Tanka Prose

Fishing for words

Found after decades! Packed away with other favorites of mine, their spines barely affixed, A Child's Garden of Verses (a condensed pop-up edition) and The Golden Book of Poetry … coming back to life. 

I don't know exactly when, or why, my writerly muse first emerged—or where it came from. (But perhaps it was fed by the lines within these very books?) Nor can I explain my inability to hold onto my muse for very long at any given time. Yet even after I've convinced myself it's sailed off for good, I will probably half expect to find it again, waiting for me in some invisible box or misty sea.

Wynken, 

Blynken, and Nod, 

poets three 

in the same wooden shoe 

without their nets of gold

______________

Author's Notes:

— The above tanka is a reference to "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," Eugene Field, 1889; "misty sea" is from the same poem.        

— The Golden Book of Poetry, various poets (including Field), 1947.

— A Child's Garden of Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson, 1885.

—Haibun Today, vol. 10, no. 2, June 2016 

I wrote the above tanka, a take on the familiar children's poem, in response to three of us lamenting the then-current loss of our muses. They must have sailed away, on vacation together. Not long before that, I came across the above-mentioned books, so voila, a tanka+prose piece!

How sunflowers

how sunflowers 

could grow taller than me— 

in first grade 

the blurry border 

between fairy tale and fact 

Mariposa, 33, fall 2015

I feel like growing sunflowers. Maybe next summer.

A dollop; grouped by class

a dollop

of clotted cream

on my scone—

the pleasant taste of things

I once avoided

~afternoon tea, cruise ship

grouped by class

while on the Titanic

though just one

set of numbers

for all their gravestones

~Titanic cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

—both of these published in Atlas Poetica, 22, Summer 2015

Tanka Sequence

Homegrown 

for Sandy 

for years 
she couldn't venture 
into the garden— 
there, on the paving stones, 
is where she found him 

resurrecting 
the raised tomato bed 
plant by plant, 
she sinks her fists deep 
into dark compost 

Lily, 
her gardening dog, 
at her side ... 
a bounty of earthworms 
and a small patch of peace  

—Skylark, 3:2, Winter 2015

Short green tufts

short green tufts


are all I can see—


crocus blooms


snipped off by wildlife


eager to taste spring


—cattails, May 2016

No crocus blooms this spring,
but we saw several in March 2015

Announcement: June Tanka Contests

Calling All Tanka Poets: Entries are currently being accepted for the following contests:

• KYSO Flash HTP Contest (haibun/tanka prose)—deadline June 15

• Mandy's Pages Annual Contest—deadline June 30

• Tanka Society of America 2016 Sanford Goldstein Annual Tanka Contest—deadline June 30

At Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC, June 2015

Strolling the streets; the shift

strolling the streets

of the happiest place

in America ...

had I remembered

I would have worn a grin

~ San Luis Obispo, California, USA, August 2013

—Skylark 2:2, winter 2014

It actually was a happy place. I'd happily visit again!

the shift

in my disposition

when I notice

that train is carrying

The Greatest Show on Earth

~railroad crossing, Waller County, Texas, USA

—Atlas Poetica, 20, January 2015

A long, sleek, spotless train, no graffiti. As an adult, I tend to be a little bothered by the notion of circuses (some might say "The Cruelest Show on Earth"?). Yet for a few moments, I felt something magical as that train transported me back. 

Note: Earlier this month, performing elephants were officially retired from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, ending a 145-year tradition.

Tanka sequence

Shop of scents 

each soap 

a piece of artwork … 

part of me knows

the sculpted designs 

will in time wash away

a fresh spray 

of "triple cool mint"— 

this desire 

to smell like a patch 

of garden herbs 

"lavender silk" 

for experienced skin ... 

I buy a bar, 

trusting the store clerk 

to keep my secret 

—red lights,  vol. 12, no. 1, January 2016

This shop is in San Luis Obispo, California.