COLLABORATIVE TANKA SEQUENCE: mnemosyne

mnemosyne
            Billie Dee and Kathryn J. Stevens 

hail ping 
on a galvanized roof
the woodshed 
perfumed with yellow pine 
and packrat nest 

windborne 
the woody essence 
of Rose of Sharon 
suddenly she’s with me 
the sister lost long ago 

the gleam 
of her beaded evening clutch 
            still, faintly 
            that old familiar scent—
            Shalimar and Lucky Strikes 

dry lips brush 
the nape of my neck 
a whiff of cocoa 
on his breath 
an old bedtime story 


MacQueen's Quinterly 24, August 2024