Two Cherita:

wildfire summer

on the day
the hot shots perished

I watched the sky rage
from a hotel bed
unable to forgive

:::

analog

spinning the globe
for an answer

eyes closed
finger poised
for a landing

Two Cherita Terbalik (aka inverted cherita):

a tiny house
at the corner

of Sun and Moon—

imagining
the other life
I might have led

:::

elderberry jam
my childhood
favorite

in my seventh decade
I order the seeds

to plant a tree

Cynthia Anderson

A California resident and poet for more than 40 years, Cynthia Anderson is the author of eleven books. Her poems have been published widely in journals and anthologies, and she has received multiple nominations for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. In 2020, she took up short-form poetry including haiku, senryu, cherita, haibun, and split sequences. Her recent work focuses on the natural world and her family history.

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

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⚡ Formerly Known as Ion, haibun by Cynthia Anderson which was nominated by MacQ for the Red Moon Anthologies, and selected for publication in Contemporary Haibun 17 (Red Moon Press, 2022).