Joshua St. Claire & Amber Winter - Out Into the Light

Poets Joshua St. Claire and Amber Winter weave together a collaborative duet, offering a traditional kasen renga with “Out Into the Light”. This unique poem is an enthralling experience, fascinating in form as well as in the seemingly-self-contained imagery that blooms within each stanza. The poets explained to The Dewdrop, “The renga is an ancient Japanese poetry form (ancestral to the haiku), heavily steeped in Buddhist philosophy. Each of its 36 verses, except the first and last, links to the prior verse and shifts away from all prior verses. Certain verses are traditionally associated with the seasons, love, the moon, and blossoms—each encouraging us to consider these things from a fresh perspective. This linking and shifting gives the effect of an extended meditation on impermanence of beauty and the interconnection of all things.” They concluded, “We followed most of Basho’s rules here—except for syllable counts (which Basho himself wasn’t too strict with anyway).”

Out Into the Light

Appalachian sunrise
a grizzly coaxes her cubs
out into the light

tranquil hike to the waterfall
he reflects on rocky paths

deep below their feet
an aquifer holds the rain
of ages past

swollen ankles
she orders diet soda

falling leaves
a waning moon
grows enormous

acres of fertile fields
he oils the blades of the combine

rusty derrick
a marbled orb weaver
catches a breeze

rolling his shooter
he knocks his own out of the ring

after the storm
the pine tree we planted
snapped in two

hours of boiling down the sap
finally the root cause is clear

her loupe reveals
a hidden world
emerald jardin

colors of sadness and envy
streaked through the cheerleader’s ponytail

an eastern cottontail
passes through dappled shadow
Lynx Moon

time marching in the clouds
rabbit changes to a dragon

piles of patents
Albert puts them aside
to work up equations

magazine stacks outside the door
a skeptical knock goes unanswered

blooming and ripening
for no one in particular
cemetery plums

trying to be sweet
she bakes her new friend a tart

molasses and honey
sisters braid each other’s hair
forever intertwined

magnetic lines of force
twisted around an electrode

pushed against the wall
our steam turns dinner
to smoke

watching her watching me
puff on a cigar

snow day
arms folded on the windowsill
praying it doesn’t let up

the north wind carves the drifts
into fractal zastrugi

trip with the girls
my ear muffs blocking more than
blustery city streets

beneath the concrete
rich, dark soil

wet cement
boy giggles as his finger
cuts in

“I wasn’t able to get it all”
the oncologist meets my gaze

staring contest
scarecrow beats the jack-o’-lantern
Frost Moon

migrating birds
just a few bits of straw

running off our chins
the juice of persimmons
sweetened by the cold

seeing his lips moving
not understanding any of it

mentioning the password
at the speakeasy door
“Chattahoochee”

knowing she shouldn’t
she pours out the last drops of wine

spring squall
the apricot blossoms
resist

expanding their palates
dad seasons the asparagus

Joshua St. Claire & Amber Winter

Joshua St. Claire is an accountant who works as a financial executive for a large non-profit in rural Pennsylvania. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Lana Turner, Modern Haiku, Blue Unicorn, Delmarva Review, and Ligeia Magazine, among others. He is Pushcart Prize, Rhysling Award and Best of the Net nominee. His work has appeared in the Dwarf Stars Anthology and he is the winner of the Gerald Brady Memorial Senryu Award.

Amber Winter is a married mother of three boys. She is a trained meat cutter, cosmetologist and formerly worked in finance. She enjoys passing time at the playgrounds writing poetry while her boys run out their energy. Her poetry had been published in Failed Haiku, cattails, Ribbons, tsuri-doro, Prune Juice, and Star*line. She is a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Rhysling nominee.