Life Tanka

do not slide your hand
into your pocket for warmth
put your hand in mine
I'll hold it while the wind blows
and at the end when it's still


Written for One Stop Poetry Form Monday, which focused today on the tanka, a Japanese love poem with lots of rules! Hopefully I followed them all without losing the spirit of the poem. It was a fun challenge, anyway: 5 lines of 5/7/5/7/7 syllables with a season word, no punctuation, and a twist-- the first three lines must stand on their own as a mini-poem, and the last three lines as well (so the middle line is used in both). Phew! If you want to read more about the ancient form of tanka as well as other entries, click here.

Birdsong Changes with the Landscape

I don't know where I'm going,
but I fling myself there.
Feet crusted and dirty,
my body so tired
if I stand still I will melt
softly into the dead grass.
I'm terrified of transition--
but the glistening teeth
of the stagnant beast
slice lazily at listless feet.
Faced with the impossible task
of standing still
I bare my fragile heart
and fly.

This is my entry for One Shot Wednesday. Click here to see others.

Summer Rainbow

If you catch the rainbow in the park

you can climb it like a ladder

and play till the day is dark

when shadows no longer matter.