canopy bed
            —with gratitude for my hearing aids

we are lullabyed
by rhythmic trill as we read
in bed—gray treefrogs’
fricative surround-sound soon
gentles us into slumber

—dotty seiter

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Notes about poem and art:
• Though I strongly wanted the treefrog music as sound track for my dreams throughout each night, I couldn’t sleep with hearing aids in—they were too uncomfortable physically, and the amplification of proximal snoring overpowered the frogs’ trilling, but while we read before turning out lights? SO much gratitude for Phonak technology! Hence, this little tanka about our “canopy bed.”
• I have been referring collectively to the paper-tile units I’ve been showcasing recently as a living work in progress. It is alive in two locations currently. At home I am taking each tile cut from my June vacation start and developing it individually. At Takodah, Caroline is receiving the tiles one at a time via United States Post and is most likely thumb-tacking them in whatever arrangement pleases her on the wall beside her cabin bed. I like thinking of the process as the Growing Season of this particular painting.