From the Archive: Janet Hepburn (CAROUSEL 30)

Staff/ October 26, 2020/ Poem

JANET HEPBURN

Somei-Yushino Sakura
(flowering cherry tree)

I sit beneath a canopy of lace —
exquisite, delicate
veil of tissue paper circles

Translucent white like the faces
of porcelain dolls, faintest blush
on cheek

A warming wind plucks petals
loose to float — confetti dots
tickle spring-bare arms

before frosting the lawn
in cherry blossom
fondant

Janet Hepburn is a writer and poet. Her first novel, Flee, Fly, Flown, was published in 2013 in ebook and paper format through Second Story Press. It was one of iTunes Editor’s Choice top ten books for 2013, shortlisted for the Ontario Library Association’s 2014 Evergreen Award and chosen as Lanark County’s One Book, One Community title for 2015. Her poetry has appeared in Room, Existere, Other Voices, CAROUSEL and several chapbooks and anthologies. She was a winner in the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival Fringe Stage poetry contest 2012 and short-listed for the FreeFall 2011 Annual Poetry and Prose Contest. Flee, Fly, Flown was released in May of 2020 as an audio book. More: here

Somei-Yushino Sakura (flowering cherry tree)
appeared in CAROUSEL 30 (2013) — buy it here