kicking leaves 
into the gutter—
the long walk to junior high 

Our teacher answers a rare call on the classroom’s wall phone. She tells my best friend that she needs to check in at the office. Debby says, “I don’t know where it is!” We’ve only been attending this school for a few weeks. I know where the office is and offer to take her there.

When we arrive, her teen-aged brother is waiting for her. Wordlessly, he shakes his head, grimaces, and wraps his arms around her. The last time I saw their father, he was in a wheelchair, and I had no idea how to react. Overwhelmed again, I turn and hurry back to the classroom.

remembering 
our backyard creations—
insect cemeteries

Sheila Sondik,

printmaker, painter, and poet, lives in Bellingham, Washington. She was born in Hartford, CT, graduated from Harvard College, and then moved to the West Coast, where the landscape felt like home to her. A poet and visual artist since childhood, she began writing Japanese form poetry in 2010 and has studied other Asian arts including ikebana and Chinese calligraphy. The Northwest landscape is a constant inspiration.

Her poetry has been widely published in journals and anthologies, including Bracken Magazine, CALYX, Frogpond Journal, Modern Haiku, Pontoon, Presence Haiku Journal, Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine, Silver Birch Press, and tinywords among others. Her most recent chapbook is Lighting Up the Duff, a collection of Golden Shovels published by The Poetry Box in 2024. The 25th anniversary anthology of Haiku Northwest, Glimmering Hour, features her artwork throughout the collection.

The artist’s website: https://sheilasondik.com/