Snow covered maple –
my mother's bones wrapped around
our long goodbye.
Summer stars –
my children connecting shapes
with their fingers.
* Heather Ann Schmidt received her MFA in Poetry from National University. She teaches writing at Oakland Community College & ITT Technical Institute and is the publisher for Recycled Karma Press. She also edits the online and print journal tinfoildresses. Her chapbooks are: Issa's Spider (Victorian Violet Press, 2010), Matryoshkas (Victorian Violet Press, 2010) and The Bat's Lovesong: American Haiku (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2009). Her books are: On Recalling Life Through the Eye of the Needle (Village Green Press, 2010) and The Owl & the Muse: Collected Tanka (recycled karma press, 2009). Forthcoming poetry collections are Transient Angels (Crisis Chronicles Press) and Red Hibiscus (Crisis Chronicles Press). Her website is http://HeatherAnnSchmidt.yolasite.com