Category Archives: lyrical poetry

Soaring voices (three tanka)

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Photo by stein egil liland: https:::www.pexels.com:photo:mountain-under-aurora-borealis-9636388:

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Three tanka published in
Gusts No. 37 Contemporary Tanka, Canada,
Spring/Summer 2023  

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I grow old now
and dream of a journey
I will never take
. . . the aurora borealis
dances, but does it sing?

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the emptiness
of losing a friend—
never understanding
what I did or
what you felt I did

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such soaring voices
      pure soprano & alto notes
in a boys’ choir
each singer’s gift destined
to change course

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Notes:

(1) All tanka by Mary Kendall © 2023
(2) Photo by stein egil liland
      https///www.pexels.com/photo/mountain-under-aurora-borealis-9636388/.jpg

Catching Up with Ribbons (tanka)

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Ribbons, the journal of the Tanka Society of America is a favorite of all tanka poets. It’s always an honor to have poems accepted for publication. Here are some from the last two issues.

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Ribbons Winter 2023: Volume 19, Number 1

 

crisp golden leaves
ready themselves for flight
. . . I was just five
when you walked out
and left us all behind

 

Also, in Ribbons’ Tanka Hangout:

winter winds
wildly whip limbs
boughs & branches –
come closer and hear
my heart hum along

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Plus a collaboration with Christine L. Villa–her beautiful art and my tanka that was inspired by it:

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WINTER RIBBONS Mary Kendall thinner font

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Ribbons Fall 2022: Volume 18, Number 3

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the unmistakable scent
of ripe Anjou pears –
remembering
his low voice as he read
Verlaine aloud

lovely yellow pear

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‘Tanka Studio’ in Ribbons Fall 2022

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speaking in an even tone
that gives nothing away,
your inscrutable gaze
was always a challenge
for me to decipher

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All poems (c)by Mary Kendall

Scent of beeswax

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I am still catching up with published poetry. Blithe Spirit is the publication of the British Haiku Society. They selected two haiku and two tanka of mine to publish in the winter issue.

Blithe Spirit Fall/Winter Issue 2022

 

1.

brevity
the ripeness
of a pear

 2.

children
fragile as blossoms
learning to let go

3.

fragrant spices, each
with a story to tell,
a bit of this, dash of that
     my pen moves as if
propelled by a stranger
 

4.

scent of beeswax
melting as we draw
invisible designs
on our pysanky eggs—
forgotten childhood

 

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Stinging nettles

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stinging nettles –
things that were said
I can’t forget

 

 

The Heron’s Nest
Volume XXIV, Number 4: December, 2022

 

 

 

The last plum blossom, etc. (a mix of tanka and haiku)

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The lovely New Zealand journal, Kokaku, published two haiku and two tanka in their fall issue: Kokaku #37, 2022.

Kokaku #37,  2022

evening web –
the last plum blossom
caught fast

       ***

corner flower shop –
if only our lives were
arranged so well

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quick twists and turns
of rutting deer ~
another season passes
adrift in colours
of passion and promise

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This tanka appeared on my blog last month but was from this issue (37):

a tiny fawn dead
by the side of the road –
I close my eyes & imagine
all those children lost
in Ukraine strikes

 

       ***

 

A tiny fawn, dead… (Ukraine tanka)

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Published in Kokaku, Summer/Fall 2022

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a tiny fawn dead
by the side of the road –
I close my eyes & imagine
all those children lost
in Ukraine strikes

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Image by meineresterampe from Pixabay