SSAANN DDIIEEGGOO PPOOEETTRRYY AANNNNUUAALL 22002200--2211 SAN DIEGO ENTERTAINMENT + ARTS GUILD GARDEN OAK PRESS RAINBOW, CALIFORNIA sdeag.org sandiegopoetryannual.com gardenoakpress.com San Diego Entertainment & Arts Guild (SDEAG) in association with the San Diego Poetry Annual and Garden Oak Press 1953 Huffstatler St., Suite A Rainbow, CA 92028 sdeag.org sandiegopoetryannual.com [email protected] (760) 728-2088 © San Diego Entertainment + Arts Guild (SDEAG) All rights reserved SDEAG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means without the express written consent of the Publisher. First published by Garden Oak Press on March 1, 2021 ISBN-13: 9798592861581 Printed in the United States of America The views expressed in this anthology of poems are solely those of the respective poets and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Publisher and the Publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them. ii CONTENTS • POEMS 1• WILLIAM SCOTT GALASSO The Year We Never Saw Coming 4 KATH ABELA WILSON Mary Blue 5 SUSAN D. WALTER How Touching 6 D’ELLEN the sea gives 7 BONA M. SANTOS dandelions 7 ELIZABETH YAHN WILLIAMS I Have Loved Mornings 8 ANN TWEEDY Blueberries 9 MAJA TROCHIMCZYK Da Capo al Fine 10 WALT STEPAHIN Dream Jobs 11 JAN BEATTY Dream Highway: Quarantine 12 SARAH Z SLEEPER BTS World 13 SONYA SCHNEIDER The Sea 14 NANCY SANDWEISS The Arbiters of Rectitude 15 SANDRA ANFANG Ode to a Deer Carcass at Rush Creek 16 LORRAINE A. PADDEN a faultless sun 17 SALLY SANDLER Requiem for a Season 18 ANNA SANCHEZ Perdón (I am sorry) 19 SUSAN ROGERS In the Midst of Wildfires, Imagine Gardens 20 iii LYNDA RIESE My Father’s Children 21 CHRIS ERNEST NELSON Onerous Concord 22 KATHY O’FALLON Rite of Passage 23 JOHNNIERENEE NIA NELSON 2020/Found Poetry on Facebook 24 STEVE MCDONALD And When I Told You the Bushes and Trees 25 MARGARET MCALLISTER Red Rock Concerto 26 SARAH B MARSH-REBELO Demitasse and Music 27 FRED LONGWORTH Calling You Out 28 SYLVIA LEVINSON Waihou Spring Forest 29 TONI LARSON The Bus Driver 30 JEN LAFFLER Mantis 31 MARCYN DEL CLEMENTS and IGNATIUS FAY The New Normal? 32 SHARON LAABS Miramar National Cemetery 33 BRIAN KIRVEN The Coast is Not Clear 34 DEBORAH P KOLODJI ocean breeze 35 CLIFTON KING Looking for Answers in the Night Sky 36 JIM KACIAN An End to Solipsism 37 WENDY JONES No Mud, No Lotus 38 LOIS P. JONES Redwood 39 IBRAHIM IBN SALMA Tree speaks 40 iv AMEERAH HOLLIDAY When They Turn My Name into a Hashtag 41 CHARLES HARMON Can’t Connect Kyoka and Senryu Sequence 42 JOAN C. FINGON brazen bolt of light 43 KATHY HARMON-LUBER Saguaro 44 MARY HARKER Turned Back 45 DIANA GRIGGS The War Wasn't Difficult for Me 46 TERRI GLASS Unexpected Visitor 47 DIANE GAGE Peaking 48 DANIEL H.R. FISHMAN DJ at Work 49 TRISH DUGGER Short Story of a Long Life 50 CATHERINE DARBY Woven Relations 51 KELLY BOWEN Cancer 52 STELLA BOLOG If Only 53 CLAIRE BLOTTER Out of Darkness 54 DIONNE BLAHA Was That You? 55 BOBBIE JEAN BISHOP Not Far from Home 56 CHARLIE BERIGAN Fireflies 57 PAT ANDRUS After Eating the Novel The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon by Tom Spanbauer 58 GREGORY LONGENECKER home at last 59 v CAROL IRELAND ARCHIBALD Indelibles 60 JANICE ALPER The Singer Sewing Machine 61 SUSAN BLACK ALLEN Like Roses 62 RICHARD L. MATTA Smokey Mirrors 63 MICHAEL HILL Watching Surfers at Ocean Beach 64 MINERVA Jazz Bass King 65 BRANDON CESMAT Second-Hand Body Armor 66 JOAN C. FINGON grandpa 67 CHRISTIAN SANCHEZ How Are You Doing? 