Thursday, December 1, 2016

HomePlace: a collection of small poems

Welcome to the December 2016 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal.

This month showcases small poems on the theme HomePlace.

Contributors are from: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales, the U.K., and the United States


amakom, ghana
oil waste from biscuit factory
lights our lanterns at night
    - Adjei Agyei-Baah

berkeley
wide park and dodgeball playground
all i thought i'd need
    - Alan Bern

rio de janeiro
though born near the beach i dream
of horses and prairies
    - Amauri Solon

new brunswick, new jersey
i am 10
the young men go off to korea
    - Annie Wexler

new delhi, india
my hair styles change
from first crush to last
    - Aparna Pathak

barrie, ontario
doing the dishes with my mother
explaining the poetry of simon & garfunkel
    - Barbara Cartwright

akron, ohio
curfew broken
grounded again
    - Barbara Tate

cranesville, west virginia
how my father smiled there
like no other place
    - C. Robin Janning

cayutaville, new york
convertibles zoom by
too many to be a coincidence
    - Caroline Gates-Lupton

stockholm
sucking the sweetness
out of a white lilac
    - Caroline Skanne

syracuse, new york
a baby bird falls out of its nest
mom revives her with 2 drops of whiskey
    - Chris McNamara

great neck, long island
watching out for the bully
who waits on the corner
    - Christina Martin

amber mansions, singapore
where i first fell in love
with cats
    - Christina Sng

yorktown heights, new york
front lawns manicured and tidy
i plant corn
    - Christine Sanchirico

manila, philippines
crying over a broken necklace
made of santan flowers
    - Christine L. Villa

midland, texas
stroking the soft bellies
of horny toads
    - Claire Vogel Camargo

broken hill, new south wales
a malleefowl crossing
by the "beware of malleefowl" sign
    - David J Kelly

rural georgia
on one grave
little toy trucks
    - David Oates

saskatchewan . . .
we photograph antelope
in the gloaming
    - Debbie Strange

niagara haze
maid of the mist looks
like a toy boat
    - Dottie Piet

hayward fault line
clinging to my mother
since the quake of '89
    - Elizabeth Alford

brooklyn
tension at the dining room table
my father carves the turkey
    - Frances Helmstadter

in providence
angell street crosses benefit
and peace and plenty are parallel
    - Frank Robinson

buffalo, new york
i played the violin
everyone else played football
    - Gabrielle Vehar

sebastopol, california
sticky to the elbows
juice of windfall apples
    - Glenn Ingersoll

virovitica, croatia
my father throws the scythe
into the barn
    - Goran Gatalica

scranton, pennsylvania
hiding sandwiches
behind the radiator
    - Grace Celeste

bosporus, turkey
waiting for a ferry
along with peddlers and gulls
    - Guliz Mutlu

briar hill
looking over my toes in bed
i see canada across the river
    - H. Fraser

mattapoisett
the stars
after my mother died
    - Hannah Mahoney

south london department store
gels in distressed school uniforms
take tea
    - Helen Buckingham

lima, ohio
drinking tang each morning
our prefab crackerbox home
    - Jan Benson

columbus, ohio
on the front porch
shooting craps with dad
    - Jennifer Hambrick

duluth, minnesota
grandma rocks me
and sings songs of ireland
    - Jo Balistreri

prospect park, brooklyn
i put pretty grass
on  my sandwich
    - Joan McNerney

north downs, kent
i turn the chicken run
into a rock garden
    - Joanna M. Weston

staten island
after 17 years we move up the hill
to fancy schmancy
    - Katha Abela Wilson

san francisco days
while mom waters her roses
i read nancy drew
    - Katya Sabaroff Taylor

newark, new york
i was almost chosen to be the
rose queen
    - Kim Falstick

vancouver summer
collecting caterpillars
releasing butterflies
    - kjmunro

ypsilanti, michigan
my best friend pammy and i give up chocolate milk
to chat during nap time
    - kris moon

