Halcyon days 2018 issue 9 by Halcyon Magazine

Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

Halcyon Days Issue 9 - 2018 CONTRIBUTORS 3 4 5 6

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Monique Berry Spring Soak Darrell Petska The Linden Tree Ingrid Bruck Crepe Myrtle Anita Leamy Community of Spring Colors Robin Haiku Ruth Deming Haiku Haiku Sravani Singampalli Passion Stella Mazur Preda Encore La Vie Elizabeth Spencer Spragins Courage Ann Christine Tabaka Youth Elixir Ann Christine Tabaka Seaside Daginne Aignend Awakening Debbie Richard Chivalry is Not Dead! Donna Davis Recovery Gregg Dotoli Rose Rain Dance Joan McNerney Shut Eye Peter Hohseisel The Grasshopper in the Grass Dave Benson Butterfly Victoria Crawford Poem Morning

Monique Berry

Ingrid Bruck Pg 5

Ruth Deming Pg 7

Elizabeth Spencer Spragins Pg 9

Sravani Singampalli Pg 7

Stella Mazur Preda Pg 8

Ann Christine Tabaka Pg 10, 11

Dagienne Aignend Pg 12

Debbie Richard Pg 13

Donna M. Davis Pg 14

Joan McNerney Pg 15

Victoria Crawford Pg 17

Cover ÂŠ Elvira - stock.adobe.com

Halcyon Days Magazine ISSN: 2291-0255 Frequency: Quarterly Publisher | Designer: Monique Berry

Contact Info http://halcyondaysmagazine.blogspot.ca Twitter: @1websurfer monique.editor@gmail.com

Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

Special Notices Halcyon Days has one time rights. See website for subscription details. No photocopies allowed.

Spring Soak By Monique Berry Flowers and minds infused in sunrise and sunset hues. Days are drenched and abound with activity aroused by spring rays. Evenings bring a close to eyelids. Inhale, exhale, breathe— just breathe.

Monique Berry is the founding editor of Halcyon Days, Perspectives, and Founder’s Favourites. She started a writers critique group called “First Impressions.” Monique has poems and stories in several publications including Quills. She is working on her first novel. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

The Linden Tree By Darrell Petska Rising skyward, swinging back to earth: my grandson aloft in the linden tree. Unflinching branch, steadying hands— forth and return our precious charge. Hand and branch, flesh and wood— our alliance repaid by a boy's pure joy. In common service our barriers fall: seeing past tree bark, I can see past me. © IreneuszB - stock.adobe.com

Darrell Petska's writing has appeared in Red Paint Hill, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Chiron Review, Perspectives Magazine, Star 82 Review, Bird's Thumb and elsewhere (see conservancies.wordpress.com). Darrell worked for many years as communications editor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, leaving finally to focus on his own writing and his family. He lives in Middleton, Wisconsin. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

Crepe Myrtle By Ingrid Bruck Open blossom clusters bend holding cups of rain, sun and wind dries them. Petals fade and fall, crumpled pink lace, warm snow on grass. Green marble buds wrapped tight on a stalk soften to pink, a summer chorus sings a flower story.

Ingrid Bruck writes nature inspired poetry, makes jam and grows wildflowers. She’s a retired library director living in the Pennsylvania Amish country that inhabits her writing. Recent works appear in Unbroken, Halcyon Days, Nature Writing, Entropy, Leaves of Ink, Poetry Breakfast and The Song Is. Poetry website: ingridbruck.com Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

Community of Spring Colors by E. A. Francis I see a meadow of vibrant Violets create a community of color. Dandelions make a polka-dot pattern, like drops of sunshine in the green and purple. Bleeding Heart blossoms hang in a row of red. A Red-bellied Woodpecker, donning a red cap down to his zebra-striped back, visits my bird feeder; while his red rival, the Cardinal, drinks from my birdbath. Above me, a Yellow Swallowtail butterfly gently wings through the sea blue sky. The Daffodils, puckering up their centers, laugh about their lemony color with the sun. Today, my eyes behold a banquet of glorious Spring colors!

