The Heart Has Its Ways

(A Marriage Haiku/Senryu Sequence)

courtship
a rose or card celebrates
each occasion

Phoenix rising

I’ll never hurt you

like he did

autumn breeze
I lean deeper
into trust

vows said
my cat, now our cat,
witnesses

his prize won
subtle changes make me ask
did I leap too soon

twisting my ring
again, two hours late
for dinner

call when you’re late
you’re not my mother,
he tells me

dampened sparks
special occasions fade
into the shadows

chill in the air
my arms wrap around
empty spaces

eyes glaring…
he screams at me
for the first time

time warp
the daily screaming takes me
to where I began

chill wind
details of our decline
only depress me

dead daisies circle
my old wedding hat—
what could have been

The poems of Pris Campbell have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including PoetsArtists, Rusty Truck, Bicycle Review, Chiron Review, and Outlaw Poetry Network. The Small Press has published eight collections of her poetry and Clemson University Press a collaboration with Scott Owens. When The Wolves Come After You, with Michael Parker, from Goss Publications and Squalls on the Horizon, a book of tanka, from Nixes Mate and My Southern Childhood are her most recent small press books. A former Clinical Psychologist, sailor and bicyclist until sidelined by ME/CFS in 1990, she makes her home in the Greater West Palm Beach, Florida, with her husband.