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Jane Beal

Jane Beal 2019    Jane Beal, Ph.D., is a poet. Her haiku appear in the Asahi Haikuist, Fireflies’ Light, Frogpond, Haibun Today, Haiku Journal, Illinois Audubon Society Magazine and Presence as well as in her haiku micro-chaps from Origami Poems: Journey, Garden, Bliss, Wide Awake and Dreaming, and In the Santa Cruz Mountains. She is the author of many other poetry collections, including a book of haiku, Haiku Birding, and a book of haibun, Wild Birdsong (2011) and a book of haiga, Tidepools.
 
To learn more about her and her creative work, please see https://janebeal.wordpress.com
 
 
 
 

►  Jane's microchaps & selected poems are available below. Download the single-page PDF by clicking the title. Set your printer for 'landscape' printing. Folding instructions are under the Who We Are menu tab.  

 Origami Microchap 

Wilderness    

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Jane Beal Bio CVR Wilderness 2022 Feb

Cover collage by author

·

for my brother, Abraham,
who passed away on
October 29, 2021

and for my friend, Jean-Pierre,
who helped me walk through
a wilderness of grief

jb

1
below the moon
black crow flying over
the wilderness

 

2

innocence
is beautiful –

it has its own
shining light –

all the dark moths
come cluster around it

like shadows,
flickering

 

3
blow me out
like a candle –

the darkness is sweet

when it touches my face,
I feel ten thousand tears

4
into this silence, music –
O Heaven, call me home

I lay down my body
to the sleep that steals the soul

let me awaken in eternity,
welcomed into the arms of the ones I love

 

5
I saw a butterfly
in a rainbow
flickering in the light –

the monarch of the soul, still
seeking milkweed
for the journey

 

6
tiny bird, splashing!
your reflection in the puddle
splinters in light and air

*
Jane Beal © 2022

Songs of Water    

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Jane Beal CVR Songs of Water 2021 Jul

Cover photo: Sunset over the Water

by author

                        1

on the path
four water-droplets
in a pale, green leaf

 

2

under tree, over stone
goes a swift, solitary bird
then, the singing

 

3

two lovers
side by side
sunset over the water

 

4

pink sky and purple clouds
mountains
brushed with gold

 

5

rain-water

drips off the edges

of a cactus leaf

 

6

after giving the baby a bath

footprints of water

on our wood floor

Jane Beal © 2021

In the Santa Cruz Mountains 

   

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Jane Beal CVR In the Santa Cruz Mountains R 2020

Cover photo by author

in honor of George Floyd,
the Lightning Complex Fires,
& my friends, John & Kim Haak

1

mist in the mountains
a veil over the crown
of the redwood tree

 

2

the pregnant doe
lifts up her head
when she hears our voices

we can see the ocean
covered in cloud
from the Christmas tree farm

the hind on the hill
twin fawns leap up and away
into the redwoods

 

3

a fawn screams
outside my window
four coyotes

today
the hind on the hill
has one fawn

no deer this morning
only a lone coyote
loping toward the road

4

a wind in the night
rain falling in the mountains
as the sun rises

smoke pouring over the ridge
the redwood trees
disappear

shafts of light
through the redwood trees
illuminate the smoke

 

5

in the green boughs
of the young redwood tree
purple sweet pea flowers

a pale female finch
visited by her lover
suddenly flies off

it’s been a week
since I last climbed this hill
the apples are bigger

 

6

patch of white sky
through the redwood trees
the roof of the world

Jane Beal © 2020

Wide Awake and Dreaming    

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Jane Beal CVR Wide Awake and Dreaming 2020 MAY 

Cover design by author

1

morning mist
the mountain
disappears

pink hibiscus
the hummingbird
appears

 

2

at night, the Lighthouse,
lit up for a wedding
my lover and I walk past

sitting by dark water,
I listen to his heart
the illuminated bridge

a white-crowned sparrow
disappears
into the green hedge

3

my shadow
walks through the shadows
of autumn trees

yellow light on the blue mountains
yellow leaf on the blue road

up the gold hill
a dark tree
white sky

4

winter rain
against my window
awakens me

the sky turns
white, gray, ash-blue
then, the lightning

snow
on the mountain
my heart full of yearning

 

Jane Beal © 2020

Bliss    

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Jane Beal CVR Bliss DEC 2019

Cover photo by Jane Beal - Leeds UK

For Jonathan

 

sunset over Wales
a girl looks through the window
of a speeding train

·

from a tower-top
in a big, modern city
the medieval bridge

·

walking down the hill
to Indian food in Leeds
the blue hydrangea

Museum Gardens
a Yorkshire hedgehog waddles
under a green bush

·

at Castle Howard
little, brown butterflies
dance in the heather

·

an old woman sits
on the park bench by herself –
the river flows by

(Britain, 2019)

·

Jane Beal © 2019

Garden    

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Jane Beal CVR Garden JUL 2019 

Cover photo by Jane Beal taken at
Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens

·

for Michelle Lynn Smoler
teacher, yogi, neighbor, sister, friend

·

entering the garden

water trickles down
the hollow of an old stone
a bird stoops to drink

·

turtle pond

a turtle hatchling
is all alone on her stone
but the sun is warm

two turtles sunbathe
on a stone in the dark pond
watching me watch them

an older turtle
circles in the pond water
looking for a stone

·

duck pond

the hen is asleep
but the drake is holding his
morning yoga pose

humble waterfall
pouring down into the pond
going deeper still

afternoon sunlight
a green leaf in deep water
reaches for the sky

origami in the garden

white origami
cast in metal and shining
birds and butterflies

a paper airplane!
then the white peace crane unfolds
to become a star

shining buffalo
with a small bird on his back
looking out at us

·

leaving the garden

the old mother-tree
and her branching canopy
stays in memory

·

Jane Beal © 2019

 

inspired by the artwork of Robert Lang and Kevin Box
in the exhibit at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens
Claremont, California * April 2019

Journey

   

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 Jane Beal CVR Journey Apr 2019

Cover: China Camp in San Rafael, CA
By author

 

Journey is a series of 16 untitled haiku.

 

Every microchap
may be downloaded
for free
from this website.
 
(Set printer for landscape)

 

 

Angelenos drive
slowly through the pouring rain
no longer racing

 

 

red-winged blackbirds sing
together in Tejon Pass
the rain stops falling

 

 

red-breasted robin
on the rooftop after rain
singing to a friend

 

 

 

 

moon sets at sunrise
in pale pink, purple, and blue
as we walk and pray
 
 
 
 

my grandmother’s heart
is being opened today
a new pacemaker

 

 

pink blossoms
sun light on green grass
swaying in the wind

 

 

snow-capped peaks
greening mountainsides
spring is near

(jb) 

 

for Miguel

you are the perfect
lover for me

Jane Beal © 2019