Adobo Criollo Sergio Antonio Ortiz Rivera

recluse what is it that hides in the early morning hours? a peace that strikes my naked body a silence— a memory yesterday I walked through cool corridors and saw men play some had legs as long as a red willows some walked on wheels all had happy hands mockingbirds returning from the sea together a smile, a voice that almost made me cry

lonely winter a single star shining through the mist stranded in this bitter air a silent moon *what did I know, what did I know… of cold, warm hands the sun that stayed by my side that bitter night citation Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays

the vanishing shape of a leaf… filter of age

he approaches spreading the fan of his tail cocksure he shakes his feathers pecks the ground for seeds

without a roof I’ve never given great thought to the “I” of my soul   whether it’s a blade of grass or a gathering of acorns in the park twenty autumns ago before a suicide attempt— I see my body as it is now, torn and aching like the hem of my jeans regret is not slanted, it is my own  construction the home I built the house I chose 

she has a craving for Popsicle— a return to her childhood…  she’s  *leaning on the sun it’s hot, so, so hot Citation: Emily Dickinson

you died in my arms right after pressing a kiss on my chest,  it tastes  like murder... * the things  that we  love tell us what we are citation: Thomas Aquinas

she forgets to pick up the phone waiting  for me to come home ... an empty socket by her side

I woke up with a smile on my face coqui(s) cradled my sleep capricious power of sound

he said yes while I said no and ran into the tall cedars in hope of forgiveness for those of us who sleep in dusty chambers there is no anticipation only roofless sky the structure of an open mind

evolution Jews in concentration  camps *their frozen  pupils, their prisoner's boot? Gaza a worm roiling the soil and making it fertile? citation: In the Lake Region BY  TOMAS VENCLOVA

my geography I find the climb inclined to the domestic volcano here... a handsome man on fire citation: Emily Dickenson

cats tails pirouette in my cosmos… universal poses of left over costumes from yesterday’s show 

I liked being young obsessed as I was at forty-five with feeling older the things that filled those years are gone

today I heard the loud humming of bees and saw the wind moving on a meadow... "blinded" written on the gulmohar leaves

a night in Venus death is close acquire the frilled wings of a winter moth        and meet me        in Venus let’s build a city with our hands on the narrow bed of our bodies and turn off the lights at dawn we can close our eyes and count until the sun rises before breaking it to pieces

in the absence of sparrows he drew dandelions… time, what it provides, what it destroys

rude nudists... we took a long look at each other and crept away citation CHRISTIAN WIMAN~ Do You Remember the Rude Nudists

a blue butterfly hovers above her shadow with battered wings she's earned the sweet release of her own death

Kindly submit up to 10 previously unpublished  tanka, tanka art, &/or  1 sequence. “Undertow Tanka Submission” to: undertowtanka @ gmail . com Or use Contact Form to the right *** by September 30, 2014 / second Issue to be online by October 3 At the end of your submission, please include your full name and country of residence.  All rights revert to authors upon publication. Your tanka must not be under consideration elsewhere or submitted to any contest.  Hopefully this will become a print Review in the near future. Best wishes, Sergio Ortiz,   Editor