W. Sexton 
Carmen Sterba 
Thomas Fortenberry 
Nancy Stewart Smith 
Gary Blankenship 
Moira Richards 
Jennie Townsend

TEEN STORY by
Catherine Mair & Patricia Prime

CARTWHEELS by
Patricia Prime & Catherine Mair

PROPERTY LIST by
Patricia Prime & Catherine Mair

EDDY by Patricia Prime &  Catherine Mair

CROSSROADS 
by Moira Richards
John W Sexton
Jennie Townsend
Gary Blankenship
Nancy Stewart Smith
Carmen Sterba &
Thomas Fortenberry

ZELKOVA WOOD 
by Carmen Sterba
Jennie Townsend
Nancy Stuart Smith
Thomas Fortenberry
John W Sexton
Gary Blankenship
& Moira Richards 

ONE POEM FOR SISTER SARAH 
by Pamela Raintree,
W. Macaulay Johnson
Laura Flett,
Carlos Colón
Jane Curry
 Jim McLain, &
Jennifer Jackson 

THE MATH BETWEEN by
John W. Sexton & Moira Richards

UPRIGHT STONES 
by Jane Reichhold,
Zane Parks
Norman Darlington
Moira Richards
CW Hawes
H. Gene Murtha
Lorin Ford & 
Kathy Earsman 

TAN RENGA by
CW Hawes & Lorin Ford

 

GRAPHICS 

by Sheila Windsor

    E[N]TYMOLOGIES
Sprite 
Linda Papanicolaou 

how long it took
to disbelieve my teachers
drawing new maps

comme il a fallu longtemps
pour ne plus croire mes profs
dessins de cartes nouvelles

 

une libellule aux ailes
de cellophane s'éleve

a dragonfly rising
on cellophane wings

 

her wedding veil
tears in the fickle wind
pan flutes

son voile de mariée
s'effiloche dans le vent volage
une flûte de pan

 

l'imitateur d'Elvis
ce qui se passe à Vegas
reste à Vegas

Elvis's impersonator
what happens in Vegas
stays in Vegas

 

what else to rekindle
dreams of elsewhere

quoi d'autre pour renouer
avec ces reves d'autre part

 

des cigales dans la nuit
je veille aux aguets pour
le retour de mon fils

cicadas in the night
I wait up listening
for my son's return

 

ELECTION DAY
Carlos Colón
Alexis K. Rotella

Election Day
exit pollsters counting
raindrops.

A one-way ticket
to the Amazon.

Ellis Island
the torch
in the orphan's eye. *

A splinter of light
in the gathering clouds.

Pharmacy counter –
lady with a Santa hat
coughs in my direction.

M&M's in a pill bottle –
my first doctor's kit.

Dropped Tootsie Pop
picture of me licking
off the leaves.

Tsunami Restaurant –
no one goes there anymore.

Puerto Rican beach
I hold my breath
in the undertow.

Dysentery among
my souvenirs.

Tucked
or untucked?
my t-shirt.

A Michael Jackson
look alike –
girl.

Moonwalking
the golfer
in a space suit.

Hawk outside the window –
NASA offering my husband a job.

Illegal alien
the tip of his
X-Acto knife.

Cerulean blue-
the skyjacker's shirt.

Spring evening
one side of my briefcase
covered with pollen.**

First dandelion
down the rabbit.

Paid poetry gigs –
they multiply like
dead batteries.

Curry spills
on my blue suede shoes.

Mudwrestling
the Elvis
impersonators.

Clay riverbed –
brownies.

Florida coast
the weathered boards
on the windows.

Panic attack at a red light –
I tell myself this too shall pass.

roadblockroadblock
roadblock everywhere i look roadblock
roadblockroadblock

A swallowtail
way above it all.

On the look out
for the year's first
spider lily.

Fiesta at the end
of a dead end street.

Furrowed brows
two teenagers play chicken
on skateboards.

