.
the chiming clock
begins to wind down . . .
five months of quarantine
yet still the roses bloom
and red birds sing
.
This tanka was published in October, but obviously was written in early summer. We are now nine months into this pandemic. Writing is a wonderful relief as we isolate ourselves. Like so many poets, I find my writing has been changed by the pandemic.
cattails:
The Official Journal of the United Haiku and Tanka Society, October 2020 issue
Here’s the second tanka published in
Gusts no. 32, Fall/Winter 2020
pale pink petals
scattered on the desk
one by one the days
of isolation pass,
each fading to nothing
A Thousand Voices,
2019 Tanka Society of America Member’s Anthology
sweet peas,
crab apple blossoms
and old roses—
for part of each day
I become my mother
Two haiku and one tanka in Kokako 29, 2018, a journal of the New Zealand Poetry Society:
where the house
once stood
only cherry blossoms
billowing fog
the burden of keeping
your secret
rosé bottle
the forgiving vagueness
of frosted glass
the morning
after
no attribution for this lovely picture I found online
My thanks to poet and editor, Chen-ou Liu, for selecting this haiku to appear on his Never Ending Story, First English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku Blog. The two Chinese translations were done by Chen-ou Liu as well. I am deeply honored to have this particular haiku chosen as a selection.
Published in Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga, Issue, 24, Spring 2018
