Frosted Rose #Tanka Tuesday

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Frosted Rose

Watch how
the frosted rose
smiles bravely at the world,
lip-sticked mouth in fragile face says
still here

I’ve seen her. Women in shops, on streets, in care homes, on TV. My mother.
Perhaps someday me.

For Tanka Tuesday. This week an ekphrastic prompt. This photo by Terri Webster Schrandt

Terri says: “This is a filtered version of a rose I photographed at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland.”

Colleen and I were discussing Crapsey cinquains, so here is one by me with prose to make it a cinquain haibun. Is that a thing? Neither is a style I write much of. Weird pre-dawn writing. 😂 Perhaps I was also thinking about this forthcoming anthology by Annick Yerem. I have a poem in it about my mom. Annick writes, “the drawing on the cover is by Katherine Inglis-Meyer. She is a former teacher and editor living with dementia. She is also my mum.”

60 thoughts on “Frosted Rose #Tanka Tuesday”

  8. I know those women too. I don’t wear make up, but I feel the need for extra fortitude as I get older–I understand that impulse. Just to be acknowledged, noticed. (K)

  11. Such a sad poem, Merril. It’s so hard to see the aging of our parents–and then of ourselves, too. My mom is finally planning to move into a small apartment in the “big house” at her community from her garden home. I’ll get to see her right before she goes. It takes a lot of bravery to get old. So many are called upon to be that brave :). And I do love the form you created.
    Congrats on the anthology inclusion!!

    • Thank you so much for your thoughtful reading and comment, Luanne.
      Good luck to your mom, Luanne. I’m glad you’ll be able to see her. I hope she’s happy there.
      Thank you about the anthology. This is the first book Annick is publishing from her new press.

      • Very exciting!!! Thank you about my mom. I know she’s scared and nervous, but the thought of a small apartment nestled into the big house sounds very comforting to her, I think.

      • I think if she’s able to get about, and unlike my mom, can see, then it’s a good situation. You get privacy, but also whatever is offered by “the big house.”

      • I think so, too. Plus she gets a meal a day there as part of the fee, and she doesn’t eat enough now because she doesn’t want to cook or eat alone. So it will be good in that respect, too.

  12. Merril, you’ve capture the spirit of the cinquain… Adelaide Crapsey is smiling down on us! I just finished a post about the Crapsey and the American cinquain. I can’t get those iambs… but if you can, WOO HOO! What I loved about your poem is you said so much in only a few words. That is the essence of the form. This cinquain is powerful and every woman can connect to your meaning. Your imagery comparing an aging woman to the frosted rose‚—It’s stunning. 🌹

  22. Pingback: #TankaTuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge No. 307, 2/14/2023 – Word Craft Poetry

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