Cowry shell necklace
picked up on the trail.

Windy Sunday
a pair of underwear
in my neighbor's yard.

House guest insisting
he join me on my walk.

Found art
a pattern of half-
eaten pine cones.

Medical intuitive
having an off day.

Bad acid trip
he wakes up with
his ex-.

Wedding night
he tells her he goes on binges.

* for Fred Mormino
**Neil Armstrong; published in Frogpond XXVIII:3 (2005)

 

 

COMING HOME
Laryalee Fraser (CA)
Linda Papanicolaou (US)

morning paper     a gulp of fresh squeezed orange juice

 

the clang of a garbage can lid      summer's end

 

homecoming game     sun flashes on the sousaphones

 

giggles from the garden bench     woolly caterpillar

 

Antiques Roadshow     a first edition of "Lassie Come Home"

 

power outage      grandma's bud vase now a candle holder

 

crayon on a newly painted wall      her child psych book

 

shoveling the driveway     a snowman's tilted smile

 

funiculi funicula     the mountain in its cloudcap

 

the soft press of woodland moss     morel mushrooms

 

bag of marbles     among the aggies a latticino

 

picnic under a day moon     the scent of honeysuckle

 

 

HELLO?
Denis M. Garrison
Carol Raisfeld
John Daleiden

Come home.
I want you here—
if you can love again.
Whenever that may be, you'll find
I'm here.

Please call.
I miss you so
and I need love again.
This time I know I’ll find you there
for me.

Hello?
Yes, this is me.
I know it's been too long . . .
for me as well. Where should I start?
Come home!

Your voice!
Like yesterday.
The magic still so strong. . .
Tell me, how you’ve been. I’m so far
from home.

Try to
see tomorrow;
the past cannot hurt us now.
But I can’t start to live ‘til you
return.

outside
Looking through glass
like Alice I blunder
into your private world of love –
voyeur

The past
has haunted me.
Tell me how we begin
to live . . . before our tomorrow
is gone?

We have
today – that’s all.
Tomorrow never comes.
Trust me today; please, give us both
a chance.

This is
a beginning. . .
If we can love again
I’ll trust you today and give us
that chance.

A knock
at my front door;
my heart swells in my throat.
My lips trembling, I open with . . .

Oh, yes!
Just as before
when you held me so close
and took my breath away, oh yes. . .
Hello!

 

 

BLUE SMOKE
excerpts from an ongoing collaborative work between
Larry Kimmel 
Sheila Windsor  
art work by Sheila Windsor

in the market place

dung and dust
a fly riding the piper's finger

threading the crowd
a woman in white
magical as a unicorn

 

festival lights

holding hands with a stranger
along the red-ribboned river

somewhere the faint bells
of a sunken city
under sea-green waves

 

 

'one-eyed undertaker' 2

in this neighbourless place
we whistle and sing

and the old guitar
on the wall, without strings,
accuses me

 

spider's thread

lines a witch's hollow face
glints her wicked eye

where Banquo's laugh
reverberates down every
pavement crack of time

 

 

wavering embers

the clock's bird
cuckoos thirteen times

as the forgotten dadaist rocks
in his sleep, dreaming
impossible colors

 

the 10,000 things

a hidden path
leads into the mountains

in a hut
the old poet lives
alone alone

 

 

 

gathering firewood

from the rot and snap
i look up

just in time, again,
to catch the wild-geese
~ ~ ~ leaving*

 

solstice

a worm frozen fast
to the sundial

my prints, the bird's
as the last few leaves
take flight

_____

* from Bob Dylan

 

 

OFF AND ON
Zane Parks
Gino Peregrini

telling the catholic
my favorite position
she kneels

fitness center: her spandex
stretches my attention

honeymoon
off and on
on and off

before a date
the avid gardener
perfumes her bush

looking down she spies
a curl in my smile

through the knothole
in the dressing-room wall –
only shadows

 

