stuck in the mud 

lumbar rumble 
too old to bend over 
backwards 

my old grudge 

turning gray 
a grizzled legend 
of the fall 

spins its wheels 

sacrificing 
my security blanket 
for traction 

Cynthia Anderson

has ten poetry books in print, most recently a collection of cherita, haiku, senryu, and tanka entitled The Missing Peace (Velvet Dusk Publishing, 2021). Her poems frequently appear in journals and anthologies, including Spillway, Crab Creek Review, Apercus, Askew, San Pedro River Review, Mojave River Review, The Coil, and Split Rock Review, among others. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. In 2020, she took up short-form poetry and has been exploring haiku, senryu, cherita, and related forms.

Cynthia is co-editor of the anthology A Bird Black As the Sun: California Poets on Crows & Ravens (Green Poet Press). She makes her home in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree National Park.

Author’s website: www.cynthiaandersonpoet.com