68 ANNA ZAPPOLI Little pumpkin from Tim's garden 69 DAN ADAMS “Who the Hell is Frida Kahlo?” 70 JUDY REEVES Watching His Body 71 JEENI CRISCENZO The Little Girl in the Lime-Green Jumper 72 LORRAINE A. PADDEN naked like the garden 74 MARIT ANDERSON Still Standing 75 ROBERT HALLECK The Lily Pulitzer Dress 76 CHRIS WHITNEY A Line Is — 77 LEWIS KRUGLICK Correspondence from Here 78 GREGORY LONGENECKER the wariness 79 LLOYD HILL Sonneteer 80 vi RON LAUDERBACH Telephone Directory 81 PAM IMPSON Last Dance? 82 JENNIFER MCBROOM Bittersweet Nothings 83 CRAIG COTTER Alex and Me at the Beach as Teenagers 84 JAMES CROAL JACKSON I Always Avoided Landscaping 85 DAVE GILDER The Pigeons of St. Mark’s Square 86 CURRAN JEFFERY Blinded by Youth 87 RON SALISBURY 104th Day of the Shelter in Place with a line from Raymond Chandler’s Red Wind 88 JONATHAN YUNGKANS Like a Night Sound for Which There Is No Explanation 91 DEBBIE HALL After the Circus 92 KATIE MANNING You Smell Like Crayons 93 AMANDA MATTIMOE In This Time, In This World 94 TIM CALAWAY Late Night Snacks (Then & Now) 95 BIL FUHRER Ode to the Onion 96 AL ZOLYNAS The Unthinkable 97 PAUL A. SZYMANSKI Jewelry Box 98 D’ELLEN ash falls 99 NANCY SHIFFRIN Our Broken World Post Pandemic September 2020 100 MARGE PIERCY Where Do They Go? 102 vii ANDY PALASCIANO I Have Learned 103 SERETTA MARTIN Letter to Harriet 104 DEBORAH P KOLODJI chorus 105 KAREN KENYON This Wolf 106 JUAN FELIPE HERRERA ICU unit 107 VALARIE HASTINGS Geese, 1968 108 ESTELLE GILSON Soliloquy at 93 109 MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN How to Prepare for a Pandemic 110 • THE KOWIT • INTRODUCTION 113 LIST OF HONOREES 115 THE STEVE KOWIT POETRY PRIZE 2020 VALARIE HASTINGS When Pigs Could Fly 116 RUNNER UP TERRI NICCUM Parenthood³ 118 SECOND RUNNERS UP HARRY GRISWOLD In Front of the Cold Fireplace 120 KARLA MORTON Trying Out My New Superhero Powers After the Bears pass 122 HONORABLE MENTION SUSAN BROWNE & For God’s Sake, Humming 124 SUSAN BROWNE Here 126 DONALD CLERMONT Apricity 128 viii DICK EIDEN East of Hollywood 129 DICK EIDEN Falling Through the Cracks 130 JAMES ELLENBERGER There’s Tunnel Yet at the End of Our Light 132 ALEXIS RHONE FANCHER Identity Theft 134 NUMERTHA GEISINGER Started at the Convent 135 MAI-LON GITTELSOHN Talking to No Purpose 136 JONATHAN GREENHAUSE Between Gazer & Facsimile 137 MOLLY HART Brainbleed 138 VALARIE HASTINGS If Joy Were a Hit and Run 140 VALARIE HASTINGS Love Poem in a Pandemic 142 TRACEY KNAPP When I Am Cold 143 STEVE MCDONALD Erasure 144 JOSEPH D. MILOSCH Her Angel Whispered, Ut Si Vellet 146 MELISSA MCKINSTRY Credence Clearwater Revival 148 PATRICIA AYA WILLIAMS Abilene 149 GARY V. POWELL Perfume 150 KAITLIN REYNOLDS Seeking a Cure for Lovesickness 152 ARIEN REED Gender Keeps Me Awake at Night 154 • NATIVE POETS • TANAYA WINDER Teach Me How to Pray 158 ix MICHAEL TURNER When Others Suffer, Be with Them 