Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry; nominated for the 2023 Dwarf Stars award of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association; winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year; selected as a Judge for the Soundwaves Poetry Contest of Northern Ireland 2023. Her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020” and “2021,” published by Sweetycat Press. She is the author of 16 poetry books, and 1 short story book. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking.  Chris lives with her husband and four cats. Her most recent credits are: The Phoenix; Eclipse Lit, Carolina Muse, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, Ephemeral Literary Review, The Elevation Review, The Closed Eye Open, North Dakota Quarterly, Tangled Locks Journal, Wild Roof Journal, The American Writers Review, Black Moon Magazine, Pacific Review, The Silver Blade, Pomona Valley Review, West Texas Literary Review.

*(a complete list of publications is available upon request)

Aurora

I want to feel the dancing waves of lights & bathe in 
a shimmering heaven. To hear the sparks of Aurora 
as she sings her lullaby. Greens & blues surround each 
word - vibrations reach ever higher. I want to partake 
in the song of gods, not meant for mortals. She demands 
only that we believe. Footsteps of time, pace across 
a frozen tundra. We hold on to truths that cannot die. 
Magic paints reality upon a canvas of imagination. 
Take me in your arms and carry me to a realm of wonder. 
I am where I am meant to be. One dream among a 
thousand sets flight. I am home.

Parting

I am spit in two

Wayward thoughts reel me back
into the travesty of it all. 
Remembering broken promises.
Remembering false hope.
Lives balanced on the edge of a whisper,
seeking redemption.

Turbulence rules. What am I to do now? 
Should I walk backward among 
the roses, reaching out to grab a thorn?
Trickles of blood releasing pain.

Tomorrow cannot be restored.
Today cannot be saved.
I never meant to leave you …

The Year it Rained … And Rained

You loved me once … 
a long time ago –> before the rains came.
Then skies opened up to an unrelenting
downpour. Floodwaters breached / creeks 
overflowed. Small creatures swept downstream / 
struggling / grasping for a hold. It was a day I 
will not forget. Mud-caked dreams crusted, 
dying, crumbling / buried beneath toppling hope. 
A fierce wind bull-dozed giant poplar trees … 
rolling downhill / claiming victims / they collided / 
barely missing our house. A once in a hundred-year 
storm came crashing into our lives –> sweeping 
away all substance. Hour upon hour / day upon
day /week upon week. The aftermath was complete. 
We stood paralyzed / unable to breathe.  
Only words remained –> “And the rains came!”