Jo Balistreri
Born: 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota
URL: http://maryjobalistreripoet.com
Mary Jo spent most of her life as a concert pianist and harpsichordist. With the death of a grandchild in 2005, she began writing poetry to deal with her grief, and to give witness to the child’s life. She began writing haiku in late January of 2013. It is changing the way she lives, keeps her aware and present, and with a sense of humor, puts things in perspective.
Jo has two books of poetry published by Bellowing Ark Press and a chapbook by Tiger's Eye Press. She joined the haiku community three years ago and found the form and the people she wants to be involved in for the rest of her life.
at his hospital window…
silent answers
among the stars
failed haiku, issue 12, December, 2016
toast crumbs
fall onto his paper
landslide in Peru
failed haiku, issue 12, December, 2016
golf-ball hail—
the kids
forget their coats
failed haiku, issue 12, December, 2016
wild gardenias
whiten the path—
first father-daughter dance
blithe spirit, BHS Anthology, 2016
delphinium shoots nudging the soil baby’s first kick
prune juice, issue 20, November, 2016
his home
of thirty years sold…
he plants marigolds
prune juice, issue 20, November 2016
pails tied at the waist
--our tongues
cherry red
prune juice, issue 20, November 2016
the fluid music
of her womb…
incoming tide
Hedgerow, Issue, 99, December, 2016
only one spoonful
to honor her ancestors—
lutefisk
failed haiku, Volume, October, 2016
her sour tears—
he hacks down
the last lemon tree
Failed haiku, Volume, October, 2016
an old sears catalog
she shows him
her red wagon
bottle rockets press #35, August, 2016
constant slam
of the screen door
rhubarb pie
bottle rockets press #35, August, 2016
a steep climb…
following
my shadow’s pilgrim hat
modern haiku, volume 47.1 winter-spring, 2016
trickle of melt
down the canyon wall…
holding his ashes
modern haiku, Volume 47.2, Summer, 2016
one child’s candle…
light moves
up the aisle
modern haiku, Volume 47.3, Fall, 2016
golfers
in the rain…
their windbreakers brighten
failed haiku, Volume 1, Issue Six, May, 2016
sterilizing
mason jars…
mom’s peaches this winter
brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2016/09
Mother’s Day
wearing her locket
for the first time
prune juice, No. 19, July, 2016
cattails tossing and tossing a night of insomnia
A Hundred Gourds, Issue 5.2, March, 2016
dog-eared by her side
the wonder of the world…
hospice
bearcreekhaiku, Issue 133, 2016
fog hanging
from the elms…
mother’s cleaning rags
speed bump journal, 1.1. January, 2016
up late the moon in our merlot
bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com/2015/11
father’s whistle in a blade of grass
volume XVII, number 4: December, 2015
the click of bamboo
in the wind…
grandma’s rosary
brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2016_03_01_archive.html
at her easel the sea’s changing face
brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2016_03_01_archive.html
blazing firewood…
we drink cider
with a bite
frogpond, 38.3, autumn, 2015
swimming
through the moon…
broken music
wild plum, 1.2/ fall and winter/ 2015
behind the tree line-haiku anthology, 2015
whine
of a neighbor’s sax…
the dying wind
a hundred gourds, 4.4. march, 2015
snow’s lavender shadows
she feeds her mother
canned peaches
wild plum / 2.2, fall and winter/ 2016