Garden at Giverny
Tree-strewn, dappled light, a caress
of ancient star-song
rests in pink-
petaled
bloom-
scents
of ancient star-songs–
echoed light
calling
you
home,
echoed light’s
dappled
dance
rests.
For Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday Ekphrastic Challenge, I played with the Fibonacci (or Fib) form, reversing it (8, 5, 3,2,1,1) and then repeating patterns, lines, and words. The prompt image is the above painting by Claude Monet.
She Knows
her sash,
like lilac is
an intimation of spring,
just this. . .she’s awakened, see her
hunger?
I know
my sash
like lilac is
an intimation of spring,
just this . . . I’m awakened, see my
hunger?
For Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday Ekphrastic Prompt. This is sort of a poetic exercise in syllabic verse. I wrote the first cinquain, and then I re-wrote it in first person, which I think empowers her. I love the way Sargent captured the light on her gown. You can almost feel the fabric, but it was that sash that first caught my eye, and then her direct gaze.
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.”
A Foggy Morning, Delaware River
November Morning
And again
fog, a pewter mist,
a curtain
but threadbare,
patched—here see the scarlet leaf,
the flash of white tail?
I haven’t participated in Tanka Tuesday for a long time. This is a shadorma. The challenge was to include color–though I think for me the challenge would be NOT to include color. 🙂 The photo is from this morning. I saw three deer with their white tails flashing as they ran.
Just before dawn, the mockingbird sings, an extensive string of melodies. Does he advertise his riches, or is he protecting his nest? I listen, captivated by his song. I take a mental snapshot of this moment to hold it tight within my cache of memories. Marked for now, but memories do not stay fixed on a map. The maple tree in which the mockingbird sits is ravaged by disease, and soon it will be cut, leaving only a stump. The birds will have to move on, flying into the air–soon gone like a thought.
dawn beguiles with song–
with bells of trills and warbling,
summer mornings ring
This Haibun is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, using synonyms for bewitch and treasure.
Twinkling from afar,
dead stars’ light glimmers the sky,
illusions of time,
the past waltzing through our minds
laughter and tears remembered
NGC 6744
Hubble, NASA, ESA, and the LEGUS Team
This tanka is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday using synonyms for fantasy and merry.
Space time rushes pass
in moments gone, but endless
choices of the heart
travel from Earth to the stars,
then answer the muse’s call
I’m catching up on challenges. This is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge, using synonyms for hurry and last. I honestly didn’t know anything about Apollo astronaut Alan Bean, who died today. He was one of the fourth man to walk on the moon, but he left NASA to become a painter.You can see examples of his work here.
“Every artist has the earth or their imaginations to inspire their paintings.. .I’ve got the earth and my imagination, and I’m the first to have the moon, too.” The New York Times
Palm tree swings and sways,
oak does a stately Sarabande–
no hip hop for her,
she watches the squirrels caper,
pass skills through generations
I’m having a bit of fun. This is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday using synonyms for dignity and success. I’m riffing on Jane’s poem for the same prompt and our comments.
I stand at the open window listening to the robins, sparrows, wrens, and cardinals twitter, tweep, cheep, and trill as they tune their instruments, getting them just right to perform the sun salutation. The mockingbird rehearses his aria, long warbled phrases, chirrups, and chirrs. The birds perch high in the tall oaks and maple trees so that their voices echo, breaking the quiet of the early morning. I savor the moment. Soon, black clouds will come, the sky will weep, and the birds will take shelter in those wind-whipped high branches. I will gather then with others; together, we will express our sorrow to a grieving widow and children, and, say good-bye to a friend.
Spring a chimera–
rosy petals bloom, then fall
silver tears of rain
“Seen on KSC grounds, a robin pauses in a Brazilian pepper tree filled with red berries.”
NASA, via Wikipedia Commons, Public domain
For Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, using synonyms for belong and dream
For Frank’s Haikai challenge, using “twittering.”
Beguiling planet–
our existence here so brief,
circling through seasons
we love, destroy, yet wish for
our cerulean orb, home
Photo originally taken by Apollo 17 crew, Wikipedia Commons
Another busy day. Off prompt for NaPoWriMo. I’ve written a tanka for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, using synonyms for enchant and shape, and for Frank’s Haikai Challenge using the prompt Earth.
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 