There’s a horizontal answer for everything. And when you can go anywhere, why stop at nothing? You can play hard to get and hope for a soft landing, but gravity has a crush on you. The two of them were just seen leaving a dimly lit joint called The Canoodle. Zip your lips when I tell you they were only half-buttoned. He was a tailor, and she was a little so-and-so. People want action but secretly crave commotion. There’s no escaping it. Like a chemistry experiment on the ceiling. She warned him that dust is everywhere, but he just blew it off. A skeleton key lets you into the boneyard. What kind of joint is it, you ask? You’ll find an answer, just around the bend.

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)