All Hallow’s Eve . . .

Each year for Day of the Dead, my creative and spirited best friend, Katherine Shurlds, sets up an altar in her living room to honor friends and loved ones she’s said goodbye to over the years. A small glimpse of one of those altars appears in the header image I’ll have up for my remaining All Souls’ posts through Nov. 2.

Fast on the heels of Halloween comes the traditional opening of Día de los Muertos, which culminates in All Souls Day . . . as will these tribute posts this time around–but not before I’m able to share a few more remarkable poems from my amazing friends and readers. Thank you all for making this experience so rich and powerful . . . . Here, then, is the latest installment of All Souls tributes, beginning with a tanka of mine (inspired by Día de los Muertos) and followed by a wealth of poetry full of love and passion.

her altar
filled with lovers from the past . . .
small calaveras
that light the way for all
who follow in their footsteps

     –Margaret Dornaus
         (Fire Pearls 2: Short Masterpieces of Love & Passion, 2013)

pure red
the saturated color
of a broken heart
i plant wildflowers
on my mother’s grave

     (multiverses, issue 1, Winter 2012)

prayers
for inner-healing
thoughts of mother’s
abuse
thinning in the mist

    (poetic portal, 2005)

a black butterfly
lands on the white sea
of her dreams
sometimes a heart
can drown in grief

     (red lights, Summer 2012)

–Pamela A. Babusci
        (All three above tanka forthcoming in her new collection,
A Solitary Woman 2013)

Are You?

A footprint in moss,
a path of small yellow leaves.
Are you still with me?

Flies quiet winter
Silver maples dyed yellow
Do you see me change?

Scents of leaves yield
enough to crumble the earth.
Death turns now in spades.

     –Abigail Keegan

symmetry
in bare willow trees
the shape of longings

    (The Haiku Foundation per diem, Feb. 2012)

first dawn alone—
the widow eats his half
of the orange

     (First Place, free format, Shiki Kukai, Sept. 2013)

dust storm—
strangers among the heirs
at his wake

(May 2013 Shiki Kukai)

–Alegria Imperial

death march—
the old man fights on
as his heart retreats

–Katherine Shurlds

ornamental poppies another flag-draped coffin

  (first appeared in “Peace Cranes,” an HNA 2013 Handout)

   –Johnny Baranski