boxers or briefs

job interview
he absently strokes
his tie

she teases out

freshening up
the thrill of new blood
in the office

a perfect opening

water cooler
a steamy conversation
bubbles up

Note: Italicized lines above are by Lorraine A Padden.

Peter Jastermsky

is an award-winning cherita poet, a Best of the Net and Dwarf Star nominee, and the author of six books of haiku-based writing. Titles include Steel Cut Moon (Cholla Needles Press, 2019), and two from Yavanika Press, No Velcro Here (2019) and The Silence We Came For (2020). His short-form writing has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Failed Haiku, Haibun Today, KYSO Flash, MacQueen’s Quinterly, The Aurorean, and The Cherita.

In 2017, Peter invented a new linked form that is haiku-centered called “split sequence.” His most recent book, Just Dust and Stone (Velvet Dusk Publishing, May 2021), is a collection of collaborative split sequences co-written with Bryan Rickert.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ “Love Thing”: The Allure of the Split Sequence, craft essay by Peter Jastermsky in Issue 9 of MacQ (August 2021)

Lorraine A Padden’s

haiku and related poetry appear in Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, tinywords, Frogpond, and Kingfisher, among others. She won Tricycle Magazine’s 2021 Best of the Haiku Challenge, and one of her rengay received an Honorable Mention in the Haiku Association of America̵s 2021 Competition in Honor of Garry Gay.