159 WILLOW ROBINSON I’m Strong and Unstable 160 JANESSA PARADA Why don’t you hear me? 161 CONNER CASH Humorous, Loyal, Tall, Brother 162 DARRELL PERALTA Dancing with the Birds 162 TANAYA WINDER When the Stars Fall From the Sky 163 TARAH PARADA Smart, Funny, Beautiful, Kind 164 MARRIANNE DIAZ Preposition Poem 165 WILLIAM DIAZ Raymond Belardes 166 ESPERANZA ORTEGA My Gift from Above 166 WILLIAM DIAZ Sonnet 3 167 KIM SHUCK The Weather is Smoke 168 • POEMS FROM JUVENILE HALL • 169 - 192 • TWO FOR OUR ROAD • INTRODUCTION by BRANDON CESMAT 194 LOVERNE BROWN Two Dog Lovers Sharing a Bus Seat 196 TERRY HERTZLER Perennial 197 • POEMS 2 • MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN East Side High School, Paterson, NJ 200 GREGORY LONGENECKER outliving 201 x JANET FOSTER ESL Prayer 202 D’ELLEN Stormy Monday Blues 203 LESLIE FERGUSON Sky Bridge 204 BONA M. SANTOS lady justice 205 DICK EIDEN Landing Patterns 206 MARY DE LA FUENTE When Your Identity is the World 207 CATHERYNNE CRUZ-SCHECKNER (untitled) 208 KEN BUHR Sports Section 209 LAURA BOSS Calls 210 JAN BEATTY Those Night Roads, Wyoming 212 R.J. BLACK So Easy 213 SALLY SANDLER Lesson from a Giant Swallowtail 214 LORRAINE A. PADDEN ashes of roses 215 JIM MORENO huellas in la arena (footprints in the sand) 216 MICHAEL KLAM Devour Me Homeopathically 218 JILL G. HALL In the Fast Lane 219 CHRIS VANNOY Hello 220 TOMÁS GAYTON Rosarito 221 LORI WALKINGTON Baby Shower 222 JIMMY JAZZ Elegy for Jim 223 xi ANTHONY BLACKSHER “Donald” 226 MALACHI BLACK De Clementia: Prayer of the Last Prizefighter 228 GERARDO NAVARRO Border Scar 229 MELISSA MENCKE CAMPBELL My Rebirth 231 J.K. WALLEN Hart Island Hymn from the Souls to the City 232 TERRY MACRAE Lucky 233 ROBERT THOMAS LUNDY Gaudeamus Ignorance 234 GLORIA KEELEY Parallel Ocean Rain 235 MARTE RILEY Blue Plate Special 236 MARJORIE PEZZOLI Bread Cats Butterflies 237 JOSEPH D. MILOSCH Within the Bay Park 238 JAY M. MOWER Grandma's Touch 240 JANELL STRUBE Heaven: Records Division 241 FRAN FINLEY Bearing My Name 242 EVELYN BURROUGHS (untitled) 244 CAROLYN MOGAVERO A Mother's Lament 245 AHLIA DEMAS To Captain Land Mine. 246 SUSIE PARKER On Aging 247 RACHEL M. GOBAR Subconscious Faults of the Inner Critic 248 MARY O’CONNOR West of the Summer Fires 249 xii KRISTEN D. SCOTT Traveling the Pine Barrens 250 JOSÉ JORGE MARTINEZ The Barber 251 JON WESICK That Moment 252 GRANT QUACKENBUSH Double Abecedarian: Email to a Young Poet, re: Advice? 253 DON SCHOFIELD Bongos 254 CRYSTOPHVER R Beyond Recollection 256 ALAN ARCHER Forest in a Pharmacy 257 C. V. WILL Night. 258 LIZZIE WANN Quiet Place 259 HILARY WALLING In Palermo 260 SHARON L. THOMPSON The True Cost of Things 261 MEL TAKAHARA Plum Dance 262 JEAN E. TADDONIO A Cactus Garden Day 263 JANE MUSCHENETZ In Short 264 LISA ALBRIGHT RATNAVIRA My Daughter 265 PENNY PERRY Black Velvet Slacks 266 SUZANNE O’CONNELL Dogs Will Bite 268 LENNY LIANNE The Little Girl Inside Me is Crying in the Time of Coronavirus 270 MARIA KOTSAFTIS What Remains 272 xiii KATHY KEOGH Black Licorice and Ragweed 274 GAYLE O’KEY Then and Now 275 GWYN HENRY Pandemic Escape: Poem 3 276 LESLIE HENDRICKSON-BARAL Forfeiting Time 278 WILLIAM HARRY HARDING Sometimes,