Budding
From withered shoots,
New plants remember those
Which died before and and take their
Mantles.
This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #171, write a cinquain. Today, as we sit in hushed houses and watch our gardens grow in the back, I chose to limit my words and put everything into as small a bite as I could.
This one is dedicated to my raspberry briers which recently decided they weren’t dead.
Used nest
Scrapped for new –
Homey
This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #168, Comfort and Worn. I decided to do a 2/3/2 haiku because it was hard to get the synonyms for those words to fit together in such a tight space with a nature theme. I think I did it, but wow! What a challenge!
This was inspired by a birds nest in the maple tree in my backyard. This spring, when the blackbirds returned, they ripped apart the old nest and built a new one in my neighbor’s back yard. The traitors.
Soft dust flakes from gentle wings
Which beat in the floodlights and moonbeams.
The lethal heat of halogen bulbs attracts you
Like lumps of gold attracts man.
Do you laugh when we die for a rock?
A new poetry form to learn!? Yes please! This is my first ever attempt at a gogyoka poem, as written for Colleen Chesebro’s February 4th Tanka Tuesday, Poet’s Choice.
Photo by Egor Kamelev on Pexels.com
Detailed stains
Glove her dainty hands.
Celebrate
A wedding,
Engagement, or fun with friends-
Let joy stain your soul.
This was written for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday #161, a photo prompt. Henna tattoos interest me in that it’s a tattoo without needles.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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