 

A FALLING STAR
Alison Williams
Andrew Shimield
Frank Williams
Dick Pettit
Vanessa Proctor

cabbage stalks
push up little bumps
in the garden snow

dumplings steam
in a bowl of stew

technical hitch
the speaker suggests
we talk among ourselves

the concert crowd sings
"why are we waiting"

new moon
silvering
the backs of sheep

another falling star
the same old wish

washed up on the beach
a broken crate
from Brazil

happy enough
on what he finds in the bins

early morning call
the dustman smashes shut
the iron back gate

plumes of smoke
from the mountain
railway

on a hilltop picnic
a child pulled back from the edge
skips away

her hand shakes as she signs
the marriage certificate

at the pier's end
an old couple in wheelchairs
talk of their big day

alone now the gold ring
also worn thin with age

a spider's web
only visible
in the morning dew

our long-haired dog
bounces from marram grass

for turning
Queen's evidence
a reduced sentence

soap bubbles
across the bright blue sky

first light
noisy mynahs
in the quince blossom

over guano covered rocks
a scramble to the summit

 

 

GRAVITY
John W. Sexton - jws
Carmen Sterba - cs
Thomas Fortenberry - tf
Nancy Stewart Smith - nss
Gary Blankenship - gb
Moira Richards - mr
Jennie Townsend - jt

her first menses moon mama vodun collects her tax of blood    jws

all night prayer meeting's conga line  my bones melt     cs

dark exalted terror discovers uncovered dreams undreamt    tf

demiurge tornado at the navel a golden leaf     nss

planet earth crumbled   he feeds chunks into the garbage disposal   mr

tangerines ride the sewer to liberty    gb

fat cats taking sides slip and knock heads in the juice war    cs

the lucky ones could use gravity as a tool    jt

his serpent cloned eve devours every last morsel   mr

bites of judgment first tasty step on the road to babel    nss

existential noise palimpsest ghosts of the blackboard     jws

 

 

 

TEEN STORY
Catherine Mair
Patricia Prime

cold river
the dog
plunges in

after the storm
the pontoon
under water

chasing us away
from the seat –
wasps

steep steps
the smell of wet trees

and leaves

teen's story
carved into
the table

curving uphill
a walking track
cut through bush

hanging above
the new houses –
rain clouds

behind the fenceline
the sound
of Neil Diamond

tantalizing
that red rose
just out of reach

 

 

 

 

CARTWHEELS  
twilight concert at the haiku pathway
Patricia Prime
Catherine Mair

Against
the open-sided truck
musical instruments

a tag
on the fold-up chair –
washing instructions

free-loaders –
two men listen
from the ute's tray

westerly
poking through
her lace top

learning a kid's song
the crowd chant
the chorus

interval
a stream towards
the portaloos

sobering the audience
guest singer's
melancholy song

hidden
by the sound system
celebrity fiddle player

livening up
the people
the bass

through
shafts of sunshine
a girl cartwheels

"the restless wind"
a child piggy-backs
her brother

on the skyline
teenagers
bopping

 

 

PROPERTY LIST
Patricia Prime
Catherine Mair

Silence
digger&dozer
on Sunday

low tide
the swampy smell
of mud flats

river bank
holding down black matting
boulders

parked above
the sub-division
a land agent

across the water
the national flag
flutters on its pole

old pine tree
only the roots –
the path disappears

around
the boundary marker
white daisies

she rolls
onto the short grass –
a distant siren

a breeze
rustles among bulrushes –
the chirp of crickets

dandelions
flowering
all about me

imagining
houses
on these empty sections

walking into the tide
pukeko –
a weed in its beak

dribbling down
the stone sea-lion
guano

 

