Friday, May 1, 2026: Lynne Bronstein's "Tangelo Winter"

Tangelo Winter

There are still tangelos on the tree, at this late date in February. Some soft large

ones have fallen on the ground; some that are high in the tree will be eaten by

racoons. I have gathered many of these fruits, pale and deep orange, some easy to

peel, some with few seeds, and some so seedy they might as well be cheremoyas. I

am thankful for the free fruit and for the mixture of sun and rain that brought on

such a rich harvest this year. It may be the most memorable thing about this winter,

which has been full of turbulence in the world, and which has brought some sorrow

to this house. I longed for treats with no trouble, fruit that was sweet with no

annoying seeds, even as I knew that the knobby seeds, like the more annoying and

painful aspects of life, are what bring on another season of fruit for us to eventually

enjoy.

Tangelo winter

Ripe rich fruit for the picking

Reward not asked for.

© Lynne Bronstein

Bio: Lynne Bronstein is the author of Nasty Girls (Four Feathers Press) and four

other books of poetry. She has been published in magazines ranging from Playgirl

to Chiron Review, from Lummox to anthologies in England, Ireland, Israel,

Canada, and India. Her short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies

and has been read on National Public Radio. She also writes a column on Facebook

and Substack called Show Biz Cats.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022: Alegria Imperial's haibun "Robins and Roses at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens"

 

Roses losing petals, lotuses dying on their shadow, a poisonous sumac inflamed, the promised turtle missing, but the persimmon tree pregnant, the spider lily swinging; I pick anise seeds and drink on the scent, pinch tips of dew studded mint, and then stumble on frog stones their absent eyes on summer flies–the water striders have long leaped to infinity–it’s autumn at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and after tracing the veins of a horse I figure a ficus has turned into from a knight on a horse by a fairy enchanted by his beauty, E and I skip the desert garden breathing heat off a muggy afternoon.

We pass by the Cranford Rose Garden again where I had posed beside a bronze sculpture titled Roses of Yesterday–this wisp of a woman ripened by love and longing sluiced by it in fluid lines. On her left arm, she cradles a clock’s face Time arrested engraved in words Perennis Amour (Love Eternal); on her right as if bidden, she caresses a bunch of roses that drip as if tears from her deep sad eyes. I had posed unabashed beside her, tainting the poetic moment, which I should have sipped in secret.

No perfume quaffs through the air even as we linger to hold on to each bloom thrusting petals on us for a touch. The gray sky stands by unconcerned as we lean toward a curved path to the main gate. Silence and distant chatter drop on my steps and a stirring in the yew branch. A robin has flit from it. The meadow ends and I shake off a leaf from my shoulders to find another leaf that has hitched a ride in a fold of my hood as we boarded the No. 1 train. It must have been the closed-in faces, the inward smiles, the inner rhymes I imagined beat in time with steel grating on steel and soon the scream of brakes that bid us to pour out of the steel doors even as we tighten our grip on moments we can’t soon recall that this haiku wrote itself–not about the roses or the absent turtle but a fleeting glimpse of

robins

skittering on fallen leaves

our grip tightens

© 2022 Alegria Imperial

Bio: A former journalist in the Philippines, Alegria graduated with a degree of Literature in Journalism. Her discovery of haiku decades later, started her writing short Japanese poetry forms. Her works have since been widely published in international journals and anthologies with some gaining awards. Her three e-chapbook collections of contemporary haiku and monoku (one-line) can be accessed at The Haiku Foundation’s Digital Library. She immigrated to Canada 14 years ago, where she now lives.

https://jornales.wordpress.com/category/poetry/haiku-poetry/