The following tanka were first published in the February 2025 issue of The Bamboo Hut:

kitchen, living room

following the trail

of toys and chores

my wife struggles yet again

to sleep when the children sleep

carving your initials

the pine tree bleeds and bleeds

and bleeds sap

I don’t, can’t know it yet

but the relationship won’t last

The following tanka was first published in the October 2024 edition of cattails:

inside a tent

shushing my baby to sleep

deep in the forest . . .

soon she cannot hear me

over rain’s pitter-patter