a dried sage flower's
camphor bite, and I am six
again, flinching from
a soaked cotton swab in my
mother's hand; hold still, she says,
it just hurts a bit –
prophetic in retrospect,
though this sensation
is more melancholy ache
than cool medicinal burn
Steve Brisendine lives and works in Mission, Kansas. His most recent collection is To Dance with Cassiopeia and Die (Alien Buddha Press, 2022), a “collaboration” with his former pen name of Stephen Clay Dearborn. His work has appeared in Modern Haiku, Flint Hills Review, Connecticut River Review and other journals and anthologies.