A mind once blown never regains its original velocity. With all the wind around here, we’re lucky to have a tree standing. The brittlebush, by nature of its name, deceives. No desires in the desert last long, but a brittlebush can linger forever. Coyote treats us to songs after the moon is high and life goes low. Just after sunrise the golden hour arrives, infused with tones of red and gold. This is also the hour of our collective trauma and the only time for emergency intervention. Long-term symptoms appear like sprinklers timed to go off, as if there was still water.

Peter Jastermsky

is the author of seven books of haiku-based writing and lives in the high desert of Southern California. He is also an award-winning cherita poet whose work has been widely published, and a nominee for Best of the Net and the Dwarf Star Award. In 2017, Peter invented a new linked form that is haiku-centered called a split sequence. His recent book, Just Dust and Stone (Velvet Dusk Publishing, 2021) is a collection of collaborative split sequences, cowritten with Bryan Rickert. Peter’s other titles include Steel Cut Moon (Cholla Needles Press, 2019) and Fingerbone Sky (Yavanika Press, 2021).

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ “Love Thing”: The Allure of the Split Sequence, craft essay by Peter Jastermsky in Issue 9 of MacQ (August 2021)