Burma, June 2008
by Barbara A. Taylor
in paddy fields
the splintered hulls
of capsized boats
floating bodies
in the debris
one cup of rice
and rainwater
keeps them alive
manna from abroad
sacks of grains, wheat, corn
guarded in vaults
in famine and flood
the right to eat
can’t stop the rain--
from selfish soldiers
a diet of frogs
Barbara A. Taylor’s haiku and short form poems have appeared on Sketchbook, Shamrock, Stylus, Lynx, Simply Haiku, Three Lights Gallery, Tiny Words, Kokako, Eucalypt, Moonset, Contemporary Haibun, Modern English Tanka, and others, including recent anthologies, Landfall and Atlas Poetica. Her diverse poems with audio are at http://batsword.tripod.com/.
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