Day – tanka
The sun slides across
the skin of the day in a
hot, searing caress.
What can I do but sigh in
voluptuous contentment?
~~~
Category Tanka
NaPoWriMo 11 – You
For day 11, love talk.
You – tanka
The moon it seemed had
lit up the wings of the wind
pale ebullience
but my soul knows it is You.
Everywhere I go it’s You.
***
NaPoWriMo 10 – Escape
For day 10, some moontalk.
Escape – tanka
The sickle moon hung
there like a fallen question.
How do I escape
the safety of gravity
for the nothingness of space?
***
Birthday – tanka
…
one early spring dawn
the sun bloomed as I was born
I too Christ be
I celebrate this knowledge
in deep stillness and wild joy
~~~
Sensuous Sundays – Brewing nostalgia
Brewing nostalgia – tanka
the pot on the stove
bubbles up aromas from
childhood. Warm, soothing
comforting, like Mother’s touch
like a loyal puppy lick
~~~
Sensuous Sundays – Eddies of memories
Eddies of memories – tanka
fleeting sandal scent
like a rogue wind whirlpools leaves
stirs up memories
chasing the light on your skin
all the way into shadows
~~~
The gift
On dVerse Poets, it’s Abhra’s birthday and he asks, what gift we would like to give him. Or the world. As I was reading his post, quite by happy chance, I heard the tui call …
The gift – tanka
into the cup of
the evening the tui
drops its golden song
my beggar heart rejoices
the moon rises in delight
~~~
Death poems
On dVerse Poets Pub Gayle sets the challenge : To write in haiku or tanka style, to the theme of Jisei (Japanese death poems).
Gayle also says, “In ancient Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultures, a practice was used at the time of death to capture the last words spoken. This practice was called jisei (in Japan) or death poem and is the “farewell poem to life.” Jisei was written by monks, samurai, the literate and poets of these cultures. One of the earliest recorded jisei dates to 686 C.E. (Common Era) or in Christian terms, B.C. (before Christ) with the death of Prince Otsu who was the son of Emperor Temmu of Japan.”
JAPANESE DEATH POEMS – tanka
I hear the sea sing
in my veins, of homecoming.
Save your salty tears
for life and its sorry tales,
not me. I am going home.
~~~
This vain, heavy shell
I no longer need, fading
softly like daylight
surrenders to night, sighing
soft promises of return.
~~~
This shell will return
to its womb. My sinews will
turn into roots, limbs
into tree-trunks. And my song
will trill out from the tree tops.
~~~
Soon, I will be rain,
falling on seeds, springing them
into life. Lusty,
fecund, virile, alive. Death
is a mere wisp of a veil.
~~~
The power of awe – tanka
~~~
What’s a poem but
the shell around the heart being
split open by awe
beauty comes out of hiding
and love does a little dance
~~~
Watchmen
~~~
.
Watcher – haiku
a coiled tense spring
the cat watches its victim
eat its last meal
~~~
Watchman – haiku
you watch over me
like a lighthouse, always there
forever shining
~~~
Watchkeeper – tanka
third watch of the night
the clock stops still in mid gong
Death has come calling
“your time is up” gaily says
that relentless watch keeper
~~~
For dVerse Poets prompt What does the watchman see?
Just Joyfulness 