Robin Haiku by E. A. Francis Tall grass wet with dew Red-breasted Robin strolls through Natural birdbath Above: 1920_Meridan ÂŠ 4Me2Design - Pixabay.com

Anita Leamy (pen name E. A. Francis) writes from the inspiration of the natural world and from her Christian faith lived. She has selfpublished her poems in two collections: Simple Joys and Tender Moments; Spiritual Joys and Tender Moments. She welcomes reader responses by email or post: anita.leamy@yahoo.com or 1006 Sitka Spruce Lane, Sykesville, MD 21784. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

HAIKU by Ruth Deming Cadillac top down Breeze blowing the redhead's hair To the beach they go

HAIKU By Ruth Deming Cool white moon hails spring Red poppies and green hostas Appear after long sleep.

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ÂŠ mbc-2016 - Pixabay.com

Ruth Z. Deming has had her poetry published in Blood and Thunder, Page and Spine, Halcyon Days, Writers Without Borders, and other lit mags. A psychotherapist, she lives in Willow Grove, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.

Passion By Sravani Singampalli Colours of the spring Short-lived with ocean desire Bee and a flower.

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Sravani singampalli is a published writer and poet from India. Her works have appeared in Scarlet Leaf Review, Night Garden Journal , Criterion journal, Setu bilingual journal, Whispers, The Thumb Print, The Blue Nib and many others. Her poems are also forthcoming in Leaves of Ink, Kitaab, Formercactus, Gone Lawn journal, Vox Poetica, The Pangolin Review, Treehouse arts and elsewhere. She is presently pursuing doctor of pharmacy at JNTU KAKINADA university in Andhra Pradesh,India. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

Encore La Vie By Stella Mazur Preda Warm days, cool nights trees spring back to life first buds break forth give promise of days to come. Audacious robins, red breasts swelled with importance trumpet the birth of spring. Tulips, daffodils, crocuses surreptitiously poke their heads through lacey winter remnants, strain to the sun’s caress Symphonic chirping weaves through branches floats on tips of breezes renewed hope new beginnings!

Stella Mazur Preda is a resident of Waterdown, Ontario, Canada. Having retired from elementary teaching in Toronto, she is owner and publisher of Serengeti Press, a small press publishing company, located in the Hamilton area. Since its opening in 2003, Serengeti Press has published 43 Canadian books. Serengeti Press is now temporarily on hiatus. Stella Mazur Preda has been published in numerous Canadian anthologies and some US, most notably the purchase of her poem My Mother’s Kitchen by Penguin Books, New York. Stella has released four previous books, Butterfly Dreams (Serengeti Press, 2003); Witness, Anthology of Poetry (Serengeti Press, 2004), edited by John B. Lee; From Rainbow Bridge to Catnip Fields (Serengeti Press, 2007) The Fourth Dimension, (Serengeti Press, 2012). She is a current member of Tower Poetry Society in Hamilton, Ontario and The Ontario Poetry Society. Stella is currently working on her third book, Tapestry, based on the life of her aunt and written completely in poetic form. Tapestry will be released in the Fall of 2018. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

Courage By Elizabeth Spencer Spragins a river of fog meanders through the bouldersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; stepping stones to sea rise from filaments of dreams that blanket restless waters ~Rappahannock River, Fredericksburg, Virginia

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Elizabeth Spencer Spragins is a poet, writer, and editor who taught in North Carolina community colleges for more than a decade before returning to her home state of Virginia. Her tanka and bardic verse in the Celtic style have been published in England, Scotland, Canada, Indonesia, and the United States. Recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Lyric, Page & Spine, Blueline, Raintown Review, and Rockvale Review. Publication updates are available on her website: www.authorsden.com/elizabethspragins. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

Youth Elixir by Ann Christine Tabaka Saturday morning, cleaning house, the sun streaming in. I find it tucked away, in the back of a shelf of dusty old books. Slowly releasing it from its place, it falls open to the precise page. There lies the white rose pressed flat, now browning from a time almost forgotten. Memories flood back to that day, I can still picture your face smiling at me with green eyes. You surprised me with my favorite flower. The first of many to come. I carefully tucked it away to preserve for forever, well, at least for today. Too many years have passed, and the young hand that first held that rose is now wrinkled with age. But with just a single touch of that token of love, I am once again young and alive.