EDDY
Patricia Prime           and          Catherine Mair

on the road                                  sparrow-like
our 'dummy' book                        he waves away another
in a raffia                                      bag woman
we discuss the photos                  & returns to his
for the latest collaboration             numerous screens

by the steps                                  in a pile
of the printer's house                     of photographic magazines
swan plants                                  the black woman's eyes
crushed on the garden path           embrace
a monarch butterfly caterpillar       her world

brief interval                                  middle-aged urchin
between proof-reading                  the tail of his faded
shortbread and tea                        cotton shirt hangs out:
among the computers                    by his back door
and discarded print-outs                those swollen pods

cardboard cover his                      hand basin
too thick to copy                           one cake of cracked soap
we return the ream &                    please after flushing the
2 sheets less, but still                     toilet turn the handle
they change it                                to six o'clock

 

 

 

CROSSROADS
Moira Richards - mr
John W Sexton - jws
Jennie Townsend - jt
Gary Blankenship - gb
Nancy Stewart Smith - nss
Carmen Sterba - cs
Thomas Fortenberry - tf

 

from golden claws rolls a diamond solitaire /nss

street kids begging at a crossroads i glare the other way  /mr

scarecrow entrails of straw drift on the wind /jws

starlings take what they can and sing too /jt

thieves booted from the nest they stole move on and on . /gb

from the lovers downstairs sound of sobbing /cs

as the ghosts of whale breath float above the waves /tf

lightning without thunder frosts the new-leafed birch /nss

a widow's lines poems filled with empty /mr

fruit bowl neglected apples rot under their own weight /jws

looking blue american refugees /jt

without a draft who cares enough to run the border /gb

empty boots of the fallen soldier /cs

amber echo of crying eagles in empty shining seas /tf

by a small still hand the lapis orb pulses azure /nss

 

 

 

ZELKOVA WOOD
Carmen Sterba - cs
Jennie Townsend - jt
Nancy Stuart Smith - nss
Thomas Fortenberry - tf
John W Sexton - jws
Gary Blankenship - gb
Moira Richards - mr

zelkova wood frames the geisha's vanity a moment /cs
alone yoni what's a parochial girl know /jt

x-ray eagle eyes heart stills beneath the mask /nss
white collar ghost-rose of her kiss /tf

veneer peeling from the edge of the table Alzheimer sits /jws
until zine done, no time to remember /gb

the lump in her breast in her stomach in her throat /mr
stricken with fear in every thought /cs

reflected light bounces off a fuel truck stuck in the snow /gb
quelled in the tin her gingerbread men /jws

phosphorous stinks the inner city a school for the blind /jt
on the tip of an iceberg poised /mr

noisy son cheetah-climbs the tree a bird flies free /tf
melody in rain the wind chime /nss

love like music flows across us dancing at sunset /tf
katy steps through grass doors to katydids /jws

jello in every color her throat hurts a little less /jt
in the kitchen lemon pie /gb

haloed summer moon the view from the balcony /cs
good night wished in early morning /gb

funandgamesengas phrases flung among a planet's poets /mr
elements of the leaf the colors /jt

descending the well meadow she carries a bucket of sky /jws
colt's hidalgo dreams jump thump buck /tf

blossom in the bluebird nest mandala of gaia /nss
adorned by light in the shelter of wings /cs

 

ONE POEM FOR SISTER SARAH
Pamela Raintree - pr
W. Macaulay Johnson - wmj
Laura Flett - lf
Carlos Colón - cc
Jane Curry - jc
Jim McLain - jm
Jennifer Jackson - jj

touch my esteem with words    pr

dark and gloomy, it needs uplifting    wmj

a touch of pixie dust from Tinkerbell    lf

old graybeard panning for pyrite    cc

Titanic optimism floods our hearts    jc

making happy waves    jm

our bottles filled with messages of love, hope and peaceful vibes    jj

a beautiful woman languishes under a solemn oak    wmj

looking from loneliness    pr

she dances like a demon    jm

life is a perpetual audition    jc

bloated moon the pumpkin turns into a cabbage    cc

and her sequined shoes will never be the same    lf

 

