Holly Painter is a poet, writer, and editor from southeast Michigan. Her first book of poetry, Excerpts from a Natural History, was published by Titus Books in Auckland, New Zealand in 2015. Her poetry, fiction, and essays have also been published in literary journals and anthologies in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Holly teaches writing and literature at the University of Vermont.
Cryptic Crossword XXIV
Clues
Full moon penetrates dour field.
Beneath – separate, avoiding society –
sad pine ages,
ravaged of agile greenness,
recalling time of sun beams,
scent of flowers
gasped and held in a tempest,
vacuous beauty of
steady flame.
Answers
Court under blue moon
Foliage emits bouquet
inhaled by lover
~
Cryptic Crossword XXV
Clues
Naval commander heard calling for
antique glass.
Watchman, stooge in striped cotton
clothes, alien among sailors,
sounds warning as
open boat,
fashioned from soft naked
pinewood, parts current.
Boat comes around island, and tails British fleet.
“Heave the anchor!”
curse and damn the crew.
Answers
Seeking old-fashioned
seersucker jackets for launch
of new yacht rock band
~
Cryptic Crossword XXVII
Clues
Woman of the house listens to insects
sing nonsense syllables and three-part
harmony, calm
cut off from
trouble. No fear, not before dusk.
Gingerly, tender lips split:
new note enters general
cloud around mid-afternoon croakers.
Hot cry, and quiet. Spring,
too, comes from a desire.
Answers
Ladybugs scatter
Peace of afternoon splintered
Green frogs hop along
~
Cryptic Crossword XXVIII
Clues
Wine-soaked bride and groom,
day and place for the afterglow –
cold ice ridge.
Blustering man embraces silence,
kindling romance with close friend.
Home is love and husband,
seed of no consequence
without God to plunder or covet.
Rambling dirge for the mountains
consumes birds
soft and airy.
Answers
Brandied sunset chill
Gusty wood, hearth for the birds
Pine ridge swallows light
~
Cryptic Crossword XXX
Clues
Nameless female deer
sallied playfully on trails
a bit inattentive following
leap in stream
like a fish at the hint of a shiny object.
Concealed by tupelo, noiselessly approaching
drop of fat
berries, ruinously ripe after endless June,
one hart turned, identifying new
sounds. A listener’s keeping very quiet.
Answers
Doe dallies in spring
nibbling on plump juniper
Another appears