ÂŠ Alice - stock.adobe.com

Ann Christine Tabaka lives in Delaware. She is a published poet and artist. She loves gardening and cooking. Chris lives with her husband and two cats. Her most recent credits are The Paragon Journal, The Literary Hatchet, The Metaworker, Raven Cage Ezine, RavensPerch, Anapest Journal, Mused, Apricity Magazine, Longshot Island, Indiana Voice Journal, Halcyon Days Magazine, The Society of Classical Poets, and BSUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Celestial Musings Anthology. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

Seaside By Ann Christine Tabaka Painted sails in the wind, trailing colorful dreams in their wake. Rings around the sun. Sights of the imagination singing back to me in a soft voice. Brisk salt breeze ripping through my damp hair. The scent of brine filling my head. Sand crusted limbs. Sun burnt toes. Sound of gulls overhead. Off in the distance the shoreline vanishes into rows of dune grass, as billowy clouds float by. Visual … Tactile … Aural … Odiferous … Multidimensional facets stimulating the senses, as painted sails glide by.

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Awakening By Daginne Aignend The air was impregnated by the fragrances of wild flowers, red poppies, and a scent I couldn't recognize. It was a soothing bouquet of something pleasant, with a whiff of vanilla. A friendly breeze plays with the net curtains for my window, like the languid swaying tail of the beautiful strong horse I see in the distance, chasing the intrusive flies. This scent, I deeply inhale and finally figured it out. It's the fragrance of defrosting, a refreshed awakening out of the lethargy of winter into the wellness of a mild Spring afternoon.

ÂŠ Gorovâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;stock.adobe.com

Daginne Aignend is a pseudonym for the Dutch poetess Inge Wesdijk. She likes hard rock music, photography and fantasy books. She is a vegetarian and spends a lot of time with her animals. Daginne started to write English poetry five years ago and posted some of her poems on her Facebook page and on her website www.daginne.com. She has been published in some online Poetry Review Magazines with a pending publication at the Contemporary Poet's Group anthology 'Dandelion in a Vase of Roses'. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

Chivalry is Not Dead! By Debbie Richard Sending flowers for no special occasion, Cooking dinner when she’s had a hard day, Running a hot bath and lighting candles for her pleasure only, Leaving notes for her to find, while you’re away, Opening doors for her, even when her hands are not full, Tucking her hand, protectively, inside the curve of your arm, Smiling at her across a crowded room full of strangers, Asking for a “date,” without causing alarm, Faithful to high moral standards, Honorably, you’ve developed an art, For it’s those little things that show her you love her, And occupies the biggest part of her heart.

Debbie Richard is listed in the Directory of Poets & Writers as both a poet and creative nonfiction writer. Her poems have appeared in Torrid Literature Journal, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, WestWard Quarterly, Halcyon, and others. A chapbook of poetry entitled “Resiliency,” was published in 2012 by Finishing Line Press. “Hills of Home,” a memoir about growing up in Appalachia, in the hills of West Virginia, was released in 2014 by eLectio Publishing. Visit her website at www.debbierichard.com Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

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Recovery By Donna Davis (after my husband’s surgery) The old house breathes as he breathes. Its wooden floors expand and contract in the night. Its heartbeat exits the furnace like a shadowy moth, and up through the chimney, delicate smoke wraiths make their fluttery escape. He wanders down its moonlit stairs and finds himself at peace. The sheltering walls seem vast as heaven. Outside the snow melts into spring, and the silence of frost, that laced each windowpane, has broken with the snap of icicles plummeting from the eaves. The mirror in the living room is etched with silvery stars. On its far side, he imagines a shuttered room reflected, where hope overcomes life’s pain and trouble, and all he has to do is enter that space where healing begins. He fits the key in the lock and steps inside.

