Richard Gilbert & Jennifer Hambrick

Parting Rood

seasons pace in pilgrim steps. small trees grow between breaths, braid the living and the dying, branch from the body unnoticed to unrepentant ground. sun slips into negative space our skin shames silent. devilish briar grows within. I am barbed vines you cannot reach. you are dew slipping through my fingers. many rings ago you brought with you the woods, entangled, choked. each year new brush, weeds, silence where light should lick the forest floor. echoes of a chorus we refuse to hear. some things are fine to leave.

inside the circle
outside the circle
embers

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About the Author

Richard Gilbert is at times a professor of American literature, poet, audio engineer, musician, meditator, and sailor. In 2019, he founded the Heliosparrow Poetry Journal and the Haiku Sanctuary. His most recent book is Poetry as Consciousness (Keibunsha Press 2018). Several recent essays and translations are available in the Haiku Foundation’s archives. His academic CV is available here.

Jennifer Hambrick is the author of the poetry collection In the High Weeds (NFSPS Press), winner of the Stevens Prize; the haibun collection Joyride (Red Moon Press), winner of the 2022 Marianne Bluger Book Award; and Unscathed (NightBallet Press). A classical musician, public radio broadcaster, multimedia producer, and cultural journalist, she lives in Columbus, Ohio. jenniferhambrick.com.

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