by C.X. Turner (UK) & Kimberly Kuchar (USA)
in a forest
of the dead
standing room
a hundred eyes silently watch
the moon turn crimson
stale smoke
spirals from her gaping
tombstone
ashes, ashes
a little girl sings
amongst the bones
feet shuffle
the detritus of a lost
childhood
autumn red
she tries to squeeze blood
back into veins
C.X. Turner writes poems about dandelions, frozen fingers and frogs. She enjoys experimenting with Japanese short-forms and her poems and artwork have been widely published in a range of journals and anthologies.
Several of her short-forms poems including haiku, senryu and haibun have been Touchstone-nominated in 2022 and 2023. She enjoys working collaboratively with other poets, and on solo projects. She won first prize in the 2023 horror rengay contest with a collaborative piece, due to be published in Otoroshi Journal, early in 2024.
C.X. Turner is also a social worker and observer of life, rediscovering her creativity and always making space on her bookshelves for more. She is co-editor of the Wales Haiku Journal and author of climbing frozen water (Origami Poems Project, 2023), anemones (Yavanika Press, 2023) and Building Sandcastles, co-authored with James Welsh (Literary Revelations, 2023).
Find C.X. on social media:
X (Twitter): @lover__poetic
Insta: @love.rpoetic
Threads: @love.rpoetic
Facebook: C X Turner Luci
Kimberly Kuchar has always loved writing. In 2022, she fell deeper in love with short-form poetry and began writing haiku sequences, haibun, and collaborative poetry. Her work has been nominated for the Touchstone Award and the Pushcart Prize, and a haiku of hers was selected as the Judges' Choice in The Poetry Pea Journal 2:23. Kimberly's work has appeared or is upcoming in Frogpond, Akitsu Quarterly, Presence, Prune Juice Journal, Wales Haiku Journal, tsuri-dōrō, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Poetry Pea Journal, Cold Moon Journal, horror senryu journal, Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, Otoroshi Journal, Meat for Tea: The Valley Review, and other publications. Kimberly and her husband live near Austin and are adjusting to life as empty nesters since their son started college. Their pet cockatiel keeps the house from feeling too quiet.