Tag Archives: Mary Kendall poetry

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

 

 

 

Which way? (tanka)

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~

having made it
halfway across, halfway back
I stop and pause
wondering which way
I really want to go

~

Published in Eucalypt 32 Tanka,  May 2022 Issue

~

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Tight-Rope Walker by Jean Louis Forain, c. 1885, Art Institute of Chicago

This tanka was inspired by a painting of a tightrope walker:
Tight Rope Walker by Jean Louis Forain, The Art Institute of Chicago

~

Brass Bell Contributions

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Here are several of my contributions in Brass Bell:

Brass Bell October 2022 / Theme: kitchen haiku

teatime
just water and leaves
you and me 

Brass Bell September 2022 / Theme: homeplace

buffalo, new york
we all laugh & tumble off
the long toboggan again

 

Brass Bell August 2022 / Theme: water

icy rain—
somehow this ache
just won’t leave

washed up
without a song
moon shell

 

Brass Bell July 2022 / Theme: sound

lyrics long forgotten
the melody always
in my mind

 

Brass Bell is published on the first day of every month. This delightful haiku journal is beautifully curated by editor/writer, Zee Zehava and can be found here: http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com. Writers are from around the world and some of the finest haiku/senryu writers appear on these pages.