It is hard to be hungry, to let the gnawing live in your belly and make it your friend. It takes practice. Every morning I go from bed to cushion, before tea, before breakfast. And I invite hunger to sit with me.

dawn chill
the crack of kibble
in the cat’s canines

Because sitting is hard, because my mind never empties, because the cat circles seven times before settling in the well between my knees, because my neighbor decides to have bacon for breakfast...

undisciplined
carnivore heart
against cold feet

I have given up on meat. Because I see how the ham was pig. But there is something about the smell of bacon that conjures the unconscious.

12 hours
since this animal has eaten
wolf moon

—Semi-finalist, KYSO Flash HTP Writing Challenge

Beverly Acuff Momoi

has written many forms of poetry and has a particular interest in Japanese short forms. Her poems have been published widely in print and online journals, including Contemporary Haibun Online, DailyHaiku, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Ribbons, River Styx, Sand Hill Review, Spillway, and tinywords, among others; and they have been featured in such anthologies as A New Resonance 9: Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku (Red Moon Press), Haiku 2015 (Modern Haiku Press), and Party Train: A Collection of North American Prose Poetry (New Rivers Press). Her haibun collection, Lifting the Towhee’s Song, was a Snapshot Press 2011 eChapbook Award winner, and one of her haibun was recognized in the Haiku Society of America’s 2015 Best Unpublished Haibun Contest.