Tucked in a side pocket of Annie’s saddlebag, the Queen of Spades from a ratty old deck of playing cards, the upper right corner missing. She had found the card in the shack where she tracked down Bad Jack, who escaped through a back window while Annie was busy relieving herself in a prickly cactus patch, the nearest thing to a private place she could find.

a rise 
from the heaps 
if ever was a card, she believed 
so fortuitous of meaning 
of fettle and cunning

After confirming that Bad Jack had flown the coop, Annie spends the next three hours in the abandoned shack removing more than one-hundred cactus spines from her bottom. The deeply embedded ones she can’t get out herself will have to wait for the doctor when she reaches Laredo to resupply.

never squat 
in a prickly cactus patch 
and never 
turn your back on Bad Jack 
things Annie learns on the trail 

—From Shadows of the Saguaro: The Wiles of Cactus Annie May and Bad Jack Muldoon, a series of responsive tanka tales by Lester and Miko. For three additional tales from the series, see Tanka Forms in Issue 20 of MacQ.

Michael H. Lester

is a CPA, attorney, and poet who lives in Los Angeles, California. His writing has been widely published in prestigious poetry journals, has been translated into several languages, and has won numerous awards worldwide. Michael’s recent publications include two illustrated children’s books, Cassandra and the Strange Tale of the Blue-Footed Boobies and Johnny and Frankie’s Summer Sleepover, as well as a book of poetry, Notes from a Commode: Volume I. A fourth book, The Squeeping Catterwhip, is now available on Amazon.

Vicki Miko

is a retired television producer. She is a widely published poet in the haiku and tanka communities. Her illustrations have been featured in Billboard Magazine and displayed on Nagle Outdoor billboards. She was nominated for the McKnight Foundation Art Award for creating gardening workbooks for the JD Rivers’ Children’s Garden in Minneapolis. She lives in Southern California with her humoring husband.

Author’s website: http://www.vickimiko.com/