Donna M. Davis is a former English teacher and current small business owner who lives in the Central New York region. She has published poems in the Tipton Poetry Journal, Slipstream Review, Halcyon Days, The Muddy River Review, The Comstock Review, Third Wednesday, Burningwood Literary Journal, Pudding, Poecology, The Centrifugal Eye, Red River Review, Ilya's Honey, Gingerbread House, Aberration Labyrinth, Red Fez, Oddball, and others. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

Rose Rain Dance By Gregg Dotoli soft rustling breeze golden sundrops rustling leaves spring flowers sway and samba to the tune of perfect

Shut Eye By Joan McNerney Black and white kitten lying under clothesline in soft circles of sleep.

Gregg Dotoli lives in New York City area and has studied English at Seton Hall University. He works as a white hat hacker, but his first love is the arts. His poems have been published in Quail Bell Magazine, The Four Quarters Magazine, Calvary Cross, Dead Snakes, Halcyon Magazine, Allegro Magazine, the Mad Swirl, Voices Project, Writing Raw and Down in the Dirt.

Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary zines such as Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow Haze, Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline, Halcyon Days and included in Bright Hills Press, Kind of A Hurricane Press and Poppy Road Review anthologies. She has been nominated four times for Best of the Net.

The Grasshopper in the Grass By Peter Hoheisel There is a peace in the singing of the grasshopper in the grass. There is a place for each of us, a time to sing in the grass, the peace, the place, and the time presses in. Longing for them we will find what we strive for in our hearts.

Peter Hoheisel has published poems in national publications, such as The Nation, and many regional ones, a few of which are the Langdon Review, Grasslands Review, Nebo, and Iconoclast. As well as teaching Creative Writing, Literature and Composition, at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, he was also chair of the department of Religion and Philosophy at that institution. Before he moved to Texas, he was awarded numerous grants to teach poetry in many schools through the Michigan Council for the Arts and in Tyler, Texas, under a grant from the Texas Commission for the Arts. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

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Butterfly By Dave Benson Butterfly, stay! Let me admire you up close, your grace, kite of a ghost, your wings of iridescent colors that keep on moving ever so slight, even as you are still, you always ready for flight; Butterfly, don’t leave! I’ve sown all your favorite flowers here in this garden you to please, yet you come and you go, you come and go— Butterfly, Flutterbye, my ephemeral whimsical wife.

Dave Benson is from Baltimore, MD and Madison, WI. He writes poetry in English, Spanish and French, and tries to write poetry that is accessible to everyone. Recent poems have appeared in Locust Magazine, Yahara Prairie Lights, Halcyon Days, and Bramble. He enjoys reading at Mother Fool’s coffee house in Madison, and has read for the past two years at the Madison Winter Poetry Festival. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |

Poem Morning By Victoria Crawford Today, I am a poem. Yesterday, parched and dry, hot season when the garden shrinks into survival mode. This morning, the world remade, walking outside to drip-drop rain, moonlight tree spreads happy hands, ivory lemon chalice to catch changed season gift, while slender fingered mimosa reaches skyward. Coleus crowds around the fence, faces red and green ruffled upwards. We stand together, leaves raised for heaven blooms to pool in our palms.

ÂŠ ADGraphics - Pixabay.com

Victoria Crawford is a retired teacher and writer now retired in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She likes sharing the moments of the small delights of everyday life in her poetry to connect with readers everywhere. Her poems have appeared in The Lyric, Califragile, Hawaii Pacific Review, Wildflowers Muse, and various other journals. Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9

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May this spring season refresh you with halcyon days.

Halcyon Days - 2018 Issue 9 |