india
under grandma's quilt
for evening story time
    - Kumarendra Mallick

kiev in winter
yellow chrysanthemums
bloom in the snowy streets
    - Laughing waters

a halifax night
revving our engines
at the stop light
    - Lance Robertson

bareville, pennsylvania
waiting for the mailman to arrive
we call him the candy man
    - Linda Keeler

queens, new york
my beautiful blue parakeet
binky
    - Madeleine Cohen Oakley

jamshedpur, india
screening "woodstock" in the club
i smuggle my friends inside
    - Madhuri Pillai

oswego, new york
giggling girls in red plaid skirts
late for confession, as usual
    - Margaret Dennis

ottawa lake, wisconsin
too cold to swim
i dive in to drown out mom's i told you so
    - Margaret Jones

brockville, ontario
the ghost playing organ music
at midnight
    - Marianne Paul

warsaw cemetery
a bag of sweet chestnuts
in my pocket
    - Marta Chocilowska

black mountains, wales
amid the dense rain
one red cagoule
    - Martha Magenta

greensburg, kansas
astonished to discover
tonight's chicken dinner was today's bloody chore
    - Marty Blue Waters

west newbury, vermont
the tyler farm
the huge white bull
    - Mary Louise Church

bozeman, montana
we stay indoors at night
bears own the streets
    - Michael G. Smith

city of angels
i sniff out the fresh-baked bread
half a block away
    - Mimi Foyle

manlius hitchhiker
my thumb a great friend
as i try to escape myself
    - MJ Richmond

highland park, illinois
morning bugle song
we live near the army base
    - Nancy Osborn

the bronx
hot fudge sundaes at krum's
my reward for good report cards
    - Nina Miller

geneva, switzerland
the christmas tree i wanted
to keep forever
    - Olivier Schopfer

east boston
street corner whistles
for the girl behind me
    - Pat Davis

union, new jersey
wet laundry freezes on the clothes line
baccalĂ  for lunch
    - Pat Geyer

ithaca, new york
david bowie cancels his concert
i go into mourning
    - Paula Culver

chicago breakfast
the orange pellet changes
oleo to butter
    - Phyllis Lee

pageland, south carolina
wiping lipstick off ronald's picture
before mother sees
    - Pris Campbell

west hempstead, long island
smoking in the ravine with friends
accidentally burning down the driving range
    - Rainbow Crow

merrick, long island
ovaltine
it's good — and it's good for you
    - Rob Sullivan

wolfeboro, new hampshire
the patter of my own little feet
down the dock
    - Robin White

manaus, brazil
i insist on planting rosebushes
that will never bloom
    - Rosa Clement

fargo
seven tornadoes
me, safe in her womb
    - Ross Haarstad

poughkeepsie, new york
sunday morning bagels, nova, danish
the new york times
    - Sara Robbins

semaphore, south australia
joined by forty seagulls
for fish and chips
    - Simon Hanson

choconut center
my mom in witch costume
scaring trick-or-treaters home
    - Stacey Murphy

the farm in pennsylvania
on my belly inspecting clover
aha – four leaves!
    - Sue Norvell

highland park, new jersey
the 1950s
canned spinach
    - Sue Perlgut

jackson, mississippi
magnolias as big
as your face
    - Susan Annah Currie

denton, texas
mama gazes out at the sun-baked horizon
she misses canada
    - Susan Lesser

silver lake, ohio
the crooked tree in the yard
grandma told us to encourage it
    - Susanna Drbal

silver spring, maryland
for halloween i am a ballerina
four times
    - Theresa A. Cancro

great yarmouth . . .
a case of mistaken identity
in the house of wax
    - Tim Gardiner

near bear swamp
my wife and i young walk graveyards
one now her own
    - Tina Wright

ithaca hotel
and the trolley
that stopped there
    - Tom Clausen

randers, denmark
empty farm
gathering stones at sunset
    - Vibeke Laier

flushing, queens
mostly i stay inside
dreaming of other places
    - Yvonne Fisher

bronx, new york
first dance recital
i am the plumpest carrot on stage
    - Zee Zahava