 

THE MATH BETWEEN
John W. Sexton
Moira Richards

light intersects the pines einstein perceives the math between spheres

day one her recreation to stop with the beasts 

inspired to exploit gravity monkey develops the shit missile 

ostrich returned to the workshop for re-engineering 

thirty years accumulated swarf tin men form in his fingers

 

azimov's first 'tis not them needs be bade 

those lizard kids keep human foetuses in a jar until they term

vampire101 t-rex after life eternal

 

nanobot malaria self-aware mainframe designs mosquitoes 

danged tinnitus grumpy quits the osmium mine 

platinum bombshell a fallen woman descends the kong shaft 

jilted she sends him the rib back

barefoot in the god-head i am my mother and father

 

 

 

A CHARITAS

valentine's day              Zane Parks

he writes the poem
in big block letters         CW Hawes

on a far beach
the bottle full
of faded paper     Moira Richards

 

 

 

 

UPRIGHT STONES
Jane Reichhold - jr
Zane Parks - zp
Norman Darlington - nd
Moira Richards - mr
CW Hawes - cwh
H. Gene Murtha - hgm
Lorin Ford - lf
Kathy Earsman - ke

upright stones
under sad faces
the bone grin     jr

a haze of smoke
cut with moonshine     zp

sticking with decaf
till after the morning
interview    nd

his new silver Porsche
the ponytail too     mr

out all night
the mare's thick mane
frosted with rime     jr

the snowman looks on
without a care in the world     cwh

the cardsharp
quickly packs his bags
sunrise     cwh

her lipstick presses
against the napkin     hgm

come dawn
she slips into
a pair of jeans     hgm

discovering back at work
she is wearing his pants     jr

the esperantist couple
come to blows
counting syllables    nd

from that old pond
la plaŭdo!    mr

bright moon
tracks of a green turtle
on the beach     lf

watching the Pleiades
rise from the water     cwh

A-bomb day
reading the stories of
Saddam's war crimes     zp

with muted mouth I tear
the paper cut the cable     nd

twilight
a purple thumbprint marks
the poppy petal     lf

April shower memories
of last year's get-rich-quick scheme     cwh

on the tramp steamer
we search breaks in the clouds
for Libra    cwh

justice - was it even
just a passing thought?     nd

a mother waits
to take her son home
...Singapore dawn     lf

alone with the cat
nursing a broken toe     hgm

in the hammock
sipping mint juleps
smoking cigars     cwh

fluttering in the breeze
a heart-shaped red bud leaf    hgm

her fan a beacon
above the Bridge of Sighs
willow pattern     lf

the colors of her desire
paint the sky a rosy hue     jr

he polishes his verse
Saint Valentine proposes
just the right words     mr

the paper yellowed with age
she recalls his trembling hand     cwh

sky-gazing I beg
a little moon to grate
over my pizza    nd

the tower lists a little more
with each glass of chianti     mr

perforating
our speech bubbles
babelfish     mr

Ava kisses Greg goodbye
for the forty-second time     lf

zoetrope girl
her spin on
exposed legs      ke

surrounded by
swirls of soap bubbles     cwh

for now I'm headed north
to keep up with
the blossom front    nd

the chasing of dreams
how different now I'm old      cwh

Done in the Basho-style Kasen Renga Forum.
Started – November 1, 2005
Finished: April 15, 2006

 

TAN RENGA
CW Hawes
Lorin Ford

the rattle
of the air conditioner
at midnight

holding my breath
to hear the baby's
 

 

the pattern
of spilt tea leaves
this chipped saucer

the last of her willow
dinner service

 

 


   
   
  Submission  Procedures

Who We Are

Deadline for your collaborative poems for the next issue is

September 1, 2006

  Poems and comments Copyright © Designated Authors 2006.
Page Copyright©  Jane Reichhold 2006.

 

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