Have a great weekend!

The latest issue of Shemom is finished…cover art by Forest Dugan French

This month we feature ayaz daryl nielsen who is the editor of bear creek haiku and has been contributing to Shemom since 2008. During this time we have collaborated on several pieces together and become good friends across the miles. He has published several books of haiku (Tumbleweeds Still Tumbling, Concentric Penumbras of the Heart, and Window Left Open) and an anthology with the writers of bear creek; he was kind enough to include my work in that publication.

ayaz daryl nielsen was born in Valentine, Nebraska, attended schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin, has lived in Monterrey, Mexico and Bonn, Germany, and now lives in Longmont, Colorado with his beloved wife, Judith.  A veteran, former hospice nurse, and ex-roughneck (as on oil rigs), he has been editor of the print publication bear creek haiku for over 30 years, and over 130 issues.  His poetry has been published worldwide, including senryu chosen in 2010 and 2012 as “best of year” by the Irish Haiku Association.

ayaz can be found online at bear creek haiku—poetry, poems and info bear creek haiku

Grandfather

Your shovel in my hands
after the garden vegetables
have all been harvested.

*

great-grandfather’s diary –
upon the first page a lock of
great-grandmother’s hair

*

removing the carpet
from the homestead’s oak floor
great-grandfather’s footsteps

*

not quite an adult
our youngest, a Marine
not quite a boy

*

yellow, red and white
wild climbing roses –
formal black dresses

*

beyond my
broken car
honeybees upon cherry blossoms

*

in the maple above
this flat tire
crow being crow

*

a wrecker
towing a wrecker
from a wreck

*

lovely names
nightingale and robin
folks call me Joe

*

As I sit
in silence,
the taste of
a smile.

*

embarrassed our hammock gossips

Wishing you all a great weekend.

Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.

Amelia Earhart