Victor Clevenger

4 Contemporary Tanka:

night shift waitress
counting out a tip jar
that's never enough
to just quit & fly away
like a finch following a river


a tree branch drips
its first summertime raindrops
roots now like starving men
reaching out below dirty sheets
swollen with nourishment


in indiana
meth-head mother
sitting at a tent revival
with pipe burns on her lips shining
as bright as her future


wounded cougar
a lady downtown
slow dancing in ambulance flash
as sirens howl at rooftops
intersection lights turn green

Victor Clevenger spends his days in a Madhouse and his nights writing.  Selected pieces of his work have appeared in print magazines and journals around the world; it has also been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and the Pushcart Prize.  He is the author of several collections of poetry and together with American poet John Dorsey, they run River Dog. He can be reached at: crownofcrows@yahoo.com