The Lake – #TankaTuesday #Haiku #HaikuMadness

Serene, hushed lake
Plants and animals now sleep
Wait for ice to melt

Serene hush
Lake, fish, cat-tails, now
Solid ice

Placid
Now frozen
Iced lake

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #160, Calm and Present (synonyms are in bold). Recently amongst the blog-o-sphere (or cube? why can’t it be a cube?), there’s been some controversy over how long to make an English haiku. Each of these were intended to be closely related, but they’re obviously not the same.

Which length do you prefer?

Photo by Riccardo Bresciani on Pexels.com

Slow Insanity – #Cinquain #TankaTuesday

Living
Exhausting days,
Tiring, sleepless darkness,
Elicited madness in her.
Survive.

Slinging
Cruel statements
To hide dishonor
Against her failed ambitions.
Careless.

Reaching
Depressed stages,
Hopelessness inching in,
She concocted a fantasy.
Straining.

Growing
Cucumber dreams,
Night-times of potatoes,
Sublime and pumpkin reveries.
Working.

Never
Sluggish despite
Corrupt voices’ chiding,
Her delusional garden grew
Lifelong.

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday prompt, poet’s choice. I chose the crown cinquain to honor my grandmother, who this poem was written about. She was absolutely, totally insane, but despite this she held so much of the family together and made her garden fantasy a reality.

Because the bleeding heart flowers represented this poem well, I chose to use a picture previously shared by Alexander Eliot for a prompt. Check out his work too – he’s got a load of stories and some really nice photography.

Salvation – #Shadorma #Tanka Tuesday

Salvation
From infernos and
Damnation;
Sacrifice
Self for love, commutation
Of darling’s penance.

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #158, a photoprompt based on the given image. If I’m remembering correctly from my knowledge of the scientific world, the image is supposed to be an aerogel (a very light gel material with aqueous material inside the crosslinks) that is lifted by the hot air blowing beneath it. The flower is protected by the water in the gel, which is where I came up with the salvation theme of my shadorma.

Crystal Prison Guards – #Haiku #TankaTuesday

Icebound sentinels
Overlooking valleys grim
Sun holds prison keys

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday Challenge #156, poet’s choice of words.

I took this picture something like a decade ago, during a winter storm that coated every branch, leaf, and needle with a thin, exacting layer of crystal ice. You couldn’t drive anywhere, the electricity was down, and the phones were all useless. The mountains felt like a prison.

Thanksgiving – #Senryu #TankaTuesday #Sorrynotsorry

Rush food to table;
Enjoy the feast ’til last bite
But hate the banter.

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #155, hurry and end (synonyms in bold). There was an alternative option to write about what Thanksgiving means to me so, since I am hopelessly allergic to interactions with a certain in-law, I wrote a wicked little senryu.

Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

Arise – #Haiku #TankaTuesday

Squeaks of sunset haze
Cue the start of night’s forays;
Bats on insects graze.

This was written for the photo prompt challenge in Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #154!

I’m pretty sure this picture is of those epic bat caves in Arizona. Because of the natural elements in the picture, I felt it best to write a haiku. It rhymes, though, which I’m not sure is supposed to be ok or not.

Image by enriquelopezgarre from Pixabay

Mama Grace – #Etheree #Tanka Tuesday

She
Lived
With aplomb
Despite trouble
With her sister’s son.
Her sister was deaf, dumb,
And didn’t want pregnancy.
But poor thing didn’t have a choice,
So barren sister Grace took in the boy.
She raised him with joy, with love, with honor.
But he lived in the vein of his father,
Took the mantle of rapist himself,
Then was carted off to prison.
“You spoilt him,” cried folks at church.
“It’s your fault,” they accused.
She couldn’t fight back.
She made some pink
Lemonade,
Sipped,
Cried.

This poem was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #153, Grace and Style (synonyms in bold). When I saw the word “grace,” I instantly thought of that inimitable character I’ve spoken of so many times on this blog – Mama Grace – and how she seemed the absolute definition of grace to me growing up. I learned about her deep struggles after she died, but I remember sipping pink lemonade with her in a neat-as-a-pin house after her husband died.

I don’t know what happened to the sister.

Photo by jousi osorio on Unsplash

Gather – #Cinquain #Haibun #TankaTuesday

I chop down the leaves, and the nicotine haze makes me dizzy. Others in the field do as I, but these older folks have bigger bodies, more mass to spread out the poison. The field is full of people here to help Mr. Clay, who is ill. As I pile the leaves of burley onto the stake, I recall his amputated toes on the gangrenous foot. I mull over the smell of his room, sweet like the sugar in his blood.

I chop, I pile, I sweat, I sing. Whether God takes Mr. Clay home or leaves him here on this soil, I’ll help take his rescued crop to the trade house.

Gather
Friends, family.
Machete burley leaves,
Render service for suffering.
Harvest.

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #146, Fall and Give. This may also be the most North Carolina thing I’ve ever written.

This was based off a true story.

 

The Morning Song – #Haiku

Birds sing morning song;
Throats warble delightful tunes.
Unsuspecting worms.

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #142, poet’s choice of words!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Letters to Esperanza – #Shadorma

Waves conspire
To bring me your words,
But I can’t
Hear your voice.
I dream of your foreign lands,
Crave your paradise.

This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #141, a picture prompt! I chose to do a Shadorma poem because I imagined the speaker as a Spanish woman during the age of exploration who finds bottles from a sailor far away. Esperanza is a Spanish name meaning “hope.”

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay