In celebration of National Poetry Month2019, The Electric Review introduces Chicago-area poet Nancy Botta. As readers know, the ER rarely publishes original work. For me to publish someone, their work must be exceptional both in tone, style and originality. In turn, a single tour through Botta’s work evinces why she appears here now: A young master of Haiku, Botta’s imagery stabs and presses, embedding itself in the heart, haunting the buried layers of the consciousness with its raw honesty. Alas, there seems no better forum than National Poetry 2019 to let her work speak for itself.

Three Haiku

Downpour

Wet season arrives

with muddy hems and soft groans—

black umbrellas bloom.

Mire

Drifting morning fog;

rivulets gather and wash

over broken trees.

Luna

A cool milky moon

spills through an open doorway—

she drinks in silence.

Original watercolor by Eric Ward, © 2019. All rights reserved.

Rosemary

I…