in my head now
to conjure anytime—
a stag joyously leaping
out of the bedroom tapestry
this spring morning
I keep it
as a paperweight—
this starfish
that once held down
an entire ocean floor
when a mud turtle
surfaced in the salt marsh
I saw two—
that only proved the eyes lie
for want of love
Jeanne Emrich is a poet and artist living in Edina, Minnesota. Educational materials by her are included in teachers' guides distributed by both the Haiku Society of America and the Tanka Society of America. She has taught haiku, tanka, and haiga at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jeanne is the creator and webmaster of Tanka Online (http://www.tankaonline.com) and the editor of Reeds: Contemporary Haiga (2003-2007), a publication of Lone Egret Press, the online version of which may be seen at http://www.reedscontemporaryhaiga.com. She released her first collection of tanka, The Pleiades at Dawn, in 2007. Her tanka sequences have been composed for and performed, and one composition—Fallen Grasses: A Winter Meditation—won First Place in Choral Works in the 2008 Biennial Competition held by the National League of American Pen Women.
Jeanne Emrich is a poet and artist living in Edina, Minnesota. Educational materials by her are included in teachers' guides distributed by both the Haiku Society of America and the Tanka Society of America. She has taught haiku, tanka, and haiga at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jeanne is the creator and webmaster of Tanka Online (http://www.tankaonline.com) and the editor of Reeds: Contemporary Haiga (2003-2007), a publication of Lone Egret Press, the online version of which may be seen at