parting clouds

all that’s left
after the rain
lost fingerprints

a last whisper

funeral
rehearsing dialogues
I can never say

through a mask

romancing the will
our fantasies
of who gets what

Note: Italicized lines above are by Peter Jastermsky.

Christine L. Villa

is an all-around creative explorer: an award-winning visual artist who dabbles in painting, doodling, and photography; a crafter; a speaker; a children’s book author; an editor; and a publisher. She is also a poet whose passion for writing haiku and tanka has resulted in the publication of her work in many online and print journals worldwide and has garnered her several awards. Her debut full-length collection of Japanese short-form poetry, The Bluebird’s Cry, was published in 2016.

Chrissi is the founding editor of (1) Frameless Sky, the first haiku and tanka journal that offers collaborations of art, poetry, and music, available on DVD and through private online viewing; and (2) the journal’s imprint, Velvet Dusk Publishing, a small printing press that publishes Japanese short-form poetry, cherita, and mixed-genre full-length books, chapbooks, and ebooks. She was the editor of Ribbons (Tanka Society of America) from Winter 2019 to Winter 2021.

Author’s website: www.christinevilla.com

Author’s blog, Blossom Rain: www.blossomrain.blogspot.com

Peter Jastermsky

is an award-winning cherita poet, a Best of the Net and Dwarf Star nominee, and the author of six books of haiku-based writing. His titles include Steel Cut Moon (Cholla Needles Press, 2019), The Silence We Came For (Yavanika Press), and Just Dust and Stone, with Bryan Rickert (Velvet Dusk Publishing). In 2017, Peter invented a new linked form, the split sequence, which is haiku-centered. His short-form writing has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Failed Haiku, Haibun Today, KYSO Flash, The Aurorean, and The Cherita. Peter lives with his family in the high desert of southern California.