Bio
Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She is the winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year, her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020 and 2021,” published by Sweetycat Press. She is the author of 15 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, and West Texas Literary Review.
Trigger Warning
Limbs torn; a broken doll occupies a littered street.
Abandoned buildings / mouths gaping open wide.
Homes in ruin. Footprints hurrying / seeking sanctuary.
Interrupted lives / falling into ashes. Scraps of dreams
left behind, the enemy advances. Hope, a word that
does not exist among the slain. Black asphalt rains
from above. Devastation is complete. Beyond the dawn,
neighbors’ hands held out across the storm. The
casualties of war linger in hot air along with bleeding
wounds. Doves sprouting from plumes of smoke.
Scraped knee & broken heart / forced to grow
up too soon, the little girl cries out “Moya ihrashka.”