panting, i sit on a rock, beside the trail, watching porters pass loaded with logs and plywood -- followed by cows, and goats, and...
POEM: Humbling Rest [PoMo Day 12 – Kyōka]
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Category Archives: tanka
POEM: Prayer Flags [Tanka]
flags flapping, twisting on a line, colors bright on the arid mountain -- desolation décor
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POEM: Volcanic Tanka
the cone looms as the city's backdrop, drawing the eye -- some things are prettier in death than in action
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A Kyōka on Uninhabitable Islands
River Boulder Tanka
smooth boulders
dragged ever so slowly,
tumbling in floods,
sitting so far from the river
that they seem untouchable
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Changing Skies: Three Tanka
I
a gray day,
low dreary clouds hang down;
smoky air
clings to the earth —
all is close; nothing moves
II
tall puffy clouds
drift across the sky
like ship’s bridges,
moving in armada
through skies, calm & blue
III
a blue dome,
unblemished by clouds
if not for birds
looking to the sky
would stop the world
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Spring Blossom Tanka
blossoms fall,
tumbling in a stiff breeze;
on the ground
they form a purple shadow,
ignoring the sunlight
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Three Kyōka of Animal Aggression
I
three monkeys
look down from a high branch;
one throws a pit;
a tourist dodges left,
right into the pit’s path
II
a goose struts,
then wheels about – wings flaring –
Karate Kid,
but standing on both legs —
feint with foot, jab with beak
III
a llama
spits in some poor girl’s face
as if she
were Hitler or Kim Jong-Un
classy, Llama, real classy
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Three Rolling Hill Tanka
I
granite domes
bubble from the flat lands,
earthly zit, or
beauty marks written
in topography
II
the foothills
spread from the mountains
like ripples,
echoing from
the cordillera
III
four horses,
standing on the hilltop,
as if meeting,
but with no common
vision or purpose
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Three Closed Eye Tanka
I
rustling leaves,
i hear only chaos;
the blind man hears
a single leaf fall,
hitting others as it drops
II
the sunshine
glows on my eyelids,
warms my face;
i see movement in
shifting dark blotches
III
the city noise,
so chaotic when looking,
becomes ordered
when I close my eyes
and sit with the sound
Tiger Riding for Beginners 