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Tiny Songs

A Sampling of Haikus by Terry Hermsen

Old woman searching

for words – lifts her hand

and pats the air

Old servant leans in – 
knows quite well
where her bones ache

Singing on the porch – 
the sidewalk
begins
to darken with rain

Open moon
in my window – as a memory
memory grows

Luna abierta

en mi ventana - como memoria

que crece memoria

Sleepless night – 
he has not quite figured out
where his arms go

Half-moon, why here?
Five planets arrayed in your slim
necklace of loneliness

Good thing about death,
Zita says – at least you don’t
have to pack

Tarot reader
places her folding table just beyond
the museum of time

Early rising moon -
come to bicker
with the wheatfield

He stands on a stage
and talks of planting seedlings
while the forests burn

Solstice sky
She balances the wine glass
between her toes

I wake up weeping –
all night along the prairie
they were handing out dreams

How to fly out
from a broiling cauldron?
Europa, these are my tears

© 2023 Terry Hermsen

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