Category Archives: meditative poetry

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

Posted on by

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

       ***

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

       ***

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

 

       ***

 

The sweetness of honey

Posted on by

 
~
 

Gusts No. 36 Contemporary Tanka
fall/winter 2022

 ~

 

 

once I welcomed
the darkening of winter
      now I crave
the sweetness of honey,
the buzzing of bees

 

 

~

 

Screen Shot 2022-10-12 at 4.45.33 PM

Photo: Medical News Today, August 29, 2018

So many bodies in Bucha…

Posted on by

 

This is the first of two tanka published in:

 

Gusts No. 36 Contemporary Tanka  
fall/winter 2022

 

 

 

so many bodies in Bucha,
even more mass graves
are dug and quickly filled
. . . no mourners, no prayers
at the gravesite today

 

 

 

ukraine-gc49e105c4_640

Winter birds

Posted on by

 

Presence #72, Spring 2022

.

winter birds crack seeds
& feast on blocks of suet –
my long morning is spent
polishing old pieces
of silver we rarely use

.

.

Screen Shot 2022-10-04 at 3.07.18 PM

Photo by Stauffers of Kissel Hill

Making Amends

Posted on by

Moonbathing 26, Summer 2022

 

one by one trying
hard to make amends,
I separate fine strands
of webs I’ve made
to hide my mistakes

Screen Shot 2022-09-30 at 3.22.28 PM

         ‘silk’

Panama hat/Venice

Posted on by

Published in Ribbons, TSA, Summer 2022

 

your Panama hat
blows off
into the Grand Canal –
if only our decisions
could be so free

Screen Shot 2022-09-30 at 2.49.29 PM