She said, Okay, have fun, when I told her I was running away. My red bandana was wrapped clumsily around a stick; the banana and candy bar I had packed threatened to tumble out. Opening the screen door, she waited and said nothing, carefully holding me in her gaze.
If I don’t make it home, she’ll still recognize me, won’t she? No matter what?
mistaken identity
the child they still wish
I was
is an award-winning cherita poet and a nominee for Best of the Net and Dwarf Star.
His short-form works (haiku, senryu, haibun, and cherita) have been widely published
in print and online journals and anthologies, including Failed Haiku, Haibun
Today, KYSO Flash, The Aurorean, and The Cherita; and have been
translated into Chinese, German, and Italian. He is the author of two books:
a collection of haiku and senryu, Steel Cut Moon (Cholla Needles Press, 2019),
and a chapbook of haibun, No Velcro Here (Yavanika Press, 2019).
Peter is a licensed clinical social worker who’s worked as a counselor in a
variety of settings for more than 30 years. Born in Connecticut, he lived in
Philadelphia for many years before relocating to Southern California, where he now
lives with his family in the high desert near Joshua Tree National Park.
