HAIKU

by Geoffrey Philp

Did you enjoy the cherry blossoms' early peak bloom? It was a warning sign. A 1,200-year record of cherry blossoms shows our current climate is historically unprecedented.  [Photograph byRinko Kawauchi]—National Geographic, March 26, 2024

In an early spring

maples bloom while elms tremble—

dreading a cold snap.

Geoffrey Philp, a Silver Musgrave Medal recipient, is the author of Archipelagos, a book of poems about climate change which was long-listed for the Laurel Prize. Philp’s Twelve Poems and a Story for Christmas retells the nativity story, transporting readers back to that holy night in a fresh yet traditional way. His poem “A Prayer for My Children” is featured on The Poetry Rail—an homage to 12 writers who shaped Miami's culture. He  lives in Miami and is working on a children's book Marsha and the Mangroves.

TREE

by Katherine Smith

Kevin Siers, The Charlotte Observer, NC

The maples scatter their necklaces of seedpods

to the grass. My heart aches

for Texas where yesterday an eighteen-year-old

walked into a school and shot

 

eighteen children, more than one for each year of his life.

Anger spins inside me like wind-torn seeds.

All year long in the classroom I teach my students

to barricade the doors. The children are right

 

to ignore me. They go on chatting

while I point to tables and chairs.

My explanation will do no good

as the faces of congressmen and senators

 

at the NRA convention in Houston

do no good, pledging allegiance

chins up, wooden jaws squared as if relishing

yet another opportunity to stand rooted

 

like dead wood to their murderous cause.

Katherine Smith’s recent poetry publications include appearances in Boulevard, North American Review, Mezzo Cammin, Cincinnati Review, Missouri Review, Ploughshares, Southern Review, and many other journals. Her short fiction has appeared in Fiction International and Gargoyle. Her first book Argument by Design (Washington Writers’ Publishing House) appeared in 2003. Her second book of poems Woman Alone on the Mountain (Iris Press) appeared in 2014. She works at Montgomery College in Maryland.