At Giverny (tanka sequence)

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Published in the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of Ribbons,
the Journal of the American Tanka Society

A Tanka Sequence by Mary Kendall


At Giverny    

Sunday drive
from Paris
to Giverny . . .
anticipation
half the delight

we stroll through
Monet’s small village
the brilliance of greens
tints of lilac, silver
& old rose

his beloved home
full of color
& memories of children
playing, voices
long forgotten

all these years
together, your steps
in time with mine –
the unexpected scent
of old damask roses

stopping to study
fritillaries, tulips
& jonquils,
you reach out
& take my hand

soon we are adrift
in a huddle of lilac blue
stars of Agapanthus –
our lifetime together,
a flicker in time

~ ~

Author’s note: The French Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, lived with his family in a charming house in Giverny for over forty years. While the house is quite interesting to visit, it is Monet’s beautiful gardens where most visitors want to wander. My husband and I visited Giverny in 2013, and our memories are deeply treasured by both of us.

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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

 

.

A few poems in Anthologies in 2022

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Three of my poems appeared in various poetry anthologies in 2022:

~

 

a brief sigh
as your scan is finished –
far above us
sunlight edges its way
through swift moving clouds

Tanka Society of America 2022 Anthology

~

 

in a pile on the floor
sand, swimsuits, towels
and a single sea star . . .
how did such beauty slip
unseen into my life

Linda Jeanette Ward Anthology 2022
(An anthology in memory of the late tanka poet,
Linda Jeanette Ward.)

~

 

broken ice on the river –
fragmented memories
now rise up

British Haiku Society
Members’ Anthology 2022
Theme: “Water”

~

Sky151

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

       ***

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

 

       ***

 

A tiny fawn, dead… (Ukraine tanka)

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Published in Kokaku, Summer/Fall 2022

~

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